Ty Jacobsen
CDS Community Development Strategies

The XXXI (31st) Olympiad is now underway in Rio De Janeiro, and with it come the conversations and debates about the impact of hosting the Olympic Games. Every two years, we see fresh fears about the readiness of the latest host to hold a safe, enjoyable, and profitable Olympics. The cautionary tales of past host cities are brought back up, tales of crippling debt and of expensive new venues now sitting unused in cities such as Montreal, Sarajevo, Athens, and Beijing. The media, former Olympic athletes, and everyday sports fans feel prompted to ask if there is a way to improve the value and mitigate the negative impacts of hosting the Olympic Games. Perhaps some answers can be found by looking back at Houston’s failed bid to host the 2012 Olympics.

Ty Jacobsen
CDS Community Development Strategies

As December is to Christmas, the month of May is to auto racing.  May is when the countdown begins in earnest toward the Memorial Day weekend and three of the most historic and popular events in the world of auto racing, NASCAR’s World 600, Formula 1’s Monaco Grand Prix, and, especially, the Indianapolis 500.  2016 will mark the 100th running of the 500-mile race at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  The Speedway itself opened in 1909 and hosted the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911.​  As one would expect from a facility that first opened during the Taft administration, the Speedway has been in a near constant state of maintenance, expansion, and upgrade over the years.   In what had become rather unique in American professional sports, the Speedway had done all of this without ever using government or taxpayer assistance.  That changed in 2013, when the Speedway petitioned the State to be made a special taxing district.  ​

​In addition to having more dogs, households are spending more money on them. While the percentage of households owning a dog increased by roughly 6% from 2005 to 2015, total U.S. consumer spending on pets nearly doubled, going from just over 36 billion to a projected 60 billion over the same period. A significant portion of that pet spending is dog related.

Not only are the number of dog owning households increasing, but dog owners have become increasingly vocal. Jurisdictions around the country have been responsive. In the 100 largest cities the number of dog parks have increased from roughly 420 in 2005 to more than 650 in 2015, a 53% rise.