Ordinary Londoners will be asked to pay £1.5 billion for a special ‘Olympic lottery’ and up to £550 million in extra council tax. The environment will pay as important wildlife habitats are replaced with a ‘landscaped park’ and new stadiums that will eventually become the property of big business. Tenants and residents will be forced to pay as rents are forced up and greedy landlords make a killing. Community sport will pay as funds are diverted to a few elite athletes in the search for more medals.
London Cyclists will pay:
Some of our most cherished cycle routes along the Lower Lee Valley will be closed for Olympic construction work for years and permanently damaged as a green corridor.
The much loved EASTWAY CYCLE CIRCUIT is to be ‘developed’, meaning it will close down for years and the Mountain Bike circuit halved.
London’s roads will be built and adjusted to facilitate the speedy movement of Olympic vehicles resulting in years of road-works and cyclists being sidelined in favour of coaches and limousines.
If London gets the Olympics, watch out for the clampdown on Civil Liberties and new runways at Stanstead and Heathrow.
The International Olympic Committee evaluation party are visiting London from 16 – 19 February 2005, let’s show them that there’s opposition to the bid and it’s prepared to take to the streets.