http://www.london2012-tours.com/Genuine effort or is this just an interesting photo op? The BBC reports that a group of young people from depressed east London will help decide the future of the 2012 Olympic site, the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) has said. Aged between 13 and 21 and from the five host boroughs, they will visit the site over the next five months.
OPLC Chief Executive Andrew Altman said the idea was to give young people "a sense of ownership" of the site. The panel's 22 members come from Newham, Waltham Forest, Hackney, Greenwich and Tower Hamlets. The group will make several visits to the Olympic Park site, which straddles parts of the five boroughs. The different areas will benefit from regeneration as a result of the Games. The youth panel will also visit local schools and make suggestions as to what events they would like to see in the Olympic Park site after 2012. They will also get to have a say in the long-term planning and urban design of their local boroughs.
Mr Altman said: "We want young people to feel a sense of ownership towards the Olympic Park because they will be the generation that will most experience the change to east London over the next 25 years." Panel member Shaneice Bailey, 14, from Cardinal Pole RC School in Hackney, said: "I joined the Legacy Youth Panel to develop my confidence and share young people's views with others and to have our say. "I joined the youth panel also because I am interested in sports and the Olympics and want to find out more about what is happening first hand."
Olympic organisers have long been at pains to involve British youths, often with mixed results. London's Olympic logo for example received mixed reviews despite trying desperately to be hip.
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