http://www.thestar.com/article/516271
Pan Am games bid kickoff 'hit right notes'
Happy with official pitch in Mexico, organizers look to nitty gritty of picking GTA venues
Oct 12, 2008 04:30 AM
Vanessa Lu
City Hall Bureau Chief
ACAPULCO, Mexico–Now the real work begins.
After formally throwing Toronto's hat into the ring to host the 2015 Pan American Games, organizers have less than a year to bring home the big prize.
"I think we represented Toronto well. I think we hit the right notes. We weren't over the top; on the other hand, we were not modest," Premier Dalton McGuinty said yesterday in an interview before heading home. "I'm feeling good about this."
He made the official presentation Friday at the general assembly of the Pan American Sports Organization, accompanied by well-known athletes like runner Charmaine Crooks, a five-time Olympian, and rhythmic gymnast Alexandra Orlando, who won three gold medals at the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro last year.
Toronto is competing against Bogota, Colombia, and Lima, Peru, to host the games that take place every four years and are open to athletes from 42 countries in the Americas and the Caribbean.
Caracas, Venezuela, has pulled out of the race.
Toronto's organizers have already begun to woo voters for the bid that will be decided next summer or fall by secret ballot at a meeting in Guadalajara, Mexico.
While it is being touted as a Toronto bid here, it is being sold as a Golden Horseshoe bid at home with a dozen municipalities on board.
Organizers acknowledge the biggest challenge will be trying to please every municipality that wants a piece of the action.
"We'll work with the communities. We will try to make these intelligent decisions that best serve all concerned," McGuinty said. "Just because you don't end up with a particular facility in your community does not mean we are not going to benefit as a region from that."
Former premier David Peterson, bid chairman, acknowledges it will be a delicate balancing act.
"It must be fair and seen to be fair," Peterson said. "There are a lot of people with high expectations. I can guarantee you that some of the expectations will not be fulfilled.
"Some people are going to end up mad at me. There will be disappointment."
A board of directors, which would determine the evaluation process, is being finalized. It will include sports and business leaders from across the region.
The cost of the $1.77 billion games would be shared by cities, the province and the federal government. Ottawa has committed up to $500 million, while Queen's Park has promised to cover any cost overruns.
Municipalities seeking a venue will need to share in the capital costs plus ensure they can pay for their continual use after the games.
Peterson acknowledged some venues will have natural winners such as rowing in St. Catharines, but others will not be so clear.
Markham has been working to get a Canadian Sports Institute that would serve as a competitive training centre including aquatics, so the 2015 games would fit in perfectly, said Mayor Frank Scarpitti last week in Toronto.
Burlington Mayor Cam Jackson touts his city for soccer, field hockey and badminton.
"There's enough to go around to everybody," Jackson said last week. But there are already rumblings that Hamilton, eager to win the games as a way to refurbish the aging Ivor Wynne Stadium, is worried that it will lose out to Toronto.
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Link to UT thread on the Canadian Sports Institute (Markham)
http://www.urbantoronto.ca/showthread.php?t=10541
