Olympics: Hasn't New York City Suffered Enough?

Does New York really need a billion-dollar boondoggle like the Olympics, leaving its architectural detritus around the five boroughs and beyond?

1 minute read

November 9, 2002, 7:00 AM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen

"Yet everyone involved seems to be taking a holiday from reality, imagining that because New York's infrastructure already performs at 110%, there's no reason it can't work at 150% for a few weeks. Again, to quote Sharpton, "As a city that is probably the capital of gridlock, I don't think that would be a major problem." This is a statement nearly as stunning as Mayor Mike Bloomberg's recent premonition that bar patrons will drink more if they aren't allowed to smoke. And where the games will actually happen is yet another question; while there is talk of building a stadium over the rail yards on Manhattan's West Side, politics and geography will surely conspire to spread events through every hack's constituency within fifty miles."

Thanks to George Passantino

FULL STORY: Fool's Gold Medals

Thursday, November 7, 2002 in Reason Online

Community / Economic Development New York

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