Karen Bass Says She’ll Ask LA Employees to Work From Home During ‘No-Car’ Olympics

August 10, 2024 @ 11:12 AM

The 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles will be a “no-car Games” the city’s mayor Karen Bass said Sunday. Traffic has been top of mind for the organizers, she explained. “We’re already working to create jobs by expanding our public transportation system in order for us to have a no-car Games,” Bass 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.”

One way the city will do that is by encouraging citizens to work from home, a throwback to the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bass added that there were worries about traffic during the 1984 Games and people “terrified that we were going to have terrible, terrible traffic” — but those fears never manifested.

“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,” she explained.

“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 cell phones and personal computers,” she continued.

“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. 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.”

Sport venues will only be accessible by public transportation, a move that the organizers of Paris 2024 were able to pull off in large part due to the city’s existing transit infrastructure. Because LA is not similarly designed, the city will borrow 3,000 buses from around the United States.

After all, Bass said, “Part of having a no-car Olympics means getting people not to drive.”

Like Paris, Los Angeles will also have to come up with a plan for its homeless population of approximately 75,000 in the county and 45,000 in the city. Bass said, “We are going to get Angelinos housed. That is what we have been doing, and we’re going to continue to do that.”

Bass was also joined by Casey Wasserman, who serves as chairman of 2028’s organizing committee. Wasserman explained that the upcoming election in November will likely have some bearing on the Games. No matter who wins, he says, “I just want to remind people, this is about the red, white and blue. This is not about the red and blue. We all march behind the same flag, the same name, the same anthem, and this is something that’s going to bring our country together.”