Olympics: Dave Zirin's SI.com article on the Games

[DoctorDoak]

All of the comments about the downtown eastside are lacking any context whatsover:


"But these aren't just p.r. gaffs to Vancouver residents, particularly on the eastside of the city where homelessness has spiked. Carol Martin who works in the downtown eastside of Vancouver, the most economically impoverished area in all of Canada, made this clear: "The Bid Committee promised that not a single person would be displaced due to the Games, but there are now 3,000 homeless people sleeping on Vancouver's streets and these people are facing increased police harassment as they try to clean the streets in the lead up to the Games."
I strolled the backstreets of the downtown eastside and police congregate on every corner, trying to hem in a palpable frustration and anger"


I lived and worked in East Van in the early 90's- my girlfriend at the time was a social worker in the area. "palpable frustration and anger" is/has been a daily way of life there for as long as anyone I know can remember. That goes back to early/mid 60's.

3,000 homeless?- How many were there before? Does anyone remember the last international event that led to low-income people being evicted so by-the-day rentals could make landowners more money? It was Expo 86', and now, nobody even remembers it happened.

Very few people in Vancouver, or B.C., give a **** about the plight of people on Hastings Street. That's a fact. It's been a 3rd world country for a long time- the Olympics are irrelevant. People *****ing about their taxes wouldn't have put a dime in voluntarily to help the people in that area- they never have before.

If Chicago got the Summer games can you imagine what this guy would have written about the South Side? It's either a story worth writing, or it's not, the Olympics have nothing to do with it.

You make some valid points, but the fact is that the Olympics were sold to Vancouver without people realising that this amount of public money that would be spent on them. Public money that could have been devoted to various infrastructure and social housing initiatives gets spent on fixing the problems created by VANOC's financial incompetence. Resentment has always been there in the DTES, but it's certainly been worsened by the extra burdens imposed by the Olympics.

And secondly, the issue of unprecedented displacement is a real one - they've passed new laws that allow police to remove homeless from the streets - problem is, there aren't enough shelters. There's a real possibility that folks will end up in jail because they have nowhere else to go.

So again, I'm still not seeing how the issues Zirin is raising are unrelated to the Olympics.

 

[Zaphod]

Given the recent Tyee article that reports the initial estimation of $10 billion in economic activity is no longer the figure favoured by those working within the government (closer to half that in best case scenario) and the cost is closing in on $7 billion... it's not a stretch to suggest people are becoming a little wary of the whole thing making the province take a multi-billion dollar bath.

 

[NOTENOUGHJTCGOALS]

Given the recent Tyee article that reports the initial estimation of $10 billion in economic activity is no longer the figure favoured by those working within the government (closer to half that in best case scenario) and the cost is closing in on $7 billion... it's not a stretch to suggest people are becoming a little wary of the whole thing making the province take a multi-billion dollar bath.

Are things like the Canada Line and the highway upgrades factored into that 7B cost? Because those are things that really should've been done anyways regardless of the Olympics.

I'm obviously not pleased at the costs regardless, but if that 7B is all blown on a 3 week event I'll be even more pissed. At least hopefully of those 7B we'll be getting some things to improve the city past the Olympics.

 

[Danavan]

"The original cost estimate was $660 million in public money. It's now at an admitted $6 billion and steadily climbing. An early economic impact statement was that the games could bring in $10 billion. Price Waterhouse Coopers just released their own study showing that the total economic impact will be more like $1 billion. In addition, the Olympic Village came in $100 million over budget and had to be bailed out by the city."

I don't know how accurate any of these numbers are but that is insane in any economy, let alone the current recession. To go from $660 million to over $6 billion in public spending? That is outrageous.

a lot of that was spent on infastructure though. The skytrain and redone sea to sky highway are making it a lot easier to get around the city and up to whistler and needed to get done anyways...the olympics just made it happen. Also i live about 5 minutes from the speed skating oval, and it is already being used a ton by Richmond residents for skating and it's gym facilities. It's also going to be turned into 2 or 3 much needed ice rinks after the games (I think).