Toronto decides against vying for 2024 Olympics,
That Pan Am high was real.
The good vibe was carefully constructed; the lasting afterglow meticulously conceived; the sense of pride thoughtfully delivered.
Introduced to a disinterested Toronto in 2009, the Games of the Americas exceeded all expectations because so little was expected. But upon reflection, the deliverables were sound and the execution worthy of study by those who crave the Olympics in the city of cynics.
(Mayor John Tory dithered over a decision to bid or not to bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics right up to Tuesday deadline. That spoke volumes about Toronto’s unreadiness to parlay Pam Am success to Olympic readiness. In the end, Tory declined to write the letter that would have kicked off a Toronto bid for the Games.)
For some reason, the Pan Ams never seemed or felt contrived. This was an enterprise built on sure footing by people who knew what legacies they wanted and went about grabbing them. It’s the antithesis of the doomed Olympic bid.
Some 31 hours to the deadline for the mayor to file a letter to the IOC, one of the architects of Panamania is at Nathan Phillips Square, holding a tourist’s smart phone, snapping pictures and telling her to share it around the world, like so many others have.
Tobias Novogrodsky is on vacation from the job he’s held for the last five years as the city’s director of strategic planning and implementation for the Pan Am Games. He and a journalist are looking at the constant flow of people interacting with that TORONTO sign, talking about the legacy of the Pan Ams and what the Games might teach us about any future bid for a multi-sport worldclass event that can swallow up a city and drown it in logistical and financial nightmare.
First, such big, multi-sports events are of regional and national significance so costs, risks, rewards and work must be shared broadly, he says. Meanwhile, the biggest benefit is this: “You can do things in partnership with others that you could never dream of accomplishing on your own.”
Hence, close to $1 billion is spent on the athlete’s village in west Donlands and the aquatic centre in Scarborough and the city’s share is under $50 million.
Years of planning and approvals had already prepared both sites for such projects. Natural partners were in place. U of T needed a sports centre on lands right next to an old city landfill. The city needed recreation facilities for an underserved community, including the poorer neighbourhood around Mornelle Ct. And Canada’s high-calibre athletes needed a training centre. That means the aquatic centre has a useful life after the Pan Ams.
The athletes’ village is a similar story. For decades those lands on the banks of the Don River were under study, in need of flood protection. The village served the athletes and now will provide housing, 25 per cent of it affordable, for Toronto residents.
The danger is that the needs of the Games will overwhelm the needs of the city. Only careful, long-term planning and clear vision of the city’s goals can forestall that, Novogrodsky says.
“Ensure you can deliver the Games for the city and the region, or you’ll find yourself planning and delivering a city for the Games,” he says, elegantly.
“The Games’ needs are short-term and narrow; the city’s needs are long-term and broad.” You can’t let the Games subsume the city, in other words.
Of course, that is the elephant in the room when the Olympics are contemplated. Who’s strong, organized and resolute enough to know what this city needs from the Olympics and insist on getting it?
A good percentage of Torontonians — usually around 40 per cent — don’t want to be bothered with the question, period. Olympics have swallowed up too many cities.
The majority? The uncertainty at city hall around the very idea of contemplating, possibly, maybe, a bid is enough to scare off many of those willing to pursue Novogrodsky’s approach.
It’s not like we don’t need more housing and massively expensive transportation that Games like this can leverage. Royson James usually appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Email: rjames@thestar.ca