In a recent interview withThe Los Angeles Times,Lee Zeidman, the president of Staples Center, L.A. Live and Microsoft Theater, said Vanessa, 37, has asked to keep most of the items left outside of the Los Angeles Lakers’ home arena as fanscame to pay tribute tothe NBA icon and his 13-year-old daughterGiannain the wake oftheir tragic deathson Jan. 26.
Zeidman told the outlet that they will begin dismantling the tributes on Sunday, after theSuper Bowlgame.
“It will have been a week. We have contractually obligated events that are moving in,” he said. “Vanessa had reached out to us and said, ‘Our family would like the items out there.’ So we’re going to catalog every one of them. By that I mean, T-shirts, letters, basketballs, stuffed animals, toys. We’re going to put those in specially made containers and we’re going to ship them to the family.”
MARK RALSTON/Getty Images
“So we’re going to compost all those flowers out there and spread them around the plants in and around L.A. Live and in and around Staples Center,” he told theTimes. “So that means that all those fans that took the time to buy the flowers and plants and brought them down there, some of that will still be around the site.“
Zeidman added: “Our goal is to somehow have it cleaned up as we relate to the middle of next week and we’re asking people — we’re going to put signage all around LA Live and Staples Center — if you still feel the need to do something, you can certainly come down here. But we hope that you wouldn’t bring any gift and flowers, but that you donate to the Mamba Foundations that they’ve already set up. Then we try to get back to whatever normalcy is around the campus.”
Broadimage/Shutterstock
ADAM S DAVIS/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Azmi Tuncel/Anadolu Agency via Getty
On Friday, Vanessaremembered her husband and daughterwhile the Lakers played their first game since her husband’s death. The mother of four shared a photo of a special moment from thetribute ahead of the game: a photo of Gianna’s and Kobe’s jerseys on the courtside seats they used to occupy, adorned with red roses.
“There is no #24 without #2,” she wrote in the caption ofher Instagram post, adding, “❤️#GirlDaddy #DaddysGirl #MyBabies ❤️❤️ #OurAngels.”
Kobe and Vanessa Bryant with family.Vanessa Bryant/Instagram
Before the game, Lakers star LeBron James also gavean emotional speechremembering his late friend and Gianna, as well as the other victims of Sunday’s tragic helicopter crash:John Altobelli,Keri Altobelli,Alyssa Altobelli,Sarah Chester, Payton Chester,Christina Mauserand pilotAra Zobayan.
If you would like to help the families of the victims of the crash, consider donating to theMamba on Three Fund. Contributions to theMamba Sports Foundationwill help support youth sports.
source: people.com
