At the end of last class I was surprised to hear that Lake Placid was looking to submit a bid to host another winter Olympics. I assumed that due to the ever increasing number of supporters attending the games many residents of the park would recognize how much of nightmare hosting the event could be. Though I do understand that much of Lake Placid's image, history and identity revolves around winter sport, it still baffles me how much support and optimism is circulating on blogs and other online sources. Many of these opinion pieces were put out by local citizens who see the potential economic benefits and a possible increase in infrastructure and private investment. Due to my bias I thought of the unavoidable environmental impact of the event but I do understand the logic behind their point of view to a certain extend.
I was reminded of this issue/dynamic again while reading Bill McKibben article on climate change. He discusses the impact rising temperatures will have on the image of the Adirondacks as ponds will cease to freeze over and less snow will blanket the mountain sides. As we have discovered over the course of the semester, the Adirondack park means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. But I find it a bit comedic that many people are concerned about the logistics of hosting an Olympic event when the conditions necessary to host it may not exist within the century. It seems as though many people are blinded by the pride and positive image that comes from hosting and overlook how much of an impact (positive and negative) the games have had on Lake Placid and the park. Or they might possibly allow the projected positive impact to justify the negatives. This issue presents another paradox wherein the influx of people and expansion of infrastructure in the park to support those people damages or destroys the beauty and resources that the tourism industry relies on.
Some online articles about the Olympics in Lake Placid: http://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2014/01/moon-boots-miracles-olympics-impact-lake-placid.html
http://www.lakeplacidnews.com/page/content.detail/id/521254/Olympic-return-a-long-shot--but-miracles-do-happen-in-Lake-Placid.html?nav=5002
Cool post! I agree with your comment that it is a bit bizarre for people to be planning the Winter Olympics when the weather will be drastically different from when they were first held in Lake Placid.
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