Toronto Olympic Bid Book
Just some technical corrections - while there are plans to beautify Laksshore (or was it Queens Quay?), the Gardiner was supposed to stay up; there was never any concrete plan to renovate and expand Union Station proper - just twinning the platforms at Union subway stop; the Olympic stadium was meant to seat 60-80,000 (though 100K has also been throw around as a figure), and downsized back to 20,000 at the end of the games.
My material hard facts says otherwise.
I own a completed set of one of the 200 official detailed bid books printed that were presented to each IOC member.
The three volume, 600 page set breaks down every aspect of the planning, staging and budgeting for a Toronto 2008 Olympic Games.
I can confirm that the take down of the Gardiner Expressway was indeed part of the related Olympic budget, under the catergory of "Olympic Waterfront Infrustructure Plan". The bid budget included everything from the cost of the Airport Expansion and even the Sheppard Subway Line.
As for Union Station, it goes on to describe GO Transit's expansion plans and ridership projections, which included the building of a new West Concourse to meet the future system demands and the Olympics.
The most exciting new piece of downtown transit infrustructure for me was the building and introduction of an "Olympic Rings Shuttle" with frequent dedicated trains running between Exhibition Place, Union Station and a new Cherry Street GO Station to ferry spectators between the three main competition zones.
As for the Olympic Stadium, the book presents stadium plans for 100,000 seats, along with the related expected revenues from those seats in the bid budget.
I've just discovered under one section, they even had a written guarantee from PCL Construction Canada Inc to build the new Olympic Stadium for maximum price not exceeding $722,200,000(CDN).
They even went one step further and presented a 100% performance bond that had been obtained from the Zurich Insurance Company to cover that price contract obligation.
Even more amazing was a written agreement with the GTA building and trade unions with "no strike or no lock-out" guarantee between the period of September 1, 2001 to December 31, 2008.
I'm only speculating, however I strongly believe a deal would have been struck with Toronto investors to keep the stadium capacity after the Games to act as the new home for an NFL Team.
The 2008 Olympics Plan was both a bold and financially solid plan that would have transformed the face of this city at a much faster rate than we are doing now.
Sure it would have cost taxpayers billions no doubt about it. However that money would need to be spent regardless of the Olympics. I believe we can all agree with a firm 2008 deadline - that greater sense of need and urgency pushing our political leaders at every level, could only be to the greater benefit of all living in this city-region.
Louroz