In general I am very pro Olympics, I watch them, enjoy them and would be happy to have them here again in Calgary. I think the investment the City made in the 88 Olympics paid off because we had NEW 'state of the art' facilities that where built (Olympic Oval, Windsport, Nakiska improvements, permanent housing, etc.). Because of those investments we now have Hockey Canada here, and a number of Olympic athletes training here. All positives we are still benefiting from today.
But with this bid I really just don't see any long term positives. Other than a field house (which has been planned forever) I don’t see any NEW infrastructure for our city. I am not counting the NEW 6,000 seat stadium in the NW because that is just a plain stupid idea. All the other planned upgrades just seem like short term band aides that kick the problem down the road and don't fix anything long term.
I would much rather see an 8 billion dollar bid that does it right (new stadiums, affordable housing in Calgary, improvements to public transit, etc.) than a 6 billion dollar bid that is a half-assed effort. And the idea of having events in Whistler and Edmonton and still having Calgary Tax payers foot the bill isn’t going to fly with me.
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