Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass today previewed the city’s plans for hosting the 2028 Olympics.
The most shocking element: Bass promised the 2028 Summer Olympics will be “a no-car Games,” she said.
Bass and Casey Wasserman, chairman of the LA 2028 organizing committee, highlighted the planning already in place for the events.
“We’re already working to create jobs by expanding our public transportation system in order for us to have a no-car Games,” she said. “And that’s a feat for Los Angeles, as we’ve always been in love with our cars. We’re working to ensure that we can build a greener Los Angeles.”
Related Stories
Bass said public transportation will be the only way to access the Los Angeles Olympics venues. That means using 3,000 buses that will be borrowed from all over the country, as well as requesting businesses allow employees to work from home during the 17-day Olympics period.
Bass reminded that the 1984 Games had little problem with traffic.
“Angelinos were terrified that we were going to have terrible, terrible traffic, and we were shocked that we didn’t,” Bass said. “But I will tell you, in 1984, we didn’t have any of the technology that we do today. We learned in Covid that you can work remotely.”
Mayor Tom Bradley had local businesses stagger their workforce hours in 1984 to reduce the number of cars on the road.
“Part of having a no-car Olympics means getting people not to drive,” Bass said.
Bass admitted she does not have a commitment from L.A. businesses to allow their employees to work from home.
“I think the way that it should work is to meet with the city’s major employers and to talk about staggering work hours, which is something that was done 40 years ago when we had no technical cellphones and personal computers,” Bass said. “I think, frankly, it is not going to be difficult this time.
“I think the workforce, probably around the world, certainly around our country, is grappling with remote work now,” she added. “So I do think that there might be some employers that we could say, ‘Could you be remote for 17 days?’ It’s going to be a lot easier because we did go through COVID, so people will have some reference point in recent history as to how you could do that.”