Ready, Set... Impress: Bloomie and Doctoroff Go for the Gold
Sunday begins a 4-day NYC visit from representatives of the International Olympic Committee, who the city will try to razzle and dazzle in the hopes of being tapped for the 2012 Olympic Games. As part of their welcome, the Observer reports that committee members will be taken up to Central Park for a look at members of the Road Runners club racing through "The Gates," will dine at the Bloomberg mansion, and will ride in horse-drawn carriages to a performance of Jazz at Lincoln Center (now at the Time Warner building). Some of the members will even be driven down 5th Avenue just as a fencing match takes place on the steps of the Public Library. Of course, committee members will also have to endure all of the requisite power points from the mayor's office and will race around the city to all of the facilities (existing and yet-to-be-built) where it all could possibly take place.
Odds are currently against NYC getting the games, with London, Paris and Madrid thought to have a better shot, but New York mag writer Marc Spiegler believes the Europeans could blow it with bickering and Bloomberg could see his dream of watching his daughter Georgina (an accomplished equestrian competitor vying for a spot on the U.S. team), compete for the gold on Staten Island. Of course, Spiegler wrote that before the MTA announced it would open the West Side railyards site to competitive bidding.
In showing the I.O.C. members around the city, representatives from the mayor's office will have to hope they don't run across a copy of this week's New York Press which plasters the banner slogan "Olympics Go Home" across its cover and includes a list of 88 reasons why the Olympics shouldn't come to New York (#1 is "We already have an 'Olympic Shooting Center' in the Bronx. It's called the Bronx.").
