Kiwi
Active Member
^ Winnipeg had a budget of less than $200 million during the last Pan Am Games. 2015 Pan Am Games is worth $2.1 billion.
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Toronto 2015 Pan American Games
- Thread starter FutureMayor
- Start date
jn_12
Senior Member
They only spent $141million in 1999.
From what I can gather (mostly from wikipedia, which if you were curious about the lasting benefits of Winnipeg's Pan-Ams, you could have done yourself), they upgraded Winnipeg Stadium (which allowed them to host the Grey Cup for the first time two years later and again in 96), they built the U of M athletic centre which is the home to the national training centre for volleyball and basketball.
From 1967, they built the Pan Am Pool which was used again in 99 and hosted the world women's water polo championships in 99. It's also home to the Pan Am Clinic which specializes in sports injuries.
I'm sure there are other things (sports fields and relevant facilities) but it's difficult to find because typing any combination of Winnipeg, Pan-ams, infrastructure, 1999, etc into google just brings up tons of articles from this weekend about Toronto winning the games. Plus I'm not from Winnipeg, nor have I ever been there.
For a place like Winnipeg, I'm sure these were all the types of facilities and upgrades they needed. We're in another echelon and should have some greater expectations I think.
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Torontovibe
Senior Member
OK, let me get this straight. We are going to spend billions to build facilities, develop The West Don Lands, redo the Skydome, renovate the base of the CN Tower, build new LRT lines, redo Queen's Quay, in order to get ready for the games and the tourists, yet, our sidewalks will be filled with homeless people and every street post will be plastered with posters and junk.
How great will that look?
How embarrassing will it be if we don't clean up this city and get homeless people a place to sleep? Don't people think that if we put a bit of effort into getting homeless people off the streets, taking down or at least replacing ugly street poles and stopping punks from postering and degrading every availabe space possible in this city, it would go a long way to changing people's attitudes and opinions of Toronto?
I just find it funny to spend all this money, if we are going to let the most obvious blights to this city remain. I hope some thought is going to be given to that. Well, more than just thought, ACTION!
How great will that look?
How embarrassing will it be if we don't clean up this city and get homeless people a place to sleep? Don't people think that if we put a bit of effort into getting homeless people off the streets, taking down or at least replacing ugly street poles and stopping punks from postering and degrading every availabe space possible in this city, it would go a long way to changing people's attitudes and opinions of Toronto?
I just find it funny to spend all this money, if we are going to let the most obvious blights to this city remain. I hope some thought is going to be given to that. Well, more than just thought, ACTION!
syn
Senior Member
Who's to say these blights will remain? I'd also suggest that any money saved from not getting the games wouldn't be diverted to these social problems.
With a large contingent of tourists coming in just over 5 years, I'd say the city will have to get its act together in more ways than one.
Second_in_pie
Senior Member
I agree, but I don't think the importance of building new facilities and transportation links should be downplayed. I think that if we do the Pan Am games well, there's a very strong chance that we'll get the 2020 Olympics. By then, we'll be on our way to a very strong transportation network (whether it be LRT or not,) and we'll have all the upgrades and facilities that we got from Pan Am.
So I guess that cleaning up the streets can be part of our bid for the Olympics? I wonder if they're doing this strategically
jn_12
Senior Member
International opinion of Toronto isn't that it's dirty and filled with homeless. It's actually quite the opposite. Most people view Toronto as a very clean, safe and friendly city (Trust me, I know this for a fact. My job one summer was just to talk to tourists about their opinions of the city). Do we have homeless people? Yep, we do. Name me a city of our size that doesn't. You'd be hard pressed to find one.
Should we be beautifying the city? Of course. We could easily pour a lot of money into downtown like Chicago does and created a beautiful area that tourists will see. Instead we opt to spread the money around to all parts of the city (which is fantastic). Anyways, some areas are being spruced up like Bloor St and the Waterfront, and those are two of the main places that tourists are going to visit. So we're well on our way.
toforumer
Active Member
Man do some people just love to complan!
You guys should be happy that the government is finally going to start pouring money back into the City of Toronto since this city usually pays out much more in taxes then what gets invested back into the city.
It's about time the government focuses on Canada's biggest city and improves infrastructure. We're helping to pay for Vancouver's Olympics, so why not get our money back? These kind of events are usually an easy way to get projects completed by a deadline. All the years and years of discussing what we should do or what Toronto can be will now finally just be done instead of the chat chat chat that this city loves to do.
Here's looking forward to a future Olympic bid and a brand new Olympic Stadium so we can finally get our NFL franchise.
You guys should be happy that the government is finally going to start pouring money back into the City of Toronto since this city usually pays out much more in taxes then what gets invested back into the city.
It's about time the government focuses on Canada's biggest city and improves infrastructure. We're helping to pay for Vancouver's Olympics, so why not get our money back? These kind of events are usually an easy way to get projects completed by a deadline. All the years and years of discussing what we should do or what Toronto can be will now finally just be done instead of the chat chat chat that this city loves to do.
Here's looking forward to a future Olympic bid and a brand new Olympic Stadium so we can finally get our NFL franchise.
tkip
Active Member
Once again....
If all you can do is complain about the city then maybe it's time to consider leaving for somewhere else. Just a suggestion.
If all you can do is complain about the city then maybe it's time to consider leaving for somewhere else. Just a suggestion.
toforumer
Active Member
Honestly!
These NIMBY's are quite annoying just like those dumbass protesters against Vancouver Olympics. Look at the shit they are causing during the Torch Relay. If you don't know what I'm talking about you can google it. Do they honestly think they will cancel the Vancouver Olympics because they are making asses out of themselves and disrupting the Torch relay?
hbl33
Active Member
Alright, let's hang those damned monkeys!
(I wished that I could go beyond this, but lets keep this thread "sane")
What's wrong with that? That is only minor problem of T.O..
Have you seen garbage strikes? York U strikes? Adam Vaughan? These are more threats that the street "slums" as you call it.
Keeping the city "beautiful" can be done as the infrastructure progresses. All the projects you mentioned above not only improves the image, but also the aura of the residents as well. You asking them to just get ridda homeless people, clean up street poles and all these time-wasting chores?
There are plenty of suburbs available for you to dwell. Yes I do live in Mississauga, but so far it is transitioning to Toronto-like municipality.
The only "blight" I see are NIMBYs in this thread and in Toronto. Small blemishes always appear and dissapear as time progresses and infrastructure improves. And yes, let's do some action! Attack these DIMBY's! (Dumb@55es IN MY BACKYARD!)
(I wished that I could go beyond this, but lets keep this thread "sane")
What's wrong with that? That is only minor problem of T.O..
Have you seen garbage strikes? York U strikes? Adam Vaughan? These are more threats that the street "slums" as you call it.
Keeping the city "beautiful" can be done as the infrastructure progresses. All the projects you mentioned above not only improves the image, but also the aura of the residents as well. You asking them to just get ridda homeless people, clean up street poles and all these time-wasting chores?
There are plenty of suburbs available for you to dwell. Yes I do live in Mississauga, but so far it is transitioning to Toronto-like municipality.
The only "blight" I see are NIMBYs in this thread and in Toronto. Small blemishes always appear and dissapear as time progresses and infrastructure improves. And yes, let's do some action! Attack these DIMBY's! (Dumb@55es IN MY BACKYARD!)
Tewder
Senior Member
I also hope some serious city beautification will happen, including the burial of hydro poles, tree plantings and repaired/upgraded pavings etc. Without this everything else *could* just feel like lipstick on a pig.
... and the big question for me is whether any of this will mean more subways????
... and the big question for me is whether any of this will mean more subways????
MetroMan
Senior Member
Speaking of the Vancouver games, our PanAm games can be said to have a similar impact and importance for each respective region. In fact, the Winter Olympics cost $1.7B, much less than what we're putting into our games.
jn_12 already answered this question and did so very definitively, but I'll add:
Why do you think that the majority of our Gold medalists -- heck, most of our Olympic athletes -- are from the West? I personally known several Ontario born Athletes who've traveled or moved to Winnipeg to train at the Olympic level. We simply don't have the facilities here. The next generation will.
jn_12 already answered this question and did so very definitively, but I'll add:
Why do you think that the majority of our Gold medalists -- heck, most of our Olympic athletes -- are from the West? I personally known several Ontario born Athletes who've traveled or moved to Winnipeg to train at the Olympic level. We simply don't have the facilities here. The next generation will.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
How about jobs becoming available in construction and administration because of the games? How about the jobs during the games?
Better to get them jobs than to give them handouts. Rather have them working than sitting around waiting for the next handout.
Mystic Point
Active Member
There will be minor spending on infrastructure and absolutely no money for the TTC. Expect no additional subways. They will, of course, make some new signs. Many of which will be hand written as that is the way the TTC does these things.
Union Station will continue to languish in it's current state.
There will be no train service to Pearson. That will be deemed too extravagant for something as insignificant as the Pan Am Games.
A number of shabby buildings will be put up to form a Pan Am shanty town. These will serve as excellent candidates for the annual Pugly Awards, so maybe it's not such a bad thing. It's not as if one has to go into that section of town anyway.
Early in the construction process, the money will dry up. Organizers will declare this a potential disaster to the beloved games. The Fed and the Province will vanish. Leaving the poor citizens of Toronto fix the mess.
At this point, UT Forum will be filled with angry rants about how this happened.
The 8 or so clowns who got the city into this mess will all be long gone. But the bills will continue to mount and we will be expected to pay.
A handful of developers will make a fortune.
Another election will roll around. Candidates will swear -- something like -- the Pan Am Games fiasco will never happen again. They will also talk about cleaning up city hall. And so on and so forth.
And then it's back to business as usual in Toronto.
Riverdale Rink Rat
Senior Member
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THAT is a fabulous haiku!!!
Of course, it doesn't follow the relatively strict rules of either haikus or reality.
This may or may not make money or attract tourists. It will, however, put in place some serious infrastructure. Bitch about it all you want, we're still going to stick transit and sports facility improvements down your throat.
Of course, it doesn't follow the relatively strict rules of either haikus or reality.
This may or may not make money or attract tourists. It will, however, put in place some serious infrastructure. Bitch about it all you want, we're still going to stick transit and sports facility improvements down your throat.