PARIS, FRANCE – Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is leading a delegation with members of the City Council and other civic leaders to Paris, France this week to generate business development and learn from innovative housing, green transportation and infrastructure projects to prepare Los Angeles ahead of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The delegation includes Council President Paul Krekorian, Councilmember Traci Park, Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, LA Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins, LA84 Foundation President and CEO Renata Simril and Priscilla Cheng, Senior Vice President for Government Relations at LA28. All three Councilmembers sit on the Ad Hoc Committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Councilmembers Park and Yaroslavsky serve as Chair and Vice-Chair, respectively and President Krekorian was a member of the Ad Hoc Committee when the host city contract was signed.
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“Homelessness is a crisis that impacts cities across the world and we’ve continued to gain insight from the City of Paris on this issue and so many more as they prepare to host the 2024 Olympics in just a few months,” said Mayor Karen Bass. “We have no time to waste in our preparations for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles but today was an extra special day as we celebrated International Women's Day with women from across the globe.”
The Mayor and the delegation met with and participated in the following:
Hearing from Parisian Leaders About their Preparations in the Home Stretch Before the Start of the 2024 Games – The delegation received briefings from City of Paris officials regarding their preparations to maximize public and active transportation, increase safety, generate economic development, and create lasting positive impact from the Games and the millions of visitors expected to arrive in Paris this summer.
International Women's Day Conference – In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8th, Mayor Bass participated in a conference hosted by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, with panel discussions featuring women leaders and advocates. Mayor Bass joined Mayor Hidalgo, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema, Mauritanian Political Leader Fatimatou Abdel Malick, and Mongolian Foreign Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh in conversation about their journeys to elected office.
Examining Initiatives To Assist Parisians – The delegation toured a shelter for unhoused women in Paris’s City Hall as well as La Fabrique de la Solidarité, which specializes in distribution of basic necessities and support for seniors. La Fabrique also provides training courses for volunteers, coordinates donations of money, clothes and other supplies, and provides information and resources for members of the unhoused community. The delegation was briefed regarding how Paris hopes to confront this issue in the coming months before their Opening Ceremony.
Meeting with Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, French Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games – Minister Oudéa-Castéra has been serving as the Minister of Sports and Olympic and Paralympic Games since May 2022. She is the first woman and the first former athlete to hold this position.
Some members of the delegation visited the City of Paris’s temporary Media Center at Carreau du Temple, which will host hundreds of non-accredited media covering the 2024 Games. Operated By the City of Paris, the Paris Media Center is designed to give journalists a window into the vibrant atmosphere and dynamism of the City as it hosts the 2024 Games. With capacity for 600 people, the media center will provide 300 workstations, two press conference rooms, interview areas, recording studios, as well as relaxation and catering areas, creating a free, all-hours, centralized location for journalists to operate during the 2024 Games.
Mayor Bass will return on Sunday, March 10. As the Mayor of Los Angeles, Host City for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Mayor Bass has been invited to have an official role alongside Paris Mayor Hidalgo in the Closing Ceremonies of the Paris 2024 Games.