There is an old chinese: "Sometimes money wasted is well spent"

I am no Olympics fan but see some benefits in the fact that the city got a bit of a spruce up, the Canada Line was built and there was a bit of a push, finally, to finish the Woodwards complex. The international attention on the Downtown Eastside made it clear that Vancouver has been allowed to become the dumping ground for large numbers of unwanted/hard-to-house misfits from across this land (The wife and I were accosted by an weeping Aussie during the games wanting $14 so he could "go home".)
The (surprising to me) enthusiasm of the people downtown, night after night, without huge amounts of serious crime, was very pleasing. The way the VPD handled the revellers was masterful. I am no flag waver, but did enjoy the obvious pride, shown by so many, in this strange but great country. Oh yes, some people, knowing they couldn't park downtown all day for cheap (day parking was as high as $80) actually took the bus!

As to the games themselves, Canada did very well indeed as did the US, Germany, Norway and so many countries. There was no scandal or terrorism and I hope the ParaOlympics can run their course similarly.

We all know it will take at least 10 years to really get an idea of the total Olympics costs and benefits. I wonder how much longer countries will be able to afford hosting Olympics. More importantly, Vanoc has shown young people what can happen to established regulations/bylaws when power is used - it is true: "Might makes Right".