<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Andrew I could not agree more. The sheer cost of the Olympics in 2012 is really beginning to worry me. There seems to have been no control on the budget whatsoever. I heard an estimate the other day that the cost could go as high as £19 billion [when it was originally supposed to be £2.5 billion.]As to who will foot the bill, I suspect we don't know yet. Could be a combination of council tax, national income tax and private enterprise I guess. I suppose the London Assembly and the Westminster government can juggle it all sorts of ways, that we don't really know about for sure yet. Unforunately, I can't find any links that give any clues as to who will pay for all this, just loads of confusing waffle about the spiralling costs. The Olympics, for me [and for everyone else in London and the UK, I feel,] is the reality of 2012, not some alarmist nonsense about the Solar System being all lined up, or whatever it is. <br />Posted by Smersh</DIV><br /><br />IMHO, it's not just the cost.</p><p>To me, it's insane to plan such events in "old" cities like NY or London. It's a logistical nightmare. On a good day, the transportations systems are bursting at the seams. Subways or the Tube, are packed with working people. Streets are jammed to the max, as they are generally small and narrow. IIRC, London has instituted a tax of some kind to cut down on cars in the core city. New York just tried to do that, but politicians being wimps, they backed off from the whining of the votors. Wise politically, but horrible for transportation and the environment.</p><p>So how do you shove in several million Olympic Visitors? Who knows.</p><p>We actually should start a new thread discussing this very issue, the logistics of the Olympics in London.</p><p>We're in the process of hijacking this one. Or not, perhaps the 2012 London Olympics is the disaster the Maya were predicting!! <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-laughing.gif" border="0" alt="Laughing" title="Laughing" /></p><p>It should be fascinating to watch the London officials scramble as they try and implement the nightmare they have foisted on themselves.</p><p>I'll look through the Fora and see what I think would be the best one for this discussion. You UK folks should think about that as well, I'll leave it up to one of you to start the thread since it's ultimately what you will have to deal with.</p><p>Cheers,</p><p>Waynefromtheothersideofthepond. <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-wink.gif" border="0" alt="Wink" title="Wink" /></p><p> </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>