Here I am, just another among, I’m sure, thousands who have been posting about the announcement of our “winning” the 2010 Olympic bid. Another voice drowned in many. I’m sure I repeat others unknowingly. Perhaps I should go read what others have to say first…? Nah.
It worries me that the most heavily regulated city in Canada is going to be hosting such a large scale event. (We couldn’t even have Canada Day fireworks because of non-existant “safety issues”). Plus – since Expo, we have the highest cost of living in Canada! Wasn’t it estimated that everything went up roughly $400/month from that? After that, not only did prices continue at thier inflated level, there was an employment crash and mass exodus. Sure, we got the skytrain, but so? We have a train that goes to nowhere and circles back again and dies when we have more than four inches of snow. Our transit system overall is pathetic! Not to mention our health-care and artist cuts.
I think it unlikely that any of the money put forward for the Olympics will benifit Vancouver in any long-term way. I feel that it would be so much more worthwhile for the city to put money into programs that would benifit us locally. There should be a push to support our CITY and not our image. We have an image already. NoFunCity, remember? Let’s change that before we start putting highways in watersheds!