PARIS − After the Paris Olympics conclude Sunday, the Paralympics will run Aug. 28 to Sept. 8, then the squash racket, lacrosse stick and cricket ball − all sporting additions to the 2028 Games − will be in Los Angeles’ court.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and and LA28 Olympic Games chair Casey Wasserman, who are in Paris as part of a U.S. presidential delegation to the Olympics that was led by First Lady Jill Biden, provided a few details Saturday to reporters about what sports fans − and Angelenos − can expect to see four years from now.
‘We don’t have an Eiffel Tower. We do have a Hollywood sign,’ said Wasserman. He said that while the Paris Games have been ‘authentically French’ the 2028 Games will be ‘authentically Los Angeles.’
Wasserman said that more details about what is being planned for LA28 will be revealed during Sunday’s closing ceremony. But he said that Los Angeles is ‘one of three or four great cities around the world that drive culture,’ including food, fashion, music and entertainment and the Games would reflect that.
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Wasserman said most Games ‘wait until they are over before delivering a legacy.’ He said the city of Los Angeles and the International Olympic Committee are already investing $160 million in a youth sports program to enable any child in Los Angeles to participate for $5. Wasserman described it as the ‘largest single investment in youth sports in the history of America in one city.’ A zip code, he said, will ‘no longer be a barrier to entry’ to youth sports.
Bass said ‘the vision is to have a Games that lifts up all the city.’
Los Angeles, the Olympics and the homelessness issue
Olympic organizers in Paris have come under fire for forcibly moving asylum seekers, the homeless and other vulnerable populations out of central Paris to make way for tourists and various Olympic developments. Los Angeles has one of the worst homeless problems in the U.S., with more than 75,000 people experiencing some form of homelessness, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.
Bass said the city has been working with all levels of government and the private sector to address the issue. ‘We are going to get people housed. That’s what we’ve been doing and what we’ll continue to do,’ she said. However, Bass also appeared to suggest that homeless people in LA, like in Paris, could be physically moved out of the city.
‘Los Angeles County has 88 cities, and across all of the cities, we’re working together,’ she said.
‘We will get people housed. We will get them off the street.’
How will organizers keep Los Angeles safe
Wasserman said that in January Los Angeles was granted a ‘national security exemption designation,’ meaning the U.S. federal government is ‘activated and engaged’ to help secure and deliver the Games.
He said this exemption was given three years earlier than is typical of such exemptions, giving extra lead time.
He said LA28’s ‘mantra’ is that ‘we need to be the safest place but also the greatest experience as well. We are not going to sacrifice one for the other.’ He said that the U.S. delegation in Paris has been observing and scrutinizing the security operation, which he described as impressive, as well as previous ones at other Games.
He cited as an example the London Games in 2012, when organizers undertook security dry runs by ‘enacting’ or practicing on large-scale sporting events such as the Wimbledon Tennis championships. ‘We can take a Dodger game on a Thursday night in 2027 and tell people we’re going to ‘enact’ for security today,’ he said.
Wasserman said that because Los Angeles has a lot of sports stadiums already it can do such enactments with relative ease. ‘Not every city has the opportunity to do that,’ he said.
There will be a Games. There’s won’t be any cars to get there
The LA28 organizing committee is targeting a no-car Games, a big ambition for a city known for its traffic.
Plans to build new rail lines that would crisscross the city were abandoned because of the expense.
‘The no-car Games means you will need to take public transportation to get to all of the venues,’ Bass said Saturday. She said the city is currently ‘building up aspects of our public transportation system. But that’s not going to be enough. We’re going to need over 3,000 buses that we will borrow from all around the country.’