Let's be honest; if Atlanta, on its own, dumped billions into revitalizing itself, no one would care except residents. Having a stage like the olympics to draw the world in, however, shows people the city and makes it more likely they will return.

Likewise with Vancouver; one of our major downtown streets, Granville, got a complete overhaul. Gone were the old, broken stones, the cracked sidewalks, the run-down streets and sickly trees. It's now a much better place to walk around and explore.

We also have a new mass-transit line connecting our downtown core with South Vancouver and Richmond, as well as the airport. Catching a flight used to be $25-35 by taxi, or god knows how much in parking. Now, it's about $4 per person, and that gets you there and back if you're dropping someone off. The project was a public-private partnership that was within budget and opened fifteen weeks early, and has made Richmond far easier to travel to and from (making everyone's life easier). The project was a no-brainer improvement to the region, but I doubt we would have had as much support and funding if we hadn't had the olympics coming to town.

Whether the other renovations to the city will prove useful, it's hard to tell yet, but I'm cautiously optimistic that they will.