On February 2nd, 2016, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that Thomas Bach, president of the IOC, visited Los Angeles to tour possible venues for the 2024 summer Olympic Games (including the UCLA campus). Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti along with businessman and philanthropist, Casey Wasserman, greeted him. Source: http://www.olympic.org/news/ioc-president-visits-los-angeles-and-meets-la-2024-candidature-leaders/247882 BTW, Casey Wasserman, chairman and CEO of Wasserman Media Group, attended UCLA from 1992 to 1996 where he received a BS in Political Science. In an August 29th, 2015 L.A.Times post, Wasserman stated: "The city and the council and the communities need to be engaged and supportive. Otherwise, we won't be successful regardless." Got that? The communities (meaning every citizen – homeless or not) need to be engaged and supportive. One problem: UCLA's Jackie Robinson Stadium (a college baseball complex) was, in fact, illegally built on VA property. In my petition update Elvis Needs Land: Come On VA and UCLA, We Can Do This!: https://www.change.org/p/curren-price-curren-price-reverse-your-order-to-confiscate-and-destroy-tiny-homes-for-la-s-homeless/u/15917456 I highlighted what Elvis Summers has been telling everyone: "The VA (US Dept. of Veteran Affairs) has enough land for all the homeless veterans in the entire county to be temporarily housed in a Tiny Home." Sadly, the city of Los Angeles "has adopted $2,030,300,000, and has 'helped' exactly 471 homeless people, in vague and undefined ways, with that money thus far." Source: http://www.thenewamericanmedia.com/the-arrogant-bureaucracy-my-day-of-press-conferences-and-peaceful-protests Furthermore, they've retroactively passed ordinances to relable Tiny Homes "bulk trash" and a draconian law that limits the homeless to possessions that can fit in a trash can. Source: http://la.curbed.com/2016/3/31/11336150/los-angeles-homeless-law In my latest blog post: We ONLY Have Until April 11th, 2016: HUD Wants to Criminalize Tiny Homes or RVs as Primary Residences: http://roserightswrongs.blogspot.ca/2016/04/we-only-have-until-april-11th-2016.html I was shocked to learn the homeless are being targeted, discriminated against, and criminalized simply because they have lost their housing. What's more, in an eye-opening article by Charles Davis in The Intercept: https://theintercept.com/2015/07/25/criminalizing-homelessness-in-los-angeles I learned police officers (downtown) routinely do "jump-outs". A homeless man, Charles Jackson, described these as: "[police] grab you, get you up against a wall, and search for any contraband that might justify a citation or stint in jail." Sadly, out of the $100 million a year that L.A. spends fighting homelessness, a staggering $87.3 million goes to the police. I cannot imagine that the International Olympic Committee would feel right about granting the City of L.A. 6-billion dollars to run the games – especially in light of how mismanaged taxpayers' money has been. And how inhumanely they treat their own citizens (the poorest and most vulnerable among us). Next, here are two more glaring examples from 2015 (and I stopped looking after I found these): In an article by Allison B. Cohen published April 2nd, 2015, Los Angeles City Councilmember Tom LaBonge moved nearly $1.6 million from funds allocated for street, PUBLIC TRANSIT, sidewalk repairs, redevelopment and community services to HIS office for the purpose of SALARIES since 2006. Notably, 80 percent of those transfers occurred since 2012. In total, LaBonge requested and RECEIVED L.A. CITY COUNCIL APPROVAL to move more than $1.3 million from three funds to his office’s account for salaries, according to city records. What's more, Cohen's post states, "In the 10 transfers analyzed by the Ledger, no specifics were provided regarding what the funds would be used for." Another appalling example: In an ABC7.com staff post on May 1st, 2015, Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin investigated two trusts managed under the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and discovered they "racked up a massive cash reserve of more $11.3 million". And there were "no plans in place to use the leftover funds for their intended purpose," he noted. Yeah, OVER $11.3 million! Of course Galperin requested that the city consolidate the two trusts and make their finances accountable to taxpayers. Source: http://abc7.com/news/audit-2-ladwp-trusts-overpaid-employees-mismanaged-funds/691613 Since the IOC's Ethics and Compliance Office was created in 2015, it's imperative it must be respected by the various stakeholders of the Olympic Movement. Stakeholders include the cities that wish to organize the Olympic Games and the Youth Olympic Games. Source: http://www.olympic.org/ethics-commission BTW, anyone can give information concerning suspected non-compliance to the IOC's Ethics and Compliance Office. Here is the Integrity and Compliance Hotline URL: https://secure.registration.olympic.org/en/issue-reporter/index According to the IOC Code of Ethics: http://www.olympic.org/Documents/Commissions_PDFfiles/Ethics/2016_ioc_code_of_ethics-book-en.pdf Article 1: 1.1 Respect for the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play; 1.3 Maintaining harmonious relations with state authorities; 1.4 Respect for international conventions on protecting human rights insofar as they apply to the Olympic Games’ activities and which ensure in particular: a) Respect for human dignity; b) Rejection of discrimination of any kind on whatever grounds; c) Rejection of all forms of harassment, be it physical, professional or sexual, and any physical or mental injuries; Article 11: The Basic Universal Principles of Good Governance of the Olympic and Sports Movement, in particular transparency, responsibility and accountability, must be respected by all Olympic parties. Article 13: 13.1 The income and expenditure of the Olympic parties must be recorded in their accounts in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. An independent auditor will check these accounts. And based on the evidence I've presented, I strongly urge the IOC members to be leery of: 13.2 In cases where the IOC gives financial support to Olympic parties: a) The use of these Olympic resources for Olympic purposes must be clearly demonstrated in the accounts; b) The accounts of the Olympic parties may be subjected to auditing by an expert designated by the IOC Executive Board. Lastly, I implore the IOC to keep Article 2 in mind: Olympic parties must use due care and diligence in fulfilling their mission. At all times, they must act with the highest degree of integrity, and particularly when taking decisions, they must act with impartiality, objectivity, independence and professionalism. They must refrain from any act involving fraud or corruption. They must not act in a manner likely to tarnish the reputation of the Olympic Movement. Worth repeating: They must refrain from any act involving fraud or corruption. They must not act in a manner likely to tarnish the reputation of the Olympic Movement. Perhaps if Los Angeles City Council, particularly Mayor Eric Garcetti, wasn't so bent on criminalizing homeless people, he'd have a better chance of winning over the International Olympic Committee. The world is watching.