In just nine years, the Summer Olympic Games will be hosted in Los Angeles, CA, where it was once located in LA in 1932 and 1984. The 2028 Olympics will make LA the most used U.S. city for the games. As the event brings so many athletes, spectators, and sponsors to the chosen city, we have to wonder, what will happen to our city when the games come?
The current plan is to use existing stadiums and sites to host the wide array of sporting events and venues span from Downtown LA to Riverside County. Venues that have been named are: 1) Staples Center for basketball 2) LA Convention Center for table tennis, basketball and boxing 3) Galen Center for basketball, volleyball, and badminton 4) Dedeaux Field for training facility 5) LA Memorial Coliseum for track and field 6) LA Football Club Stadium for soccer 7) The Forum for Gymnastics 8) Microsoft Theater for weightlifting 9) Santa Monica Beach for beach volleyball 10) Pauley Pavilion for wrestling 11) UCLA Student housing for Olympic Village 12) Stubhub Center for rugby, tennis, track cycling, and hockey 13) Sepulveda Basin Sports Complex for equestrian, and canoe 14) Lake Perris (in Riverside County) for canoe and rowing 15) Rose Bowl for soccer 16) LA Stadium for opening and closing ceremonies 17) Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park for mountain biking 18) Riviera Country club for golf 19) Honda Center for Volleyball 20) Long Beach Convention Center for handball 21) Belmont Pier for marathon swimming and triathlon events.
As this may seem like a relief that new construction of stadiums and areas are being avoided, the real problem the 16 day event will prose on a city is during those 16 days. Traffic, congestion, closed roads, etc. will all be a problem to LA residents who already deal with such a burden day to day. So my question is, what is LA doing to improve street structure or public transportation in preparation for the games?
Metro has approved a plan of 28 goals for public transportation to be up and running by the 2028 Games- the plan is called “28 by 28”. The goal was originally slated for completion in 2035 but had to be sped up by extreme funding by Measure R and Measure M to project an earlier finish. Measure R and Measure M were ballots that passed by voters to raise sales taxes across the county to fund public transportation systems in LA. Measure M, the latest passed, is expected to fund $860 Million dollars annually toward public transportation by rail. In my opinion, for Los Angeles to be successful at the 2028 Olympics, the city needs an efficient and established county-wide rail system. I also predict that residents of Los Angeles County will be thankful for the event as it brought a useful form of public transportation to the area. If Metro is able to extend and add lines to be sufficient to host the millions of people that the even will bring to the city, I think that Los Angeles will only see economic benefit from the games.
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Considering the income inequality in LA as well as the debt crisis facing the American economy, I think it would be interesting to also look at the social impact of this event. How might the lowest-earning residents be affected by the new tax system? How could we ensure fair treatment to the unfortunate in times like this?
Thank you for this informative post and overall a great article!
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Great question to raise and would be very interesting to look at just how much this measure will affect lower income LA residents. One thing to think about is that even if the raised sales tax negatively impacts some residents economically, the use of the rail will likely benefit the same people economically. The rail is primarily going to be used by the lower-middle class and will have a fixed rate for transportation versus Uber and Lyft that have incredibly surged rates and can be very costly.
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