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Los Angeles is currently 12 months away from being a major host in the World Cup Soccer Championship and three years away from winning the world stage as hosting both the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.
Tens of thousands of athletes and tourists are poured into the region from all over the world. It reminds me of the classic film “Sunset Boulevard,” in which Gloria Swanson declared, “I’m ready for a close-up.”
Is LA ready for close-up?
Steve Lopez
Steve Lopez is a California native who has been a columnist for the Los Angeles Times since 2001. He has won over 12 National Journalism Awards and is a four-time Pulitzer finalist.
It’s a question I intend to explore semi-regularly and you are invited to worry and wonder along with me by sending your comments and questions to steve.lopez@latimes.com.
To let you know where I came from, I am a sports fan who watches the Olympics on TV despite politics, doping scandals and the corporateization of the game. But I’m also a professional skeptic, and my questions go far beyond whether we’re ready for a close-up.
Here are some:
Does the advantages of a host outweigh the burden?
Does the average Southern Californian get something from the long-stage accumulation and staging of the game?
Also, will basic services and infrastructure near the Olympic venue be upgraded at the expense of long-term improvements in other areas?
The answer to that question is a big “yes,” says Monica Rodriguez, LA councillor who represents the northeastern San Fernando Valley.
“What I saw [the latest] The budget is for areas that host some of the Olympic events to prioritize,” she said. That means her district is off the radar.
It is worth noting that the city of Los Angeles does not run these Olympics (this is the job of a private nonprofit organization working in conjunction with the International Olympic Committee) nor does it host all of the events. The Olympic sites are scattered well beyond the right ones in Los Angeles, such as volleyball in Anaheim, cricket in Pomona, cycling in Carson, and swimming in Long Beach. The softball and canoe slalom tournament will be held in Oklahoma City.
The contestants will jump into the Seine at the start of their men’s 10km marathon swimming at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
(David Goldman/Applications)
However, Los Angeles’ reputation is on track as a lead host and partner in staging mega-events that will win the international spotlight.
One of the financial benefits the 2028 game enjoys at previous Olympics is that it doesn’t require the construction of large and ridiculously expensive new stadiums and arenas. For example, there are soccer in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, track and field at LA Coliseum, and baseball at Dodger Stadium. All of this keeps the overall cost of the game down.
However, playing the role of a host at the Primary Limpics takes as much risk as the opportunity.
“The game has a history of damaging cities and society,” according to an analysis by the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs last year. “The damage to budgets that put a burden on public wallets… the militarization of public spaces… and the sweeping, the expulsion of residents by gentlemen, gentlemen and monarchs.”
Without that, there are many issues in LA, and the close-ups at this point aren’t pretty portraits.
Tens of thousands of people are homeless and agencies that oversee the homeless are confused as they hinder financial audits, so without a quick turnaround, cities can see all the tarps in the world. Meanwhile, planned improvements to transport are behind schedule, with a sweeping liability claim settlement expected to cost $300 million this year, and on top of that, the city broke down a few weeks ago, it suddenly happened to local leaders.
“The situation in our budget is significant,” Mayor Karen Bass wrote in an April letter to the city council, outlining the deficit of around $1 billion and proposing numerous program cuts and layoffs.
The city council has recovered some of these trims, but hundreds of workers have lost their jobs and the outlook is still tough. Bass and other local leaders claim that playing hosts for mega events will help replenish the Treasury. But the opposite could be true, if the $7 billion game doesn’t break, an already tied city will be slapped with a $270 million relief tab.
For all the hands at city hall, the current fiscal deficit should not have come as a surprise. Revenues are declining, and homelessness dealing with big budget chunks (no transformational progress made for investment).
That’s why there’s a 10-year wait to secure a ruptured sidewalk (although the city is much faster to pay millions in travel and fall cases). In Totchedora, journalist Alyssa Walker reports that LA has dropped to 90th place in the annual rankings of the park system in up to 100 cities.
Speaking of bad looks, moving thousands of athletes and tourists across the city is key to success in the game, but some of the so-called “28 by 28” transport improvements scheduled to be completed by the start of the Olympics have been demolished or reduced. And my colleague Colleen Charby reported last month that Metro’s projected budget deficits are massive over the next five years.
“A significant part of the Metro Olympic plans has not yet been nailed down,” she writes. “The agency is still leasing nearly 3,000 buses, confirming $2 billion in funding, which is essential to the primary goal of the Los Angeles game.”
Babe Didrickson clears her first hurdle to win the first heat of the women’s 80 metres hurdle at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics match at the Coliseum.
(AP News)
Michael Schneider, founder of Nonprofit Streets, said the LA budget crisis is “at the worst possible time.” While we should not link the provision of basic infrastructure needs to a major sporting event, we wanted the Olympics to make a significant investment in “only bus rapid transits, networks of bike lanes, unbroken sidewalks, curb ramps, infrastructure nuts and bolts.”
Jules Boykov, a professor at the University of the Pacific and former professional footballer who studied the social and economic impacts of several recent Olympics, has not been surprised by the LA records so far.
“I thought Los Angeles would be in a better shape,” Boykov said. “I’ve been surprised by the issues that exist and how much they haven’t been done.”
The real goal is not only to host the Olympics, but to do so in ways that will bring about long-term improvements.
“Any Smart City” uses the game to “benefit everyone in the city. In 2004 Athens got the metro system,” he said, in 2016 Rio de Janeiro got the transit link and last year’s host Paris got the bike lane system.
L.A. has a gold medal aspirations, and the city is improving transportation. It also has a wealth of distinctive natural wonders that show off from the mountains to the sea, just as Paris’ games featured the Eiffel Tower and the magical evening skyline.
But now, three major hurdles are preventing you from reaching the podium.
Budget restrictions (which could get worse between now and 2028), resources shifting to parliad’s wildfire recovery, and uncertainty about federal financial support from President Trump, who desperately needed to not place Los Angeles on his list of cities he likes.
The race can be won by a runner moving from behind the pack, but LA can still find its stride, show pride and avoid being embarrassed.
That’s what I’m rooting for.
But just a year after the World Cup, the clock is ticking three times away from the Olympics, and it’s almost too late to catch up.
steve.lopez@latimes.com
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