Who's the new weirdo mayor of Vancouver??

[ShaolinFlame]

Originally Posted by Nancy

More like the reddest city in the world... the 2010 Winter Olympics are starting to look a lot more like the money sucking Montreal Olympics. They had to guarantee another $100 million loan to the developers of the Millenium Olympic Village, and now the city is on the hook for $500 million and some say they might not see that money back. This is on top of the cost overruns on other projects.

I have been saying this since the day I moved here three years ago and started watching civic politics. They solve most Olympic related problems in council (and BC leg for that matter) by means of the money toss.

They used to stand a chance of breaking even, but with the huge construction costs nowadays and the tightening of credit in world markets, things are looking more down than ever. The saddest part is that they are probably going to sell out most events and have a very successful Olympics attendance wise; I just don't see them being successful profit wise.

Vancouver just became a lot more Left in council(The Centre right party went from 6/10 to 1/10 seats). Property taxes are already pretty high as it is, and things are not looking up for the next two years in that regard. I feel sorry for people who own property here sometimes (and thank god for rent control policy).

Thankfully, I can still watch my favorite city councilor, the fat angry socialist Richard Cadman. It's weird because I am as right as you can get in this city, but I cannot get enough of watching this angry hippy tear people apart in council. Most entertaining daytime TV available IMO, just too bad nobody else cares enough (or at least finds it comical enough) to watch it with me.

[Table 5]

The main point of the Olympics is not to break even or make money....it's to advertise and expose your city to the rest of the world. The giant spotlight you bring to your city, and the legacy that comes afterwards, is why cities do it...not because it's economically prudent.

I know the number crunching citizens of Calgary are proud that they made money on the Olympics, but that really seems minor compared to the real benefit of name-recognition around the world and potential tourism dollars that it brings. Calgary was some random faceless city before 1988...afterwards it was a place to visit, a place to spend money, and a place to go raise a family.

I remember being a 7 year old living in Austria, who had never heard of the place before, and the Olympics changed everything. I had no idea my family would eventually end up there, but seeing the city on tv was mesmerizing, and made me think of it as a pretty great place. And it sure has hell wasn't because of finances.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Madman

Could there be a more pedophile looking mayor?

Not that it matters; but I seem to remember reading or hearing that he is gay.

Did I hear correctly - is he a member of the 'Vision' party??

I wonder how big their "compound" is?

Last I read they had 16,000 members in Vancouver. It is a mix coliation of Green, NDP, etc minded people.

Not a bad idea for politics at the civic level; Calgary would be better off with something like this. At least then voters would have an idea of where their stand in the political spectrum.

[Ronald Pagan]

Originally Posted by Table 5

The main point of the Olympics is not to break even or make money....it's to advertise and expose your city to the rest of the world. The giant spotlight you bring to your city, and the legacy that comes afterwards, is why cities do it...not because it's economically prudent.

I know the number crunching citizens of Calgary are proud that they made money on the Olympics, but that really seems minor compared to the real benefit of name-recognition around the world and potential tourism dollars that it brings. Calgary was some random faceless city before 1988...afterwards it was a place to visit, a place to spend money, and a place to go raise a family.

I remember being a 7 year old living in Austria, who had never heard of the place before, and the Olympics changed everything. I had no idea my family would eventually end up there, but seeing the city on tv was mesmerizing, and made me think of it as a pretty great place. And it sure has hell wasn't because of finances.

The only reason why the Calgary Olympics 'made' money is because the Federal and Provincial governments absorbed a significant portion of the capital construction construction costs while letting CODA keep all the gate receipts.

Don't fool yourself, the Calgary Olympics didn't make any money.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by Ronald Pagan

The only reason why the Calgary Olympics 'made' money is because the Federal and Provincial governments absorbed a significant portion of the capital construction construction costs while letting CODA keep all the gate receipts.

Don't fool yourself, the Calgary Olympics didn't make any money.

I'm not saying what you're saying is untrue, but you're going to need to give a better source than that.