The Assembly member suggests the Games could be held in Lake Placid and New York City.
Lake Placid has hosted two Winter Olympics in 1932 and in 1980. A third Lake Placid Winter Olympics is unlikely but New York Governor Kathy Hochul is on board with a notion by Brooklyn Assembly member Robert Carroll that New York should go after the 2038 or 2042 Winter Olympics splitting the event between Lake Placid and the New York City area. Lake Placid could not afford the 1980 money losing event. New York State did not necessarily want the Lake Placid venues but someone had to bail out the village. The New York State Legislature agreed to pay off the debt in exchange for ownership of the ski jumps, the Olympic fieldhouse and the speed skating rink with a new agency, the Olympic Regional Development Authority managing all of the Olympic sites. New York State residents were paying for the 1980 Lake Placid games by maintaining ski jumps, a speed skating rink and the fieldhouse.
The legacy from 1980 was the first time ever chant of USA, USA on February 22nd during the US-USSR hockey medal round game and debt. The US won the gold medal by defeating Finland two days later. But something happened to the Olympic Village along the way. It was converted into a different use and most people don’t really want to visit the still standing structure. The Olympic Village is a federal prison. The Olympic Village complex was designed to host 1,000 people. It was small and cramped. It was decided that the next life for the Olympic Village near Lake Placid should be a prison. Americans owned the place as President Jimmy Carter’s administration spent $22 million to build it. Officially it is called the Federal Correction Institute, Ray Brook and it employs people. It is one of the few Olympic venues that has a lasting legacy.
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Brooklyn Assemblyman Robert Carroll
