Word: placide
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...Lake Placid's efforts to bring back the Olympics began in 1973, when local voters approved the idea in a referendum. Congress and President Ford pledged their support the following year. The International Olympic Committee then designated Lake Placid as its choice and also approved Lake Placid's plan to keep the Games within a limited frame...
Other countries had long been trying to outdo one another with increasingly elaborate and expensive Olympic facilities, at Innsbruck, Grenoble, Sapporo. Six years ago, however, after Denver was named for the 1976 Olympics, environmentalists organized opposition, and Colorado voters finally rejected the Games. The Lake Placid Olympic Organizing Committee then decided to reverse the trend. "We could all see the writing on the wall, see that the Games were pricing themselves out of reach for many countries," explains LPOOC President Ronald M. MacKenzie, 75, a former skier and speed skater who was also a member of the 1936 U.S. Olympic...
...places to do this, Lake Placid is one of the most natural. Home of many world-class skaters and skiers, the village has more than an Olympic heritage; it also has many of the physical elements necessary for the Games. Nearby Mount Van Hoevenberg boasts North America's only bobsled run plus Olympic cross-country skiing courses. Neighboring Whiteface Mountain rises 4,867 ft, and its icy trails can test the knees and nerves of any Olympian. Moreover, the village still has, and uses, the ice arena built for the 1932 Games...
...ready for 1980, Lake Placid is using $58 million in federal money and $13 million in state funds to upgrade old facilities and build some new ones. The plan calls for installing refrigeration on the bob run; providing snowmaking equipment up to the top of Whiteface; and refurbishing and expanding the ice arena...
...impact of these projects on Lake Placid has been enormous. Winter unemployment in Essex County often runs as high as 20% of the work force. This year more than 200 people from the area are employed in Olympic construction, which has, according to Project Manager Ramon Lopez, brought $1.6 million in wages into the region since last spring. Northern New York companies have also benefited, winning 32 of the 38 contracts totaling $25,212,370 awarded by competitive bidding...