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Party's over: Vancouver has Olympic hangover
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-03-02 11:33
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 A visitor takes pictures with his cellphone at the Olympic cauldron a day after the 2010 winter games ended in Vancouver[Photo/Agencies]
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"The feeling is such a cascade leading up and everybody got caught up in it and now that it is over they are deflated, he said. "They want it to go on."
That was evident down the road at the official Olympic Superstore.
The lines were shorter - less than half a block after stretching as long as five-blocks during the Games - but by noon the store was packed with people in search of Olympic memorabilia. Even with the popular $10 red mittens sold out, people lined up 50 deep to pay full price for all kinds of Canada and 2010 items, perhaps unaware the same stuff was already marked down 70 percent in the suburbs.
As willing as Vancouver residents were to pay for an Olympic memento, the long-term cost of hosting the 2010 Winter Games could be a lot more expensive and harder to swallow.
With a price tag between $2-$7 billion, depending on whether you are a critic or proponent, there are Olympian-sized bills to be paid. The City is on the hook for the $1 billion athlete's village, and can only hope the competitor's rave reviews, combined with picturesque television footage of the waterfront it sits on, will be enough to sell the units at a high enough price to cover the costs - and still keep promises of 250 units of social housing, which now seems unlikely.
That will be an ongoing rallying cry for various groups of protesters that made their voices heard during the Games, loudly pointing out the irony of escalating Olympic costs at a time of cuts to education, health care and social services, particularly in the drug-riddled Downtown Eastside.
And while most of the water cooler talk - it was also a great place to wash down some aspirin - on Monday was about Crosby and so many of the other great stories behind a record 14 gold medals for Canada, some also wondered aloud about the lasting impact of the Olympics on the city.
"Right now people are still in a bit of shock that it's over and there is an Olympic downer," said Joe Cahan, an attorney and longtime resident who was admittedly against the Winter Games, even leaving town the first week before getting caught up in the finale. "It was incredible for Canadian athletes and great exposure to the world. But we're also mulling over what it means long-term to Vancouver beyond higher taxes and property prices, and I'm pessimistic about the benefits."
