Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and LA28 President Casey Wasserman detailed their early planning for the 2028 Summer Olympics during a panel discussion Tuesday as part of CNBC's Game Plan conference in Santa Monica.
Wasserman faced a few uncomfortable minutes at the end of the session when moderator Andrew Ross Sorkin pressed him about a July Daily Mail report that accused him of being a “serial womanizer” with multiple alleged workplace affairs. Wasserman rejected the report and vowed he would not step down from his unpaid role at LA28, the organization tasked with putting on the three-week event.
“If the Daily Mail qualifies as a report, we’re all in trouble,” Wasserman said. “People can say whatever they want, without facts, without verification. … I’m going to do my job and do it to the end. That’s the commitment I made.”
Bass made a big clarification about her plan to limit car use during the Games. Some have interpreted her previous comments to mean the city will impose strict restrictions on car use. Bass said they hope to limit driving to various Olympic venues. “The city goes on with life,” she said. “We hope to not allow cars to come into the venues.”
Bass noted that the last time the Olympics were held in Los Angeles, in 1984, arrangements were made to reduce the amount of normal traffic on the roads. She noted that 40 years ago, then-Mayor Tom Bradley arranged for trucks to deliver goods at night instead of during the day.
“We can organize the area so that traffic is less and more manageable,” she said.
(Photo: Andrew Ross Sorkin and Karen Bass)
More to come
