Utah companies are making sure the 2002 Winter Games are well-staffed by agreeing to juggle work schedules and eat some or all of the costs of letting employees take days off to voluntee. Some of the larger companies are giving employees extra paid vaction days to volunteer. And smaller businesses have developed innovative policies so employees may still participate in the Olympics without causing a staff shortage. About 64,000 people have applied to offer their services for free. SLOC estimates it will need about 23,000 volunteers. Companies willing to support 10 or more employees as volunteers will have access to a limited number of event tickets for purchase and receive recognition in the volunteer program. While companies supporting 500 or more volunteers will also receive a SLOC vehicle and driver for a small group of employees for the Games, as well as behind-the-scenes passes, a celebration at their offices and invitations to a dinner with SLOC honouring participating companies. Those companies supporting fewer than 10 employees will receive certificates.
People selling Olympic tickets on the street or hawking T-shirts or pins will need a $130 “solicitor’s licence” during the 2002 Winter Games, and will have to undergo criminal background checks. It already costs $95 for a solicitor’s licence for sales people pitching magazine subscriptions, cleaning supplies and perfume door to door or on downtown streets. Brokers who sell tickets out of offices or in newspaper advertisements would not need a solicitor’s licence. Police officers will use their discretion when ticketing violators. A “one-stop shop” in a dowtown city office building will be opened this fall where vendors can apply for business licences, file tax forms and get permits.
The Mormon Church is scaling back plans to sponsor a media centre where unaccredited journalists could work during the 2002 Winter Games, because the Utah Travel Council has announced that it will operate a centre for unaccredited journalists. Instead The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Sains will provide a news centre in the downtown Joseph Smith Memorial Building “to respond to working journalists who need information to report on the church, its people, beliefs and history”. Church officials have said they will use the Olympics as an opportunity to tell the story of the history and culture of Mormonism. The Church’s public relations department has already mailed about 3,000 information packets to sports reporters, columnists and feature writers around the world.
Although more than 500 Utah homes remain available as Olympic rentals through a SLOC program administered by Coldwell Banker Premier Realty, many groups planning to visit Salt Lake City for the 2002 Olympics want condominiums instead. Residents in several condominum developments throughout Salt Lake Valley are being told they can earn from $3,000 to $11,000 by renting their properties for 20 nights during the Olympics. Olympic representatives are only interested in making available to visitors those condominiums that are in good condition and located near venues. Demand is high and supply is low for hotel rooms during the Games, and many groups that plan to be in town for the Olympics view condominiums as the next-best alternative.
With air traffic like news helicopters, small aircraft, blimps, and colourful hot air baloons expected to jam the skies above the 2002 Winter Games, security planners are working on a plan to restrict air space over Olympic venues, while keeping the skies open for pilots who have a legitimate reason to buzz along the Wasatch Front. The permitting process has not be established, but crew members will have to submit to criminal background checks before being allowed to fly in aircraft in Olympic airspace. Only pilots with legitimate business reasons — such as TV news helicopters, will be allowed to fly in the zones. The venues will be protected by a circle of restricted air space of up to three miles in diameter between Feb. 4 and Feb. 24. The Olympic Village at the University of Utah will be protected for two additional days.
In a May report praising Olympic finances, Moodoy’s Investment Service noted that ticket sales for the 2002 Olympics were “running very strong”, and “additional revenues in the range of $20 (million) to $25 million may be realized”. The extra money could reduce the need to tap SLOC’s $117 million contingency fund, further reducing the financial risk to the state and Salt Lzake City, said Moody’s. In an interview, Moody’s Robert Kurtter said other cities could learn from Utah’s Olympic model. He praised Olympic and government officials “strength and discipline” in riding out the bid city scandal and making $200 million in budget cuts to stay on course.
Salt Lake’s Mayor Rocky Anderson will ask LDS Church officials to consider relaxing free-speech restrictions on the church’s Main Street plaza during the 2002 Games to prevent arrests for violating church-imposed rules. Loitering, assembling, partying, demonstrating and picketing are prohibited at the plaza, which opened last year and closed a block of downtown Main Street. The plaza’s high profile makes it a potentially attractive target for protesters. LDS Church security officials have said they are formulating a plan to try to keep it a magnet for tourists without overwhelming them with security.
And finally, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has launched the official website of its 112th Session which will take place in Moscow from July 13 to July 16, 2001, where the election of the host city for the 2008 Olympic Games will take place as well as the election of the eighth IOC President. The site has a detailed program of the Session, the files of the 2008 candidate cities, the Evaluation Commission report which was made public on May 15, and information on the candidates for the IOC presidency. There is also an Olympiad-by-Olympiad history of President Juan Antonio Samaranch’s presidency. The site can be accessed from the IOC Website.
