My fantasy is a world that is great to live in for everyone. The problem is, it clashes with what people think is possible.
No, the problem is that its a fantasy, rather than an aspiration.
To be clear, aspiring to have your community, or province or country etc to have a higher standard of living or more amenities is not only fine, its essential, nothing ever gets better by accepting the status quo.
However, the better you seek needs to be logically attainable within a vaguely reasonable period of time, there should also be evidence that its a sound use of money. Preferences will vary, and that's fine, but you are often an advocate for things no less unrealistic that Sudbury getting its own NHL team (I await the thread for this idea.......now, sigh)
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The Summer Olympics are attainable by Toronto, but whether they are worthwhile to obtain is a different question.
I don't wish to visit that issue at length here, but rather, I'll note the often suggested benefits (new sports facilities, new affordable housing, new transit and sprucing up the community, along with tourism/branding benefits are all a bit questionable.
What's questionable is whether the sports facilities will be maintained (many are not in Olympic hosts cities), whether those facilities will benefit a broad swath of the community or solely elite athletes, and whether we couldn't just build the housing and the transit more cheaply, if it were built w/o the fanfare and cost of the olympics and perhaps be better sited as well.
There's also the question of whether the global exposure has a material, lasting impact on tourism.
The pros/cons are laid out quite well in this report by the Council on Foreign Relations:
The costs of hosting the Olympics have skyrocketed, while the economic benefits are far from clear. This has led to fewer states interested in playing host and a search for options to lighten the bur…
www.cfr.org
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When you read the above, I think you'd find the case isn't exactly compelling.
The one argument that carries some broader appeal, I think, is that it arguably forces a deadline on government to get certain things done. For Pan Am, the UP Express was such a project, long talked about, but promised to Pan Am organizers as ready and open for the games, it got the highest level of push from the province to 'just make it happen'.
When one can achieve a critical mass of well thought out, long needed projects and avoid needless delay.......that is tempting. Only the trade off for that is considerable added expense.
In the near-term Toronto simply has too much construction of all types already underway to handle one more mega project, on top of the current wish lists.
In the medium term, perhaps it could be revisited, but I'm not convinced that its a priority.
I'm also not sold that all the debt it entails will actually make most Torontonian/.Ontarian lives better
