Opinion
Lawrence Journal-World l LJWorld.com l Wednesday, August 10, 2016
EDITORIALS
Don’t waver It’s important that the city stand by its commitment on apartment parking issue
W
hile the HERE Kansas apartment complex has identified a potential solution to its parking issues, the Lawrence City Commission should stick to its commitment to limit occupancy until the parking is available. HERE Kansas, a multistory apartment/retail project near 11th and Mississippi streets, is under construction, and, when finished, will feature 624 bedrooms. Originally, HERE Kansas was to feature a high-tech, automated parking garage, but the company responsible for building the garage declared bankruptcy and left developers seeking an alternative solution. First, apartment developers put a valet system in place for underground parking at the complex, but the valet system can’t accommodate as many vehicles as the automated system originally planned. It remains to be Now, plans have seen whether been filed with the city for a decidedly tearing down approach: homes to make simpler a 68-space surface way for a parking lot at 1029 St., parking lot is a Mississippi just northwest of good strategy the HERE Kansas to address project. The projthis particular ect involves razing multifamily strucparking tures currently on problem. But the property. Half it is good that of the property already is an old developers lot that is have finally put parking rarely used except forward a plan for big game-day for dealing with crowds at nearby this unfortunate Memorial Stadium. situation. If approved, the new lot, coupled with the underground valet system, would give the HERE project enough spaces to accommodate all 624 bedrooms. But it will take months for the parking lot to get through the city approval process. It’s not a stretch to imagine that some Oread neighborhood residents will be opposed to razing houses to create more parking. And even if approval is secured, construction could push completion of the project to next spring. However long the approval process takes, commissioners should remain firm in their position that portions of the apartment building must remain unrented until the parking solution is completed. In May, the City Commission said 12 percent of the apartment complex’s bedrooms — 75 bedrooms — should not be leased until additional parking can be found. That’s a reasonable stance that may be the only way to avoid worsening an already bad parking conundrum. It remains to be seen whether tearing down homes to make way for a parking lot is a good strategy to address this particular parking problem. But it is good that developers have finally put forward a plan for dealing with this unfortunate situation. What would be even better is if the HERE project serves as an impetus for commissioners to have a broader discussion about how to improve parking throughout the Oread neighborhood. It is a problem that has been brewing for decades, and it only gets more complicated the longer commissioners wait to act.
Journal-World
Rio Games an economic disaster Judging from the disastrous news surrounding the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the best thing that could happen to Latin American countries — or perhaps to all countries that apply to be hosts of future Olympic Games — is to lose their bids, and save themselves from a monumental waste of money.
Andres Oppenheimer aoppenheimer@miamiherald.com
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Next time a country bids for Olympic Games or a World Cup tournament, it should hire a credible independent firm to evaluate the economic merits ... and have its Congress approve it.” The Rio Olympics, the first to be held in South America, may go down in history as an economic fiasco and a public relations embarrassment. It’s no wonder that 63 percent of Brazilians said the Olympics will do more damage than good to Brazil, according to a recent Datafolha poll. Almost everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. The Olympics are starting amid Brazil’s worst economic and political crisis in recent memory. The country’s economy is expected to fall by nearly 4 percent this year, and an ongoing political scandal has already resulted in the suspension of former President Dilma Rousseff, and in charges against her predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and several key legislators and corporate leaders. In addition, police recently announced the arrest of a
group of Islamic State supporters who were planning a terrorist attack, there are fears about Zika-carrying mosquitoes, toxic waste in the Rio de Janeiro bay has triggered calls to suspend the Games’ water competitions, and many facilities built for the Olympics were not ready, or were only halfready, for the Aug. 5 opening ceremony. But, while much of this may be overshadowed in coming days by the athletic competitions and the cheerful images of the Cariocas — as Rio residents are known — dancing samba on the streets, the economic balance of these Olympics may hurt Brazilians for years to come. I was reminded of this by sports economist Andrew Zimbalist, the author of “Circus Maximus: The economic gamble behind hosting the Olympics and the World Cup,” a book that rebukes claims by many governments and interested construction companies that these mega-events result in major gains for their host countries. “The net outcome of the Rio Games is that they will have spent $20 billion dollars, they will receive $4.5 billion in revenue, and they will end up with a $15 billion
deficit,” Zimbalist told me in a telephone interview. Zimbalist added that “Rio is massively underprepared.” The city didn’t have the transportation, communications, hospitality and services facilities to host Olympic Games, and most promises by the federal, state and city governments to clean the Rio bay and carry out other public works that would benefit the local populations for decades to come were never met, he said. But, perhaps more interestingly, this may not be an exception to the rule. While the Rio Olympics were a notoriously bad idea from an economic standpoint, the same can be said about the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and about several others, Zimbalist said. Countries spend monumental sums of money for these mega-events, which most often can’t be recovered, he said. Russia spent $50 billion for the Sochi Games, and China spent $40 billion for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. According to Zimbalist’s figures, of the estimated $50 billion spent by Russia for the Sochi Games, the country only generated about $2.5 billion. Most often, “it’s a very bad idea for developing
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countries to host these events, and for developed countries as well,” Zimbalist says. There have been a few exceptions, like the Los Angeles 1984 Summer Olympics, which was a success because the city already had university dormitories and other facilities to host the event. But in most cases, it’s a net loss, he said. My opinion: The Rio de Janeiro Olympics are the result of an ego trip by former Brazilian President Lula. In 2009, at the height of Brazil’s commodity-driven economic boom, Lula led a diplomatic effort to bring the Olympics to Brazil as part of his campaign to become a world leader, much like Putin did with the Sochi Games. Next time a country bids for Olympic Games or a World Cup tournament, it should hire a credible independent firm to evaluate the economic merits of holding such an event, and have its Congress approve it. Otherwise, many of these megaevents will continue to be vanity trips for politicians that will make a few construction moguls rich, but will leave their countries with a huge bill to pay. — Andres Oppenheimer is a Latin America correspondent for the Miami Herald.
PUBLIC FORUM
Meaning of sacrifice To the editor: Of all the troubling things about Donald Trump that have surfaced since Khizr Khan’s speech at the Democratic National Convention last week, one stands out. Questioning whether Mr. Khan was a puppet speaking words put into his mouth by the Clinton campaign, or suggesting that Mrs. Khan’s silence was imposed upon her by her husband, or by her culture, are bad enough, but not the bottom. That was Mr. Trump’s response
to Mr. Khan’s questioning whether Trump had ever sacrificed for his country. Mr. Trump has not been to war. Accepting his claim that he has worked hard in the cause of his own business, that’s no sacrifice for his country. When John McCain spent years as a POW, he and his family sacrificed. When Capt. Khan died, he and his family sacrificed. Words have meaning, and most of us need no dictionary to know what this word means. But Mr. Trump could neither admit a fact nor confront a truth. So he went
TODAY IN HISTORY
LAWRENCE
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l On Aug. 10, 1846, President
James K. Polk signed a measure establishing the Smithsonian Institution. l In 1792, during the French Revolution, mobs in Paris attacked the Tuileries Palace, where King Louis XVI resided. (The king was later arrested, put on trial for treason, and executed.) l In 1821, Missouri became the 24th state. l In 1814, Henri Nestle, founder of the food and beverage company bearing his name, was born in Frankfurt, Germany. l In 1874, Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, was born in West Branch, Iowa. l In 1921, Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio at his summer home on the Canadian island of Campobello. l In 1949, the National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense. l In 1969, Leno and Rosemary
LaBianca were murdered in their Los Angeles home by members of Charles Manson’s cult, one day after actress Sharon Tate and four other people had been slain. l In 1975, television personality David Frost announced he had purchased the exclusive rights to interview former President Richard Nixon. l In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a measure providing $20,000 payments to stillliving Japanese-Americans who’d been interned by their government during World War II. l In 1991, nine Buddhists were found slain at their temple outside Phoenix, Arizona. (Two teen-agers were later arrested; Alessandro Garcia was sentenced to life in prison, while Jonathan Doody received 281 years.) l In 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the second female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
to his go-to, as deceivers do: He twisted the meaning of a word. He has sacrificed, he reasoned, because he created jobs. Find and read what he said. He converted the word “sacrifice” into another word, “winning.” He’s sacrificed because he’s been a winner. Remember when he said John McCain was a loser because he was captured? Does death make Capt. Khan another loser? Does Trump mean what he says, and does he say what he means? We should listen very carefully. William Skepnek, Lawrence
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