With the London Olympics now in full swing, all that’s left is
to count up the number of medals awarded – and the debt accrued by
city residents and taxpayers.

The total cost of staging the London games is around $15 billion
and
more than 100 percent over budget. Mega-activities such as
staging the Olympics are often sold as economic development
programs for dreary local economies, but they almost never deliver
anything other than big bills and
useless infrastructure.

Yet politicians love the idea of using big
sporting events and stadiums and teams for economic development. As
the games continue, take 10 minutes to watch this portion of
Reason Saves Cleveland in which we lay out actual ways to
help jumpstart local economies.

Here’s the original writeup of “Encourage Bottom-Up
Development,” episode five of Reason Saves Cleveland with Drew
Carey. Original release date was March 18, 2010.

Cleveland has spent billions on big-ticket urban redevelopment
efforts including heavily subsidized sports stadiums and convention
centers that have utterly failed to revitalize the citys economy.
Should the city be pouring even more money into and pinning yet
higher hopes on long-odds mega-projects? Or should they realize
that bottom-up projects driven by the actual residents and
private-sector investors are the best was to build a vibrant city
for the long haul?

Reason Saves Cleveland with Drew Carey is written and produced
by Paul Feine; camera and editing by Roger Richards and Alex
Manning; narrated by Nick Gillespie; music by the Cleveland band
Cats on Holiday. This is the fifth of six episodes that will air
March 15-19, 2010.

Approximately 10 minutes long. 

Go to http://reason.tv for iPod, HD, and audio versions of this
video.