Quote:
Originally Posted by New Era
Calgary established a new standard for the Olympics when they hosted in 1988. The community embraced the games and a number of new facilities provided a legacy that has paid dividends for the past 30 years.
With this bid, Calgary will again set a new standard for an Olympic bid, just for different reasons. The recycling of old venues are really not going to look good on the world stage. Where the venues and the design/engineering are part of the spectacle, this has potential to be a tragically bad idea. When the city should be trying to project that it is still a vibrant flourishing modern jewel, they'll be projecting that they don't have the capacity to build new and rely on buildings from the 1960s and 1980s. Edmonton gets a metric tonne of #### around here for living in the past, but this bid is just that. This is an attempt to make a trip down memory lane on the biggest stage in the world. Everyone break out those 30 year old Sun Ice jackets! In 2026, its 1988 all over again! This has debacle written all over it.
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I was on the fence with this up until yesterday's announcement but this just about seals it for me. An embarrassing attempt by the majority of council to pass this off as a good thing for Calgary. If we're going to sign away our souls via tax dollars for decades we better at least be getting new facilities out of it - not simply smear lipstick on a pig with venues like McMahon. Are we seriously proposing to hold the opening/closing ceremonies in the same building we did in 19 freaking 88......nearly 40 years later? I don't really care what other cities have done with their bids either, but to have no mention of any other improvements to our LRT transit or roadways is inexcusable. This entire thing is starting to smell like nothing more than a tragically flawed legacy project for Nenshi the further it is pushed through.
I really hope the masses actually consider how bad this could look on the global stage before voting but that's asking a lot these days.