I've posted links to info about the neighbourhoods that were razed for the Olympics in the recent past. I'm not making it up, these things actually happened. I don't know for sure if it was included in the various bids, but I'm guessing not, because people in those neighbourhoods found it to...

Like they did in London, Rio, Sochi, Barcelona. Oh, and ancient forest in Pyeongchang. But that's only a forest so who cares, right?

I wonder where Paris would site all the Olympic stuff. On the outskirts, I assume. Anyone know what their bid looks like?

Two winter Olympics and a summer Olympics from 40 years ago don't really hold up when considering the summer Olympics today. Presumably corruption levels in the UK are more or less the same as in Canada, so London 2012 is a better example to examine. The costs, successes and failures are...

Nailed it. It's the mentality of the Boxing Day shopper, the person who falls for "free gift with purchase", the Beanie Baby collector.

Linking global warming and cigarettes to this discussion? You might as well go full Godwin.

Obviously they'd prefer to get cracking ASAP, but laws, regulations, market forces, etc don't always allow that. The Olympics create a "state of exception" where the usual laws, regulations, market forces, etc don't apply. It's a great way to snap up land you might never get access to through...

No. That's a pretty weird interpretation. Every level of the Canadian government has assorted cronies in assorted industries, who are always looking for ways to profit. The development and construction industries LOVE mega-projects, so they buy politicians who will advocate for them. The...

"Why can't we build the useful transportation infrastructure without the useless mega sporting events?" I think it's somewhat along the lines of Starve the Beast approach to taxes and public spending. By withholding the funds for necessary improvements, eventually a desperation/semi-crisis...

You can't have it both ways. If Portes is a flack, so were the economists who did the study - commissioned by the UK government - saying the London Olympics netted an economic benefit.

The economists I quoted are not Brown flacks.

They're not anecdotes, they are comments from actual UK economists about the London Olympics. Wow.

LOL - research commissioned by the same government that rammed the thing. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-23370270 Note: But sports economist Stefan Szymanski said it was impossible to tell how much of the economic activity could be put down to the Games. "It's almost like a bit of creative...

Ask people in London if they think that $1.5B really sweetened the deal.

"Hey P23, why pollute this discussion with actual facts?? Paranoid conjecture and propaganda is so much more expedient." You mean like research by actual economists and urban planners who studied what happened in other host cities? "I'd like you to please note the 'could' in your own...

Logical fallacy. Had the Pan Ams never happened, waterfront development could still have proceeded especially taking into account the concurrent development boom. We'll never know, but even if the Pan Ams were absolutely necessary for that particular development, it doesn't follow that the...

"That's a more ridiculous claim than the guy saying we need to raze a bunch of neighbourhoods." Hosting the Olympics means displacing neighbourhoods. http://www.bostonagainstolympics.bid/why-oppose/housing-and-displacement/ You don't think it's coincidence that Olympic bids are backed by...

Is the UK a dictatorship?

It's not hyperbole when info is provided about the displacement that occurred with past Olympics.

Um yeah, like those two parcels of land are identical. And aren't there already plans for the Portlands? Or are we just ditching the plans if another sports party comes to town?