The mayor of Atlanta is in Vancouver, offering advice to organizers of the 2010 Winter Games, and spelling out the impact the 1996 Summer Games had on her city.

Shirley Franklin, who was not the mayor of the U.S. city 11 years ago, told CBC Radio she believes the Olympic experience was a positive one overall.

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin says shelter was provided for every homeless person who asked for help during the 1996 Olympics in the U.S. city.
(CBC)

But she also admitted there were major challenges, including how to deal with the homeless.

"We worked with the service providers and provided for shelter for every single person who was homeless who would come forward. Now that's an important word: 'come forward.' Not everyone wants to be a part of a social program."

Franklin addressed the Vancouver Board of Trade on Tuesday morning, attracting a crowd of critics to the Vancouver Trade and and Convention Centre.

Wendy Pedersen of the Carnegie Community Action Project said she has a darker view of Atlanta's Olympic experience.

"They had six ordinances that made all kinds of things illegal, including lying down, just like we've got planned for Vancouver with [Project] Civil City. Lots of people were shipped out, and lots of people were put in jail.

"They actually built the city jail. Activists there called it the first Olympic project completed on time." 

Vancouver's Civil City initiative was introduced last November by Mayor Sam Sullivan, in an effort to reduce homelessness, the drug trade on the streets and aggressive panhandling.

Sullivan said that while the 2010 Olympics were a "catalyst" for Project Civil City, the plan was not just about the Olympics.

2010 organizers slammed by community group

Meanwhile, an Olympic watchdog group has taken the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) to task for not living up to some of its commitments.

The report by the Impact of the Olympics on Community Coalition says VANOC's promise to protect social housing is not keeping pace with the number of people being forced out of their apartments by pre-Olympic construction.

It also complains the promise of a sustainable, Green Olympics is not being kept, citing the planned construction of Nordic ski trails in the Callaghan Valley, which is home to grizzly bears.

It also says there's a lack of transparency, calling on VANOC to release the minutes of its board meetings.