Remember how awful the "edgy," graffiti-like logo for the 2012 Olympics looked when it was unveiled? This week's street rioting in London makes it seem like an even poorer choice. Meanwhile, a "revised" 2012 logo is going around. I wish I knew who is responsible because I'd like to extend my congratulations for the brilliant spoof.
How are the London riots affecting plans for next summer's Olympics? First of all, just where are the riots in relation to the venues? As this Associated Press story describes, the riots spread this week to Hackney, one of five boroughs encompassing the one-square-mile Olympic Park, site of the Olympic Stadium (opening and closing ceremonies and track and field), as well as the velodrome, aquatics center, basketball arena, handball arena and main media centers. According to the AP story, Monday's violence took place about four miles from the park.
Guardian reporter Dave Hill lives in Hackney and provides a good perspective in the paper's Olympic blog:
How fretful should people be? The [AP] piece quotes Tony Travers of the London School of Economics:
"You can imagine how stretched the police would be if this were to occur during the Olympics, so I think this will create a worry within City Hall and the Home Office. It's not so much that this might happen again -- unlikely -- as that it reminds the people in charge that while the Olympic Games are going on, any other major event is going to be complicated."
Sound thoughts. It's worth adding that the disorder, though widespread, was mostly localized in parts of the city that seem unlikely to be priority destinations for Olympic visitors, and that the objects of the rioters' ire were police officers and property rather than passing foreign visitors.
As a longtime Hackney resident I should add that although crime remains an issue locally, I do not cower in fear of it and very much like living here. It would be wildly alarmist to conclude from the riots that Olympic London will be a place of constant, inescapable criminality. Nonetheless, it seems that such worries are going to have to be addressed.''
The Guardian also quotes the Metropolitan Police Authority's lead officer for the 2012 Games saying that the riots are "extremely worrying. There's an issue around the moral compass of some of these young people. We need to find ways of alleviating the problem.''
Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/olympics/post/_/id/1403/pulse-of-the-games-will-riots-affect-2012
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