SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The city and county of Los Angeles have struggled to jump-start home and business reconstructions eight months after wildfires destroyed Pacific Palisades and Altadena, with only 17 permits issued for the Palisades and fewer than 300 for all the affected areas combined. State and local officials have waived myriad building regulations — most notably the California Environmental Quality Act and the Coastal Act — and yet progress is excruciatingly slow.
Despite the well-publicized regulatory exemptions, there’s little that California can do to remove the logjams from multiple bureaucratic agencies that have impeded every type of construction for decades. The New York Post found that many “homeowners say they’re still in California bureaucratic hell — waiting for the government to clear debris, test for toxic chemicals left behind, fighting with insurance companies over payouts and trying to navigate the Golden State’s notoriously punitive homebuilding restrictions.”
Los Angeles faces rough times over the next few years just getting back to relative normal, yet overburdened and barely competent city officials must also gear up to host the 2028 Summer Olympic Games. They can’t be blamed for lobbying to host them back in 2017, when no one could have predicted the disaster earlier this year. But there’s a legitimate question over whether they have the wherewithal to pull it off successfully, as the opening ceremony is less than three years away.
That hasn’t dissuaded L.A. officials from their grandiose pronouncements, such as assuring that the games are basically “car free.” But, as Governing magazine reported in October, “The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $3.3 billion list of projects needed to make the games run smoothly is 5.2% funded. If the money doesn’t come through soon, transit planners predict some critical projects may be scuttled — making it tougher for visitors and regular commuters to get around town.” Private Olympic fundraising is going well, but it would be a good time for officials to come up with a plan that ditches the unnecessary nonsense.
As of June, the city hoped that the Trump administration would provide $2 billion in transportation funding, per the Los Angeles Times. But as of August, the administration has mainly promised $1 billion in security funding, and the president has named himself the head of a task force that, Los Angeles Democrats fear, will mainly put them under the president’s thumb as he seeks to put his imprint on these internationally prominent events. The political situation is what it is and city officials just need to get over it if they want the games to succeed.
There’s no turning back now, however, so the real question is whether Los Angeles can get itself into gear as it struggles with the wildfire rebuild — and whether it can pull off the games without hammering taxpayers with enormous costs and debt. Olympic spectacles — like sport enterprises in general — rarely live up to initial estimates. L.A.’s 1984 Olympics were the only games that turned a profit, but cost overruns are always part of the deal.
LA28 promises to be privately funded, but that’s a stretch. “Boosters have drowned out skeptics by insisting that the Olympics will help the city and come at ‘no cost’ to taxpayers,” wrote the Times’ Gustavo Arellano. “But the city government will have to cover the first $270 million of any cost overruns or revenue shortfalls — and where on Earth would that money come from?” That’s the multibillion-dollar question. Most of us would rather see that money diverted to wildfire resilience and rebuilding projects.
The city’s budget already is struggling. In April, the city imposed budget cuts to close a $1 billion deficit. The situation in the county is tough, too, as it faces rollbacks in federal aid. These are not great times for the region’s public officials to come up with tens of millions of extra cash to pay for an unnecessary extravaganza.
Instead promoting achievable ends, Olympics organizers recently released their Impact and Sustainability Policy: “By managing environmental resources and investing in solutions for the Games that positively impact the broader region, LA28’s sustainability program will rise to the occasion and serve as a transferable model for responsible mega-events. The approach spans all of Los Angeles, with a focus on under-served communities who are disproportionally affected by the region’s environmental challenges — like persistent air pollution and intensifying heat waves.” Blah, blah, blah.
Furthermore, organizers claim hosting the games offers “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to uplift our communities and lead by example.” A lot of this is meaningless jargon, but it doesn’t set cost-conscious taxpayers’ minds at ease. Some of the details make sense. Obviously, reducing (although not eliminating) car usage given the number of visitors is sensible — as is reusing existing facilities rather than building new ones. Not that anyone can build anything here in under three years.
As the Southern California News Group opined, “Here’s hoping Los Angeles officials spend less time bloviating about generational uplift and more time getting the revenue numbers right.” I share that hope and expect local officials to eventually get their act together. Nevertheless, it’s a reminder that cities have more important things to do than focus on giant events that usually turn into money pits. Fiscally troubled and poorly managed ones shouldn’t even try.
Steven Greenhut is Western region director for the R Street Institute. Write to him at [email protected].
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