Toronto 2015 Pan American Games

[Ramako]

Hopefully the Pan Am Officials will take one look at shabby decaying Toronto and hit the " eject " button. The last thing our sorry ass town needs is this sort of chaos.

I'm just curious; if you think so poorly of this "sorry ass town" why do you live here?

 

[TO City of Light]

I think we will probably be safe.

From National Post:

Anti-games rally as PanAm dignitaries visit Pan Am Games

About three dozen protesters turned out this morning for a rally against Toronto’s bid for the 2015 Pan Am Games as dignitaries in town for a site tour took in BMO Field.

Members of the Pan American Sporting Organization are in the region for a visit as part of the decision-making process to award the games later this year. Toronto and region is competing against Bogota, Colombia, and Lima, Peru, for the 2015 events.

The demonstrators, though modest in number, included members of Bread Not Circuses, a grassroots movement that rose up against Toronto’s two failed Olympic bids.

They gathered across from Varsity Stadium in front of the University of Toronto’s part-time undergraduate students’ association building – which is slated for demolition in the event Toronto and region snags the games.

The site will be the home of a high-performance sport centre at the university if the effort to get the games proves successful.

John Clarke, from the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, said the ranks might not be large now, but he hopes the attention of protesting the evaluating committee’s visit will gain momentum across the GTA.

He said a mega-sporting event diverts resources away from priorities like transit, affordable housing and healthcare while the promised payoffs never materialize and more often leave a legacy of public debt.

Demonstrators chanted, listened to speeches, swayed to the beat of drums and lunched on roti.

Bread Not Circuses is alternately blamed for Toronto’s two failed Olympic bids and dismissed as incidental to the result.

Helen Lenskyj, a retired U of T professor who has written three books on the Olympics and dissent, said the group will take the credit.

PASO members wrap up a two-day tour of Toronto and Hamilton, the two largest cities in the region’s $1.4 billion bid to host some 38 sporting events at 50 venues in 16 municipalities.

 

[Riverdale Rink Rat]

Sorry for the push...

While I am truly staggered by RRR's "logic", he/she is absolutely right about Toronto.

Why build anything? If we really wanted it we would have done so already.

We are so very cool. Some might call it complacency or smugness but in Toronto we call it cool.

Saying Toronto is not shabby or decaying is simply ripping off from Monty Python's dead parrot skit.

... didn't mean to make you 'stagger'.

I was in Calgary in the lead-up to '88. The city was no-holds-barred excited by a Winter Olympics, because it meant the Flames would get a proper arena, a new ski hill closer to the city would be built, the University would get much-needed infrastructure and housing, and the construction spending was considered a much needed boost for an economy still feeling the effects of a brutal recession.

Sports every Calgarian loves? Check. Spending on priorities where there was no cash available before the Oly bid? Check. Cleaning up a downtown blighted by recession? Check.

What does a Pan-Am games, or Summer Olympics for that matter, bring to Toronto? A 20-50,000 seat stadium for track and field? We don't need a football, soccer, baseball, or other sports venue. For those people who want the government to pay for an NFL stadium much like they did a baseball park, maybe this is a good disguise, but otherwise why do I want to pay for a new stadium for the Tiger-Cats with my tax dollars? So... rowing? Competitive mountain biking? Lawn bowls? Why should I care and, since there is no freakin' way that this puppy makes money, why should my tax dollars go to this cause?

And... quit with the 'shabby' bad-mouthing. As with our man with the plan (and the camera) has more-than-adequately demonstrated when it comes to the parks, Toronto is not shabby at all. It's not dirty, or trashy. It's vibrant and it's growing and it's a great place to live and work. Full stop.

 

[toforumer]

Toronto should bid for Olympics again, Pan Am chair says

Toronto — Globe and Mail Update
Last updated on Monday, Aug. 31, 2009 07:34PM EDT
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...mpics-again-pan-am-chair-says/article1271070/

The head of the Pan Am Games evaluation commission said Monday Toronto's bid for the 2015 event meets all the requirements, and that the city would do well to apply again to host the Olympic Games.

Dr. Julio Cesar Maglione, the commission chair, spoke at the end of a marathon two-day, 18-stop, 24-venue tour of existing and planned facility sites through Toronto, Hamilton and Niagara.

"We have no doubt you have (met) all the conditions to host an excellent Games," he said. "This city could not only host the Pan Am Games but it could also host the Olympic Games as well."

He called Toronto 2015's stadiums "top-notch" and praised the planned 40-minute rail link between sites in Toronto and Hamilton.

"It's an honour to have a visit (during) these two days to Toronto," he said at a press conference in the Rogers Centre, which would host baseball games as well as the opening and closing ceremonies.

In Hamilton Monday, the bid committee arrived by GO Train and took a tour of McMaster University’s David Braley Centre, one of the proposed sites. They were joined by David Peterson, former Ontario premier and chair of the Toronto 2015 bid, as well as Michael Chambers, the president of the Canadian Olympic Committee.

"I think we showed off this city and the province to the very best," Mr. Peterson said. "I just want to thank Dr. Maglione and the commission. We've had a wonderful day."

During the two-day visit, the evaluation commission also toured the Air Canada Centre, BMO Field, Roy Thomson Hall, the Direct Energy Centre, and Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto, and took a helicopter ride over water courses in Niagara region that would host rowing and swimming events.

On Monday, they heard presentations from athletes, including rower Marnie McBean, a three-time Olympic gold medalist; cyclist Curt Harnett; and track star Trevino Betty. Jagoda Pike, the former Toronto Star publisher now serving as president of the bid committee, applauded the input of athletes.

“We’re fortunate to have athletes in Canada who are incredibly supportive of our bid for the 2015 Games,†she said in a statement.

Ms. McBean, who retired a decade ago and now works with the Canadian Olympic Committee, told the evaluation committee of her days training and racing as a rower on Niagara's Henley Island course.

"It's a first-class international course. And really, that's what the meeting was about today," Ms. McBean, who believes Toronto 2015 has put together a "phenomenal" bid, said in an interview. "It was sort of giving them a closer look at what the venues are, and the credibility of people like Trevino, Curt and myself coming in and saying, 'yeah, I would race here,' there's a value in that."

Toronto is a finalist along with Bogota, Colombia, and Lima, Peru. A final vote on the host city is expected to be announced in November. In the past two decades, Toronto has twice bid for the Olympics, losing in 1996 to Atlanta and in 2008 to Beijing. Mr. Peterson worked on the 2008 bid, while Mr. Chambers was vice-chairman of Vancouver's successful bid for the 2010 Olympic Games.

The Pan Am Games were last held in Canada in 1999, in Winnipeg. They will next be held in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2011.

 

[toforumer]

I think Toronto pretty much has these Pan Am Games sealed up.

 

[Mystic Point]

I sure hope these games don't happen. I can't imagine the chaos that will ensue. City Hall can't manage Toronto on the best of days. Add this item to their sprawling dysfunctional inability to do anything and it's a recipe for disaster. Oi.

 

[catcher_of_cats]

I sure hope these games don't happen. I can't imagine the chaos that will ensue. City Hall can't manage Toronto on the best of days. Add this item to their sprawling dysfunctional inability to do anything and it's a recipe for disaster. Oi.

These games will not be administered by the City of Toronto.

 

[Mystic Point]

If this thing happens you're looking at a disaster without parallel. City Hall and the Province can't help but get involved at every step of the way. And nothing but folly -- of the highest most corrupt order -- will follow. All with our tax dollars. Billions will be thrown into a pit of fire. And some developers and lawyers will make a fortune.

Somalia would do a better job of organizing something like this.

 

[toforumer]

lol..your posts are quite amusing. It's not going to be a disaster. I doubt a Pan Am Games will bring Chaos. They're not on the same scale of an Olympic games.

 

[Whoaccio]

Who here actually intends to visit the Pan-Am games, should they be awarded to Toronto? I have, personally, never heard anybody get exited over the possibility of seeing Peru play Guatemala in the Field Hockey semis.

EDIT: With those semis being in Stoney Creek, while the finals are in Uxbridge.

 

[TO City of Light]

But think of the discussion threads on Urban Toronto that this event will produce. The future is here!!!!!

Also why do so many posters assume that because they have a certain view, as strongly held as it may be, this is also the opinion that a region of 5 million people will collectively have when it comes to getting a few thousand people to an event .

 

[isaidso]

Who here actually intends to visit the Pan-Am games, should they be awarded to Toronto? I have, personally, never heard anybody get exited over the possibility of seeing Peru play Guatemala in the Field Hockey semis.

Most of these regional multi-sport competitions usually feature just a few major sporting nations. The Commonwealth has 3-5, the Asian Games is dominated by 3 nations, and at the Pan Ams the bulk of the medals are dispersed amongst only 4 nations from America. The USA, Cuba, Canada, and Brazil will win most of the medals in almost every sport. It's not as interesting as the Olympics, but Canadians will see Canadian contenders in almost every event. That's going to draw people.

People who follow sports beyond the big 4 Canadian sports and things like golf and tennis will follow these games enthusiastically. It's those people who aren't really fans of these sports who will lose interest quickly or have none to begin with.

The question really is whether Toronto is a big sports city, or just has interest in a few sports like hockey and soccer. History and observation would suggest that Toronto isn't really a great sports town. It's a good hockey and soccer town. That's about it. Basketball? The only team in the whole city that draws a crowd is the Raptors. None of the other teams get any support at all. Same goes for baseball. The Blue Jays draw quite poorly as far as MLB teams go, the other baseball teams are completely neglected. Toronto is a no man's land when it comes to football, yet astonishingly many want a 2nd pro team. Toronto can't even support the one it's got. Track and field, volleyball, rowing, cycling, gymnastics, swimming, etc? Um, better off going to Europe if you like those sports.

Torontonians seem to be living in this delusion that this is a great sports town simply because they have pro sports teams in soccer, football, baseball, basketball, and hockey. Well, any city of 6 million could support all 5 with its eyes closed. The true gauge is to ask yourself how many sporting events you've gone to this year? What can you comment on the state of our 4x100m medley teams? What do you think of Jessica Zelinka? Did you think the men's 8s were going to beat the Germans last weekend? How many high school or college sports events have you attended this last year? Do Torontonians know what the oldest pro football team on the continent is? Where was the first documented baseball game played?

A few Torontonians might have a clue, but 98% of us don't, or don't care. That's the damn truth whether people here want to hear it or not.

 

[Disparishun]

Who here actually intends to visit the Pan-Am games, should they be awarded to Toronto?

I do. I am bullish on the whole thing. I'm excited about our hosting what amounts to a major Latin American event. I think that major events like these are the kind of kick-start catalyst without which our city and region rarely gets in gear to get projects done.

 

[TOareaFan]

I do. I am bullish on the whole thing. I'm excited about our hosting what amounts to a major Latin American event. I think that major events like these are the kind of kick-start catalyst without which our city and region rarely gets in gear to get projects done.

Precisely....in the transportation section of UT there is a discussion about the improvements to the subway platform at Union Station......this is a project that, I believe, has universal support and it is acknowledged that we should have it..........if we had been successful in the Olympic bid (for 2008) we had promised the world that project (along with a few others) would be done before the start of the event..........we even had a very big press conference where the Mayor, the Premier and the Prime Minister all held up big cheques and put the money in the bank for the projects. Now, over a year after those games are done, we are finally approving the one project to get moving.

Games act like a big family reunion....they force us to paint those walls and replace those carpets that we know we need to do but we never get around to......knowing that guests are arriving at a specific time gets us up off the couch and doing the work.

Opponents of big games like this like to say that they lose money and the cost is too great....but they generally only lose money if you assume that everything built for the games was not going to happen anyway and should be allocated to the cost of the games (eg....Vancouver 2010...the see to sky highway and the Richmond train line are not included in their costs when they say they will break even or even turn a profit....opponents say they should be as they are being done for the Olympics....the reality is they need(ed) to be done anyway and will be of long term benefit...not just benefit the Olympics).

Toronto does a great job of letting opponents speak up (it is widely regarded as why we did not win the '96 olympic bid over Atlanta.....the IOC committee were given direct face-to-face time with vocal opponents...very unusual for a bid city to do that and it spooked some IOC people into thinking that no one in Toronto wanted the games)......sometimes, though, we give a bit too much weight to the opinions of a vocal minority as opposed to thinking of the value to the city/region and the "greater good"....which leads to a nasty cycle of catch 22....we don't get big events because we can never prove we have hosted big events.

 

[Anth]

Games act like a big family reunion....they force us to paint those walls and replace those carpets that we know we need to do but we never get around to......knowing that guests are arriving at a specific time gets us up off the couch and doing the work.

Good analogy.