The response to Birmingham's hosting of the 2022 World Games has been mostly positive by most accounts.
With just two days remaining in the 10-day event, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said he was pleased with the city's overall handling of the event.
Friday, during an appearance on Birmingham's News Radio 105.5 WERC, Woodfin told "Alabama Morning News" host JT Nysewander that his city deserved an "A-plus" grade.
"Overall, I'm pleased," Woodfin said. "This has been on a major scale that has been planned for six years. There's no such thing as perfection. But, related to the number-one thing – first being, public safety, we've worked on a federally coordinated effort with all of the alphabets and various police departments from across the entire Southeast coordinating with us. You've got federal agents from as far west as Arizona and as far north as Boston. The athletes, spectators, dignitaries in their own local communities are safe. So that's the number one thing. Public safety has been A-plus.
"Two would be the venues. We want the venues to be top-notch for the athletes to compete at the highest levels, also for the spectators to be able to enjoy themselves. So the emcees to the DJs to the signage and the ease of access to the venues, again A-plus. Transportation, of course, is always hard on a scale like this because you have such a wide perimeter for overall morning, midday and nightly check-ins. There's been adjustments to every day to make sure we can get that better as the days have gone by now on the eighth day. But overall, this experience has been amazing for visitors, for residents here between city walk and everything else you can think of. I give it an A-plus."
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email jeff.poor@1819News.com.
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