The rhetoric of LA 2024, the Olympic Bid Committee trying to bring the Summer Games to Los Angeles, contends that most of the heavy lifting necessary to stage an event of such size and scope has already been done.
And perhaps it has.
Last week’s evaluation of bids by Los Angeles and Paris by the International Olympic Committee pointed out that 97 percent of the competition venues here would either exist already or be constructed as temporary venues.
What’s more, all construction and upgrade costs for the venues would be privately funded – assuming there are no hiccups.
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is also doing its part, guaranteeing a number of public transit projects – including the Purple Line extension through Beverly Hills and Westwood – will be ready in time for 2024, as Howard Fine reports on page 1.
But seven years – or 11! – if the reports about the IOC’s intention to award the 2028 Olympics to Los Angeles are to believed, is a long time. Much can change in as little as a year, particularly in the realm of technology.
Think back, if you can, to 2010, when “Uber” was still just the German word for “above,” and Evan Spiegel was still a Stanford undergrad.
My how times have changed.
The stories of the 2024 Olympics will undoubtedly be told in ways we can’t even imagine, so how does one go about planning an international media center given the ever-changing nature of how content is consumed?
And then there’s the issue of security.
The IOC evaluation notes: “The current security threat level across the Los Angeles region is classified between ‘low’ and ‘medium’ by relevant authorities.”
But no one can say for certain it will remain that way, nor can anyone accurately predict what measure will be required to keep the games’ attendees and L.A. citizens safe.
Yet such is the job that LA 2024 – and likely an array of civic planners, law enforcement officials and futurists – have before them. Let’s hope they leave room for the unexpected, and as of now inconceivable, in their plans.
