In her first interview since returning from Paris, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass spoke with KNX News Chief Correspondent Charles Feldman about how the French city is preparing for the 2024 Olympics.
“We had a wonderful opportunity to meet with the mayor of Paris and then, we spent quite a while meeting with her staff and they walked us through the development of what they did over the years to prepare,” she said.
She added that she noticed Paris officials had to prepare for certain things that Los Angeles won’t have to worry about when it hosts the Olympics in 2028.
“For example, we don't need to build a new stadium or we don't need to build housing for athletes,” she said. “Our athletes will be housed at UCLA, but they basically talked about the complexity of all the city departments, all the city operations that are involved in putting on the Olympics. And that's something that of course we're beginning to attend to now. Fortunately, we have LA28, which has been working hard ever since [the Olympics] was awarded to L.A.”
Bass also shared some advice she was given.
“One thing that they pointed out is that as soon as the Olympics is over in Paris, then all the attention focuses on L.A. So making sure that we're prepared for that attention,” she said.
Bass noted that during her trip to Paris, she learned how the city was handling its unhoused population before the Olympics began.
“We have four years. Four years, we should be able to make a significant reduction in street homelessness,” she said. “I'm not saying in four years, homelessness will be over, but we have an opportunity to address street homelessness and I'm hoping that the Olympics will be a catalyst for us.”
Bass returned from Paris on Sunday. Meanwhile, three councilmembers who went to Paris with her have gone to Tokyo on a trade mission.
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