Olympic Cities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Olympic Cities - Essay Example Burbank and Charles H. Heying (2001) titled â€Å"Olympic Cities: Lessons Learned from Mega Event Politics†. The objective of the essay is to observe the relationship between resident’s attitudes towards Tourism and tourism development options. Methodology As part of the survey methodology different cities were selected where the event already been held. The survey was conducted on three cities which have experienced bidding as well as staging the Olympic game in areas such as Atlanta, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. The focus in mainly on the Olympics as it has become the mega event during the global economic competition. The survey is conducted only on US cities due to the political economy of the federal system. The American cities are in a unique position with regards to hosting large events such as Olympics. Mega events occur with multi-dimensional and multipurpose of the aspect. The events in each city are examined over three key stages which involves, bidding for the game, organising and post games legacy. The three cities differ in terms of size, political history, social consumption and economic base. Therefore by comparing the cities the main aim is to identify the features of relationship between consumption based economic development and mega event strategy in urban politics. The journal Olympic cities: Lessons learned from mega events, which aim to address the challenges and opportunities in hosting the Olympic Games and focusing on cities of Salt Lake City, Atlanta and Los Angeles. The focus is mainly on the adoption of strategy to conduct the mega event and the effect it had on urban policy. To begin with an overview of consumption on economic development has been discussed which had two dimensions which includes building convention centres and sports development. Comparative Analysis The comparatively analysis is done on three cities where Olympic was held. The three factors that was taken into consideration was bidding for the gam e, staging and finally Olympic legacies. As per the rules of IOC only cities are allowed to bid for the Olympics and host the event. In bidding process, Los Angeles bid was mainly initiated by a group named pro growth by business leaders and civic notables who were operating in the Southern California Committee for the Olympics games (SCCOG). The group rose about $158,000 funds in order to finance the bid activities. The SCCOG was established in the year 1939 after the city hosted the summer games. The country bided for the Olympic in order to bring back the games in Los Angeles. The main reason in order to get back the games were the chances for the city to display on a global stage, increase the opportunity for high revenue and the intangibles that was likely to enhance the current position of the city. For the president of SCCOG, John Argue the goal was to bring the games to the city at no cost to taxpayer. After winning the bid Los Angeles did not have any competition at the int ernational level. In 1984 Los Angeles was the only viable choice to host the event of Olympics. Whereas unlike Loss Angeles, Atlanta did not6 have any organisation to initiate a bid for the Olympics. Although much of the initiative was taken by small group of lawyer and college football player named Billy Payne who represents the city as entrepreneur for Olympics. Only after the support for hosting the game was supported by Atlanta’s business and political elite, the city was able to bid for the Olympic. Atlanta was awarded the game in 1990 and it meant a lot for the city to host the event and what is meant to the residents of the city. Similar like Los Angles, the Salt Lake City had interest to host the Olympics since

Haitian poverty crisis and the state of their economy now and then Essay

Haitian poverty crisis and the state of their economy now and then - Essay Example Along with the poverty has come all of the problems associated with the disadvantage of being relegated near the bottom of the world's socio-economic class. Rampant crime, health problems, high infant mortality, and limited life span all further burden a society already faced with the struggle of trying to provide the basics of life. The political system has been wracked by upheaval and instability for two centuries as dictators and the military have vied for power with no thought of elevating the standard of living for the people. The failure of leadership in Haiti, and racist policies in Washington DC, have allowed two hundred years of exploitation and kept Haiti locked in a cycle of poverty. By almost every measure, Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world. The situation is getting even worse as the last 50 years have seen a stagnation in the Haitian economy and a real decline in the gross national product (Sletten and Egset 5). The gap between the wealthy and the poor is extreme in Haiti and average incomes or median incomes do not tell the whole story. The top 10 percent consume almost 50 percent of the country's resources (CIA). No meaningful official unemployment data exists, but two-thirds of the population have no formal jobs and 80 percent of the people live below the poverty line (CIA). Almost 60 percent of the people are classed as extremely poor and live on less than $1 per day (Sletten and Egset 9). This is almost double the rate of El Salvador and four times the rate of Guatemala and Bolivia. According to Sletten and Egset, "Haiti is not only the poorest country in Latin America, but also the most unequal in a region that is already the most unequal in the world" (9). These are the statistics that form the backdrop of Haiti's poverty. While the statistics on Haiti's poverty are bleak, the location of the poverty imparts an even more disparate picture. Most Haitians live in rural areas and almost 4 out of 5 extremely poor people live in a rural area (Sletten and Egset 10). When poverty is measured in terms of access to public services, this segment of the population suffers further. Access to services such as electricity, education, roads, clean water, and health care is dependent on where a person lives in Haiti (Sletten and Egset 15). In addition, the policy of privatization has placed almost all public services in the hands of the ruling class. According to Gros, "Nearly two-hundred years of informal privatization of the state have left Haiti lacking the capacity to deliver even the most basic of public services; security and justice" (223). The better neighborhoods are better served by these services and the denial in the rural areas of access to basic services further impoverishes this portion of the populatio n. The extremely poor in the rural areas are left with a subsistence wage and no access to the public services, such as education, that might hold some hope for breaking out of the cycle of poverty. The reasons that Haiti continues to be locked in poverty in today's world of globalization can be better understood by examining their history. Haiti claimed independence in 1804 when there was a slave rebellion. This freed the slaves and gave them independence from France. However, through the lens of the US and European powers, "independent Haiti would be viewed continually as a threat to hemispheric and