Buh Buh IOC
Posted: March 1st, 2010 | Author: supafamous | Filed under: Business | 2 Comments »Despite my anti-waste of money stance on the Olympics I have to admit they went really, really well. A massive outpouring of patriotism, largely trouble free events and some feel good stories. And Canada won the one thing that mattered. We can be proud of how well things well and Russia has a tall task in front of it.
I followed traffic cams during the game and the streets were empty – you could have committed murder in broad daylight in Vancouver and gotten away with it for a couple hours.
Despite all the feel good emotions I can’t get over the colossal waste of money that the Olympics were – let’s rate some of our infrastructure we got out of it:
Canada Line Skytrain – Put dozens of small businesses out of business, built on a budget so it’s already over capacity with limited ability to expand, runs on a route that didn’t need a rapid transit line, killed off hundreds of buses that Translink could have purchased, won’t break even due to the 3P process and we’ll be paying out lawsuits for the next 3-5 years. F
Convention Centre – Way too expensive but beautiful. We needed this one but they should be shooting money into the water as a metaphor for its costs. I’ll give them a partial pass on this. B+
Richmond Speed Skating – Being converted into a community centre. It’s gorgeous but a community centre? Not a good one – it’s located in an unpopulated area with no easy transit access and Richmond is a city with no idea what it’s doing for urban development and this will be a mess regardless. C+
Curling – Are we hosting a Brier soon? That’s the only way this thing proves useful. D-
Sliding centre – The 2nd most dangerous track in the world will probably need to have a modest redesign and why would Canadian athletes train in a place that’s only cold enough for training a few months of the year. F
Olympic village – Overbudget! Way overbudget! We’ll be lucky to see any of the social housing happen due to this so it’s just another pricey condo for rich people – just what Vancouver needs when middle class families can’t afford to live in the city. D
I’d pay a billion dollars to win hockey gold on home soil but we’re going to be paying for this for years and years – the bill is gonna be in the $6-12 billion range for us. That’s a lot of teachers, a lot of hospitals, a lot of buses, a lot of roads, a lot of bridges, a lot of doctors and a lot of debt.
A few clarifications:
The Oval is going to become a big rec centre, but it will include several rinks (and the ability to convert them into a “big sheet” setup for some events). It’s pretty close to the end of the Canada Line, but the only thing that matters in that part of Richmond is ample parking.
It’s debatable whether users are paying the true costs, but ice sheets are in very short supply all over town.
The Curling venue will be renovated into a new community centre. I think some of the curling sheets will stay, but half the venue will turn into a swimming pool, and other amenities will also be there.
By the way, the curling arena is being converted into a new community centre, adjoining the new 50m pool that is already there waiting (opening in June!). The existing Riley Park community centre is being destroyed. As a resident of the community, I have to say I am excited about this, although I do agree in general with your stance re: olympics was generally a colossal misuse of money.