London
As you might have well heard or read, there were explosions in London during the morning rush hour (the first one happened around 4 AM NYC time.) The G-8 summit is still expected to continue, which is good in a way, but I’m afraid that the attack will prompt leaders to make more rules regarding terrorism, and disregard the reason why they are there. These people represent the 8 richest countries, and they should do what they can to help other countries. I hope that this very unfortunate tragedy doesn’t cloud thoughts.
I heard on NPR this morning a man from Africa (forgive me, it was early morning and I didn’t get the guy’s name or position) was talking about how just giving aid to Africa doesn’t really work beacuse there is so much corruption among the higher ranks that not much money trickles down to the people who need it the most. The leaders skim so much off the top that all we are doing is giving them money that is needed to build schools, combat disease and raise the general quality of life. This is what I’m hoping the G-8 leaders will realize and try to remedy.
That all being said, congratulations to London for winning the 2012 Olympic bid. They plan to give back to the community after the Olympics by turning the village into homes and educational buildings. While I never thought that NYC had a real chance, I’m relieved that they were taken out of the running early on. All Mayor Bloomberg was thinking about was making a stadium and how much money New York would get from this. Meanwhile, we have a public transportation system that’s limping along, and alternative transporation (bicycles, pedestrians) have to fight tooth and nail to be able to get from point A to point B. There’s no room to place (in housing and schooling) the people we have now, much less thousands more. There was no real plan made public, just pressure to build a stadium. And if our financial woes aren’t on their way to being solved by 2012, no amount of Olympic business is going to help.
But this isn’t a post about New York City, this is a post about how happy I am that London won 