Members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Evaluation Commission will be in New York February 21-24 to inspect its bid for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games which New York’s deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff calls “the biggest test yet” of New York’s bid.
During their visit the 13 members will be staying at New York’s Plaza Hotel overlooking Central Park, will be taken to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Upper East Side townhouse for dinner and drinks with a guest list that includes New York Governor George Pataki and real estate mogul Donald Trump, and will be treated to a gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
The Evaluation Commission will endure intensive briefings and question-and-answer sessions with various authorities about emergency health care, marketing, security, transportation, the Olympic Village and other elements of the city’s bid.
Two days of the visit will be spent touring prospective venues, including Yankee Stadium, which would host baseball, Madison Square Garden, the basketball venue, and the future site of the Olympic Stadium.
As they travel around the city via bus they will view signs with the words “Let The Dreams Begin” on 13,000 taxi cabs, 4,000 subway cars, 7,000 buses, and banners hanging from lamp posts. They will read the words in newspaper ads, listen to them on radio, and view them on television and Web sites.
During the four-day visit about $1 million in privately raised funds and another $2 million in donated goods and services will be spent.
Doctoroff said, “this is first and foremost a substantive visit – we will spend the four and a half days of this visit exhaustively covering each of the 17 themes in our bid book and they will see every single 2012 Games venue site. On Monday and Wednesday the EC will hear in-depth multimedia presentations on all 17 themes in our bid book”.
Meanwhile, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday that there will be “a shovel in the ground” to construct an Olympic stadium in New York by the time the IOC announces a 2012 host city in July.
According to AP he said, “when I come to Singapore on July 6, there will be a shovel in the ground – could be a symbolic shovel, but nevertheless a shovel – and (it will show) that we are committed and people are behind this”.
The mayor said opposition to a new stadium on Manhattan’s west side would not deter the IOC from choosing New York over the other four bid cities.
And at a briefing to announce details of the IOC visit Newsday reports Doctoroff was asked whether there are any alternatives to the West Side stadium plan – his answer was “no”. As for the Cablevision proposal to outbid NYC2012 for the West Side rail yard property, Doctoroff called it “a delay tactic by a self-interested corporation” killing his long-expressed desire for the stadium’s approval in time for the IOC team visit.
He added, “…there were 10 approval steps necessary, and we’ve now done eight of them. What’s critical is, when this (IOC group) issues its report (in June), we can look them in the eye and say, ‘not only will we get it done, but we got it done’”.
