West Ham to get Olympic Stadium

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Fully agree with Stifler here, sorry folks. Money better spent elsewhere, just so London could cover itself in glory

[Stifler]

p*ss off man Stifler, it was f***ing superb.

Really, for what 4 weeks of lime light?

Now most of the venues are white elephants, money wasted which could have been better spent elsewhere.

 

Sorry but I'd rather have a duelled A1, more transport infrastructure, more and better public transport, schools being invested in/rebuilt.

 

Well apart from the fact that would cost about ten times more, the Olympics were class and partly paid for with increased taxes in london which wouldnt have happened otherwise.

 

Also without things like the Olympics happening a highlight of your lifetime remembered forever, what is there to live for? roads, schools, cars, for what.. a sad life with nothing out of the ordinary

Increased taxes in London?, only increase in council tax because they were living next to a whole new regenerated area. The same would have applied elsewhere across the country, increase in public transport, other amenities would have resulted in an increase in house prices and as a result an increase in council tax. You have to also remember that council tax also gets invested locally and not nationally so all that revenue through increased taxes is again spent in London.

 

They would have cost 10 times as more, chirst almighty, what scaremongering have you been reading?

Read any respectable national newspaper on what that money could have been spent on instead of the Olympics before the Olympics happened and they went into "Olympics media" mode. Read the FT articles afterwards that say the job creation was  short lived an it didn't even bring in the revenue the government said it would bring in never mind what that money spent elsewhere could have brought in.

 

Go on Skyscrapercity forums and check out the leading minds of construction, infrastructure, job creators have to say on the matter and where they would have spent the money.

[mrmojorisin75]

wait so it cost 11bn but what did it bring in financially?  my assumption has always been with these things (say euro 96 too) that the hosts spend big but are doing so to reap the massive rewards that come from hosting such an event no?  if the 11bn was your classic modern britain fuckup when the initial budget was 2m or something then that's a different thing

 

from my side, not having seen a second of the london olympics, i can honestly say that living abroad in one country and working in another the olympics had a massively positive effect on people for england and britian like, people were asking me questions about stuff they'd otherwise not have known existed

 

the asians were mental for it like, mental, that'll reap it's rewards in the long game

[OzzieMandias]

All the more reason for a club called Orient to get the stadium.

[leffe186]

All the more reason for a club called Orient to get the stadium.

 

All hail the mighty O's. It would also do away with any worries about the second tier, you'd only need the front row.

[OzzieMandias]

Yeah, they're small, so fuck 'em.

 

[Interpolic]

Many of the venues were built as temporary structures to be knocked down or downsized, they even recycled some bits to send over to Rio for the 2016 games.  The white elephant stuff is rubbish and it's inevitable that people are coming out with it.  The Olympic Park was built specifically not to create white elephants.

 

There's more info on what they're doing with the Park now on, erm, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Park,_London

 

To slag off London for it is just really bitter tbh, they couldn't have held it anywhere else in the UK and chose to have it in one of the most deprived areas in the whole country (where I live basically, which is a mix of grim poverty and poncey idiots like me - bit like a lot of London). 

 

People need to get rid of the chips on their shoulders about London, it's 3 hours on the fucking train man - you could have came along if you wanted to.  As people have said, my council tax went towards the Olympics and I'm perfectly happy with that, I'm sure it caused a decent spike in the economy and you can't put a price on the spectacle it was and the inspiration it will have had on many people.

[Martin Lol]

Just before the Olympics event started the total cost was just over £11bn, about £9bn was public money (though you could say the other £2bn was as well since it came from a company the government set up and funded). Thats cost is still rising.

 

Sorry but when we are a country talking about how the NHS has been underfunded for decades, schools in a poor state with too little investment, leisure/sport facilities under funded (I mean at grass roots level, not needless stadia), roads not being kept up to standard, pubic transport not kept up to standard, little investment in the railways etc. Yeah £11bn + was well spent on the Olympics because most of were able to have good viewing on TV (the vast majority couldn't afford nor get tickets to the events we wished to see).

 

Now the only stadia left at the park that are doing well are the velodrome (which has taken events from another location in the UK), the swimming (at a reduced capacity), and the copper box (which again has taken events and teams from elsewhere).

 

 

Everything else is a white elephant.

Just before the Olympics event started the total cost was just over £11bn, about £9bn was public money (though you could say the other £2bn was as well since it came from a company the government set up and funded). Thats cost is still rising.

 

Sorry but when we are a country talking about how the NHS has been underfunded for decades, schools in a poor state with too little investment, leisure/sport facilities under funded (I mean at grass roots level, not needless stadia), roads not being kept up to standard, pubic transport not kept up to standard, little investment in the railways etc. Yeah £11bn + was well spent on the Olympics because most of were able to have good viewing on TV (the vast majority couldn't afford nor get tickets to the events we wished to see).

 

Now the only stadia left at the park that are doing well are the velodrome (which has taken events from another location in the UK), the swimming (at a reduced capacity), and the copper box (which again has taken events and teams from elsewhere).

 

 

Everything else is a white elephant.

Just before the Olympics event started the total cost was just over £11bn, about £9bn was public money (though you could say the other £2bn was as well since it came from a company the government set up and funded). Thats cost is still rising.

 

Sorry but when we are a country talking about how the NHS has been underfunded for decades, schools in a poor state with too little investment, leisure/sport facilities under funded (I mean at grass roots level, not needless stadia), roads not being kept up to standard, pubic transport not kept up to standard, little investment in the railways etc. Yeah £11bn + was well spent on the Olympics because most of were able to have good viewing on TV (the vast majority couldn't afford nor get tickets to the events we wished to see).

 

Now the only stadia left at the park that are doing well are the velodrome (which has taken events from another location in the UK), the swimming (at a reduced capacity), and the copper box (which again has taken events and teams from elsewhere).

 

 

Everything else is a white elephant.

 

the stadium is being used for football and summer athletic events

 

The stadium may be used for football in the future, but the plan appears to be not use 20000 of the permanent seating because the seats are too far away from the pitch and instead use 19000 temporary seats placed on the athletics track which would have to be removed for an athletics event.  Additionally, the temporary seating cannot be tiered as it would affect the viewing of the permanent lower tier seating. 

 

The priority should have been to have a permanent legacy sorted out before the construction started so that the design would have taken the future use into account.  Surely it has to be a pre-requiste that the stadium is fit for purpose for its future use? 

 

As it is, I agree with Stifler, the Olympic Stadium is nothing but a white elephant, as is much of the Olympic facilities.

[Guest thenorthumbrian]

Good luck to the part of London which has benefited from billions of infrastructure spending. And I sure all the London tourist attractions will enjoy extra visitors. the legacy for tTyneside and the North East ? fuck all.

[Pata]

p*ss off man Stifler, it was f***ing superb.

Really, for what 4 weeks of lime light?

Now most of the venues are white elephants, money wasted which could have been better spent elsewhere.

 

Sorry but I'd rather have a duelled A1, more transport infrastructure, more and better public transport, schools being invested in/rebuilt.

 

Well apart from the fact that would cost about ten times more, the Olympics were class and partly paid for with increased taxes in london which wouldnt have happened otherwise.

 

Also without things like the Olympics happening a highlight of your lifetime remembered forever, what is there to live for? roads, schools, cars, for what.. a sad life with nothing out of the ordinary

Increased taxes in London?, only increase in council tax because they were living next to a whole new regenerated area. The same would have applied elsewhere across the country, increase in public transport, other amenities would have resulted in an increase in house prices and as a result an increase in council tax. You have to also remember that council tax also gets invested locally and not nationally so all that revenue through increased taxes is again spent in London.

 

They would have cost 10 times as more, chirst almighty, what scaremongering have you been reading?

Read any respectable national newspaper on what that money could have been spent on instead of the Olympics before the Olympics happened and they went into "Olympics media" mode. Read the FT articles afterwards that say the job creation was  short lived an it didn't even bring in the revenue the government said it would bring in never mind what that money spent elsewhere could have brought in.

 

Go on Skyscrapercity forums and check out the leading minds of construction, infrastructure, job creators have to say on the matter and where they would have spent the money.

 

That's like asking us how Ashley should spend his money. 

[Stifler]

p*ss off man Stifler, it was f***ing superb.

Really, for what 4 weeks of lime light?

Now most of the venues are white elephants, money wasted which could have been better spent elsewhere.

 

Sorry but I'd rather have a duelled A1, more transport infrastructure, more and better public transport, schools being invested in/rebuilt.

 

Well apart from the fact that would cost about ten times more, the Olympics were class and partly paid for with increased taxes in london which wouldnt have happened otherwise.

 

Also without things like the Olympics happening a highlight of your lifetime remembered forever, what is there to live for? roads, schools, cars, for what.. a sad life with nothing out of the ordinary

Increased taxes in London?, only increase in council tax because they were living next to a whole new regenerated area. The same would have applied elsewhere across the country, increase in public transport, other amenities would have resulted in an increase in house prices and as a result an increase in council tax. You have to also remember that council tax also gets invested locally and not nationally so all that revenue through increased taxes is again spent in London.

 

They would have cost 10 times as more, chirst almighty, what scaremongering have you been reading?

Read any respectable national newspaper on what that money could have been spent on instead of the Olympics before the Olympics happened and they went into "Olympics media" mode. Read the FT articles afterwards that say the job creation was  short lived an it didn't even bring in the revenue the government said it would bring in never mind what that money spent elsewhere could have brought in.

 

Go on Skyscrapercity forums and check out the leading minds of construction, infrastructure, job creators have to say on the matter and where they would have spent the money.

 

That's like asking us how Ashley should spend his money. 

Not really, as I have already quite a lot of people in there have a lot of influence not only to developers but also to government and government agencies.

[Stifler]

Many of the venues were built as temporary structures to be knocked down or downsized, they even recycled some bits to send over to Rio for the 2016 games.  The white elephant stuff is rubbish and it's inevitable that people are coming out with it.  The Olympic Park was built specifically not to create white elephants.

 

There's more info on what they're doing with the Park now on, erm, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Park,_London

 

To slag off London for it is just really bitter tbh, they couldn't have held it anywhere else in the UK and chose to have it in one of the most deprived areas in the whole country (where I live basically, which is a mix of grim poverty and poncey idiots like me - bit like a lot of London). 

 

People need to get rid of the chips on their shoulders about London, it's 3 hours on the fucking train man - you could have came along if you wanted to.  As people have said, my council tax went towards the Olympics and I'm perfectly happy with that, I'm sure it caused a decent spike in the economy and you can't put a price on the spectacle it was and the inspiration it will have had on many people.

Hardly any if any of the reusable venues are going to Rio, the basketball arena was the latest to be offered and the latest to be rejected by Rio. The Olympic park was built specifically not have any white elephants by scrapping the buildings or relocating them afterwards. As a result the largest permanent development has been left with no job to do, apart from part time work as an athletics venue however that isn't expected until 2015 and it has no guarantee it will be permanent usage. It is ver much at this stage a white elephant.

 

I'm not slagging off London, the thing is though thats all we have heard from London about the area, "Oh it was deprived, it needed something doing to it", very well but what about everywhere in the UK that is hit by poverty. Go to Wales where poverty is rife, go to the less well off parts on Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, the list goes on and on. Poverty is all over the UK however it's only ever poverty in London that gets noticed, that gets help. You know what it is, the people of London weather or not they are poor or rich have the whole fucking world on their doorstep with untold possibilities waiting for them, there is other places in the UK where that is not so. Very well help that area of London, but it could have been done without the Olympics and for much less, and other parts of the UK could have and should have benefited from that £11bn. Also I have to mention this as well, the majority of the Olympic site was industrial usage not residential.

 

Your council tax has never went towards the cost of the Olympics, your house has possibly had an increase in price because of the Olympics as a result your council tax will rise however non of that will go towards the cost of the Olympics, it go towards the cost council facilities and services in your area, some of which may very well be placed in the Olympic park but your council tax has never and will never contribute to the initial cost of building, and staging the Olympics.

[Interpolic]

Poverty is all over the UK however it's only ever poverty in London that gets noticed, that gets help.

 

That is utter fucking bollocks mate, you should actually be ashamed.

 

You know what it is, the people of London weather or not they are poor or rich have the whole fucking world on their doorstep with untold possibilities waiting for them, there is other places in the UK where that is not so.

 

Do you think that makes one jot of difference to the type of people we're talking about?  My mam works in a social housing role for the council, when I moved down here she asked me where I lived and I told her, she said "Oh, Tower Hamlets, I've heard of that.  I've heard of that because it's the only borough in the country that's worse off than us".

 

Your council tax has never went towards the cost of the Olympics, your house has possibly had an increase in price because of the Olympics as a result your council tax will rise however non of that will go towards the cost of the Olympics, it go towards the cost council facilities and services in your area, some of which may very well be placed in the Olympic park but your council tax has never and will never contribute to the initial cost of building, and staging the Olympics.

 

It's well documented that 'Londoners' would pay for the Olympics out of their own pocket, i.e. through council tax.  So you're just making things up now.

[Dave]

Ridiculous to slate the Olympics for costing £11bn, you'd only get about three Metro stations for that.

[Jack Flash]

People need to get rid of the chips on their shoulders about London, it's 3 hours on the f***ing train man - you could have came along if you wanted to.

 

How much would you estimate it would have cost for a family of 4 from Newcastle (or similar) to come down to see 3 or 4 events with trains (inc tube tickets), event tickets, accommodation, food etc? That's on top of probably needing at least a few days off work/school.

 

Same goes for England playing their home games on a Friday night but that's by the by.

[Stifler]

Ridiculous to slate the Olympics for costing £11bn, you'd only get about three Metro stations for that.

Are you shitting me? To keep the Metro running for the next 20 years is estimated to cost under £1bn, that includes new trains, new ticket machines, some rebuilt stations, all stations refurbished, nearly the whole track system relaid, duelling the single line of track of in South Tyneside, etc.

[Fugazi]

Ridiculous to slate the Olympics for costing £11bn, you'd only get about three Metro stations for that.

Are you shitting me? To keep the Metro running for the next 20 years is estimated to cost under £1bn, that includes new trains, new ticket machines, some rebuilt stations, all stations refurbished, nearly the whole track system relaid, duelling the single line of track of in South Tyneside, etc.

 

Way to miss the joke

[Interpolic]

People need to get rid of the chips on their shoulders about London, it's 3 hours on the f***ing train man - you could have came along if you wanted to.

 

How much would you estimate it would have cost for a family of 4 from Newcastle (or similar) to come down to see 3 or 4 events with trains (inc tube tickets), event tickets, accommodation, food etc? That's on top of probably needing at least a few days off work/school.

 

Same goes for England playing their home games on a Friday night but that's by the by.

 

Trains would have been cheap as chips if they'd got in early, ticket prices were reasonable (particularly for the Paralympics, which is what I went to).  Not sure why you're going on about accommodation and taking lots of time off work, my brother's a teacher and he brought about 10 kids down to see some Paralympics events and they just did it like a day trip.  What did you want them to do, host it all over the country?*  People are just having a go for the sake of it.

 

* Oh hang on, they did that.

[Stifler]

Interpolic.

 

1. Tell that to the rest of the country, it's your ignorance of the fact that London comes 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and last not our ignorance of any of it's problems.

 

2. And what about the rest of the UK?, as I have already said fair enough help and redevelop the bad parts of London as well, I don't begrudge that, just don't take the piss and do it with £11bn pounds of funds for what is an area of about 2 miles which was formally industrial land, not residential (though a small proportion of this land may have been used as residential land)

 

3. Name and provide one creditable link. 

[Stifler]

People need to get rid of the chips on their shoulders about London, it's 3 hours on the f***ing train man - you could have came along if you wanted to.

 

How much would you estimate it would have cost for a family of 4 from Newcastle (or similar) to come down to see 3 or 4 events with trains (inc tube tickets), event tickets, accommodation, food etc? That's on top of probably needing at least a few days off work/school.

 

Same goes for England playing their home games on a Friday night but that's by the by.

 

Trains would have been cheap as chips if they'd got in early, ticket prices were reasonable (particularly for the Paralympics, which is what I went to).  Not sure why you're going on about accommodation and taking lots of time off work, my brother's a teacher and he brought about 10 kids down to see some Paralympics events and they just did it like a day trip.  What did you want them to do, host it all over the country?*  People are just having a go for the sake of it.

 

* Oh hang on, they did that.

Fucking bollocks, you can only pre-book for so long before the event, the whole period of the Olympics and Paralympics was over inflated right from the start as every hotel operator, B&B owner, coach and train providers cashed in on the event.

 

A few low key football games, aye thats fair.

[Jack Flash]

People need to get rid of the chips on their shoulders about London, it's 3 hours on the f***ing train man - you could have came along if you wanted to.

 

How much would you estimate it would have cost for a family of 4 from Newcastle (or similar) to come down to see 3 or 4 events with trains (inc tube tickets), event tickets, accommodation, food etc? That's on top of probably needing at least a few days off work/school.

 

Same goes for England playing their home games on a Friday night but that's by the by.

 

Trains would have been cheap as chips if they'd got in early, ticket prices were reasonable (particularly for the Paralympics, which is what I went to).  Not sure why you're going on about accommodation and taking lots of time off work, my brother's a teacher and he brought about 10 kids down to see some Paralympics events and they just did it like a day trip.  What did you want them to do, host it all over the country?*  People are just having a go for the sake of it.

 

* Oh hang on, they did that.

 

I was under the impression you couldn't just buy tickets for (Olympic) events you wanted to go to? Meaning you could be spending a few days between whatever events you were given? It's a large upheaval (both financial and physical) either way and it's not as easy as just saying hop on a train.

 

I doubt many Londoners made the effort to come to Newcastle to watch any of the spectacular, life changing events we got btw

[Interpolic]

Stifler. ()

 

1. Don't dare tell me I'm only arsed about London and couldn't care less about the rest of the country including the North East.  Honestly, just don't even try that one.

 

2. We've been over this a few times already but you refuse to acknowledge it.  You've read a few forums and articles and are just blindly regurgitating what you've read without taking into account what people are actually saying to you.  (Admittedly not sure how much but) let's just say a good proportion of the Olympics was paid for directly by London taxpayers, it's likely that it caused a surge in the economy up and down the country, it was a fantastic event that will have inspired many and encouraged them to clean up their act health-wise, etc.  That's without the work that it created in construction, catering, etc.

 

3. Go away and type "olympics london council tax" into Google News.  I've been reading the Standard for a few years and it's consistently referred to as a matter of fact that a chunk of people's council tax has been going towards the Olympics.  Your thing about Council Tax going up simply because house prices were going up is utter, utter bilge.

[Interpolic]

People need to get rid of the chips on their shoulders about London, it's 3 hours on the f***ing train man - you could have came along if you wanted to.

 

How much would you estimate it would have cost for a family of 4 from Newcastle (or similar) to come down to see 3 or 4 events with trains (inc tube tickets), event tickets, accommodation, food etc? That's on top of probably needing at least a few days off work/school.

 

Same goes for England playing their home games on a Friday night but that's by the by.

 

Trains would have been cheap as chips if they'd got in early, ticket prices were reasonable (particularly for the Paralympics, which is what I went to).  Not sure why you're going on about accommodation and taking lots of time off work, my brother's a teacher and he brought about 10 kids down to see some Paralympics events and they just did it like a day trip.  What did you want them to do, host it all over the country?*  People are just having a go for the sake of it.

 

* Oh hang on, they did that.

Fucking bollocks, you can only pre-book for so long before the event, the whole period of the Olympics and Paralympics was over inflated right from the start as every hotel operator, B&B owner, coach and train providers cashed in on the event.

 

A few low key football games, aye thats fair.

 

You book trains between Newcastle and London for relative pennies 3 months before the event, I know because I've done it for 5 years.  The train companies didn't change that system for the Olympics.

 

I'm not going to get dragged into an argument about the ticketing process, which did have its problems but they were dealing with unprecedented demand.  As it happens, the smart thing to do (and it seemed obvious when we got to that point, but not sure how obvious it was!) would have been to have booked train tickets for during the Paralympics and you'd have been able to get tickets for any day you wanted.  It was really, really easy to get Paralympics tickets.

[Stifler]

2. We've been over this a few times already but you refuse to acknowledge it.  You've read a few forums and articles and are just blindly regurgitating what you've read without taking into account what people are actually saying to you.  (Admittedly not sure how much but) let's just say a good proportion of the Olympics was paid for directly by London taxpayers, it's likely that it caused a surge in the economy up and down the country, it was a fantastic event that will have inspired many and encouraged them to clean up their act health-wise, etc.  That's without the work that it created in construction, catering, etc.

How many times do you have to be told, there have been many calculations carried out and that money could have generated much much more jobs through constructions, catering, or anything else through investment elsewhere. Leisure centre and sporting venues could have been created elsewhere giving people the encouragement to clean up their act health-wise their, besides that effect is only a short term effect. It happens all the time, at every Olympic no matter where they are held, at world cups etc where more people take up football for a period of time, when England won the rugby world cup take up of rugby briefly went up for a period of time. Ironically take up of new sports are going back down to below their pre-Olympics rate because the government hasn't continued the investment in sports since the Olympics because they can't afford because they hosted the Olympics.

[Jack Flash]

People need to get rid of the chips on their shoulders about London, it's 3 hours on the f***ing train man - you could have came along if you wanted to.

 

How much would you estimate it would have cost for a family of 4 from Newcastle (or similar) to come down to see 3 or 4 events with trains (inc tube tickets), event tickets, accommodation, food etc? That's on top of probably needing at least a few days off work/school.

 

Same goes for England playing their home games on a Friday night but that's by the by.

 

Trains would have been cheap as chips if they'd got in early, ticket prices were reasonable (particularly for the Paralympics, which is what I went to).  Not sure why you're going on about accommodation and taking lots of time off work, my brother's a teacher and he brought about 10 kids down to see some Paralympics events and they just did it like a day trip.  What did you want them to do, host it all over the country?*  People are just having a go for the sake of it.

 

* Oh hang on, they did that.

f***ing bollocks, you can only pre-book for so long before the event, the whole period of the Olympics and Paralympics was over inflated right from the start as every hotel operator, B&B owner, coach and train providers cashed in on the event.

 

A few low key football games, aye thats fair.

 

You book trains between Newcastle and London for relative pennies 3 months before the event, I know because I've done it for 5 years.  The train companies didn't change that system for the Olympics.

 

I'm not going to get dragged into an argument about the ticketing process, which did have its problems but they were dealing with unprecedented demand.  As it happens, the smart thing to do (and it seemed obvious when we got to that point, but not sure how obvious it was!) would have been to have booked train tickets for during the Paralympics and you'd have been able to get tickets for any day you wanted.  It was really, really easy to get Paralympics tickets.

 

I was going to add at the bottom of my last post to not bother replying because my knowledge or interest in the Olympics is minuscule and I'm likely talking out of my arse as a result. It just seemed a hell of a lot of effort to take a family down for a few events but I've no facts or numbers to back it up.

 

I'll leave you in the capable, tender hands of Stifler xx