By Rory Carroll
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Los Angeles will be ready to welcome the world when it hosts the Olympics in 2028 and will use the time leading up to the opening ceremony to improve the city, LA Mayor Karen Bass said on Thursday.
Games organizers LA28 revealed earlier in the day that Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and SoFi Stadium in Inglewood would host the opening ceremony in an unprecedented dual-venue celebration, marking another milestone in planning.
“Our city and our country is going through challenging times right now but the Games present a unique opportunity for all of us to come together and work with urgency to better our city,” Bass said at a press conference at Memorial Coliseum.
“This is the only time the world comes together as one and I know that we will leave a lasting legacy for generations to come.”
Bass said Memorial Coliseum would serve as the “heartbeat” for a Games that will stretch from the San Fernando Valley in the north to Trestles Beach in the south with competitions in downtown LA, Long Beach, Universal Studios and beyond.
“The entire city will be on display,” she said.
To that end Bass has launched Shine LA, a program that brings communities together to beautify neighborhoods block by block.
“Whether we are planting trees or painting or sprucing up our schools, we’re going to come together and prepare for the world,” Bass said.
Los Angeles was hit by a series of devastating wildfires in January that reduced entire neighborhoods to ash, leaving some to wonder if it was wise for the city to host the mega-sporting event.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has referred to the Games as the “Recovery Games” in the wake of the fires and LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover said the Games would be an economic engine, providing a benefit of about $18 billion to the city and region.
“The Games are going to be great and I think everybody will be uplifted by it,” Hoover told Reuters on Thursday.
“It’s a unifying force to bring everybody together around sport.”
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; editing by Clare Fallon)
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