London to Host 2012 Olympics

[JoeBlank]

Another Atlantan chiming in: Enjoy the opportunity for a once in a lifetime experience, but be prepared for the hassles.

I was lucky enough to be living and working a few hours away from Atlanta during the Olympics, so I did not have to deal with the traffic and other problems but was close enough to get to experience the good points. I'm back working in the city now, and there were some long-term benefits to the downtown area, although not nearly as much as some expected.

 

[diaglo]

You can rent floor space.

that's what realtors told us too


i own a 5 bedroom house. my wife and i were gonna rent out 3 of the rooms....

no takers.

we did put up some friends visiting from out of town. but we didn't get the renters like they said we would

the olympics are expensive. very expensive. be prepared to pay more for everything.

 

[johnsemlak]

Wow, this thread is just full of Olympic Spirit

Well, here's hoping the positives outweigh the negatives for Londoners. I certainly hope the city doesn't become even more expensive!

 

[drothgery]

I tend to prefer that the Olympics be in the same time zone as me, but not in the city that I'm living in (in a different state is good, too). That way the Games are easy to watch live on TV, but don't cause any problems locally. And if they're out of state, then I won't have much to do with paying for them. So I'm all for Vancouver's 2010 Winter Games.

 

[loki44]

I moved to Atlanta in 1994 and for the next two years weathered the preparations for the Olympics. At the time I lived about a mile from the main Stadium and all of the construction, especially on the roads, really made it difficult to get around. The actual Olympics were great. I loved having all the tourists around and it was a big party atmosphere. Once the games were done we definitely benefitted from the road improvements, etc... which is important here because we have a bad traffic problem. One drawback that I observed firsthand was a drastic rise in housing costs leading up and even after the Olympics. I worked in refugee resettlement during the 90's and finding affordable housing was always a challenge. The rise in housing costs has made life difficult for many low-income families who live in the city. Other than that, relax and enjoy. London is a great city and well-deserving of being an Olympic host.

 

[Timothy]

I was hoping for Moscow, personally. I guess that's the latent communist in me speaking. London is cool too.

Mr T is a latent communist!

Watching the A-team will never be the same again.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Just announced. What a surprise.

Congrats to the UK for winning the bid. It was a real uphill battle.

It was not a surprise to me at all. Moscow had the olympics in 1980, the US had LA, Atlanta, Lake Placid and Salt Lake in over the past 25 years. Spain had Barcelona in 1992.

France and England have not hosted the olympics in a much longer time, that is why I expected it to come down to London and Paris. France did host the Winter Games in Albertville in 1992, so I expected the committee to come down with a London decision.

Personally, while I enjoy the olympics, I think it has become too expensive in that cities have to produce new, world-class facilties to attract the committees attention. The people trying to get the olympics in their city get blinded by the prestige and the idea that the new infrastructure will recoup the expense and they do not look at the reality of the economics. And of course if you say you don't want the olympics in your city, people accuse you of "not having the olympic spirit." It is a shame it has become more about outdoing everyone else instead of being about who can do it well and economically.

 

[Branding Opportunity]

Living in the already over-over-over-crowded Big Apple, I'm glad that they didn't end up here. One thing I would not have been excited about is more tourists!

 

[Truth Seeker]

As a Londoner, I'm really unhappy that London has won.

Not only does it mean more vermin, read "tourists", it also means higher taxes for the next 20 years to pay for it.

WheW!!!, Thanks for the tip...didn't know that. But CONgrATS!!! CHEERS!!!

 

[MaxKaladin]

I suppose six hours will have to be enough. I was hoping the olympics would end up on the other side of the planet on the theory that if the events were all happening overnight for my time zone then there would be less disruption of the TV schedule and thus of my life. Hopefully the time differential will mean most events are airing early in the day and the prime-time schedule will be less affected.