SF makes low-cost bid
Organizers say they can win 2012 games without direct taxpayer support.
February 22, 2002: 5:23 p.m. ET
By Staff Writer Chris Isidore
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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - San Francisco's bid to host the 2012 Olympics won't be shaken by the city's famous propensity for earthquakes, according to its organizers.
"Once we are able to educate people, I don't see that being a concern," said Anne Cribbs, CEO of the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee.
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Ann Cribbs, head of the San Franciso Bay Area's efforts to host the 2012 Olympics, receives the Olympic torch on a San Francisco cable car on the torch's journey to Salt Lake City. | |
"We have great building codes. We survived the '89 earthquake during the World Series with a modicum of disruption. And we learned from that. Our building codes are pretty darn good now."
The city is also further along than Washington or New York in terms of facilities in place needed to host the games, with only a few minor facilities left to construct. But using ready-made facilities makes the bid a regional one, with events scheduled for San Jose, Oakland, Palo Alto and even Sacramento, which is about 90 miles away.
San Francisco is making its bid with the smallest budget of any of the U.S. organizing companies, having raised about $1.9 million so far and looking to get to $2.8 million to reach November, when the U.S. Olympic Committee will select the city to forward to the International Olympic Committee.
Cribbs says it should be able to make the bid, and host the games, without turning to local taxpayers for support.
"The cities have provided us with staff and liaisons and some in-kind support but that's all," she said. "We have a history of private ballparks. We're pretty comfortable with that philosophy." 
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