LA Budget Advocates Weigh In On 2024 Olympic Bid!
The Los Angeles Budget Advocates representing the interests of the Neighborhood Councils and their millions of stakeholders would be proud to see Los Angeles host the 2024 summer Olympics provided that those who pursue the nomination carefully evaluate the direct and indirect manpower and resources that will be needed. They must promise not to saddle the citizens with a huge debt, which will impair services and further delay obligatory upgrades creating another shell game of debt to pass on to our children.
Boston has rejected the 2024 games after the Mayor stated that he could not commit to signing the host city contract as it was presented to him because it would put the city and taxpayers at risk of paying for potential cost overruns – costs estimated to exceed $15 billion with projected revenues of less than $5 billion.
The City of Los Angeles is relying on the infrastructure remaining from the 1984 games to keep costs down and point towards the benefits that can accrue including pride and an increase in tourist income.
Pride does not pay the bills. The City of Los Angeles has many issues that need to be dealt with including a crumbling infrastructure with dangerous sidewalks and pothole filled streets.
The Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates have concerns about the ability of the City of Los Angeles to avoid costs to our stakeholders and recommend the City pursue the nomination of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) for 2024 summer Olympics IF and only IF:
- a full and complete budget of ALL direct and indirect costs is drawn up and posted on the City’s website for input by interested parties;
- the problems with our City’s infrastructure are addressed while identifying what needs to be done specifically for the Olympic Games and how those upgrades will impact the long term City maintenance;
- the documented proposal includes fallback and contingency plans for every possible circumstance including our water shortage, not getting a new football stadium, what would happen if there was a police strike or the possibility of a war;
- realistic revenue streams are devised to cover direct costs (refurbishing of existing structures, building the Olympic Village, security provisions, technical upgrades) and indirect costs like (road repairs, acceleration of public transportation, overtime for city staff, dealing with our increasing homelessness population) with at minimum of a 10% contingency pad built into the budget; and
- an independent organization or commission is set up to run the Olympics with full authority and no material interference from City Hall provided they meet their targets on a timely
Although a number of the games since 1984 seem to show a profit, they do not account for the millions invested by national governments or absorbed into department budgets and, according to sports economist Andrew Zimbalist, “There’s not any evidence that this helps the city economically.” Let’s do the right thing.
Without addressing all of the foregoing issues, we do not believe it is in the best interests of our City to pursue the nomination for the 2024 summer Olympics. So, let’s make it happen!
Let’s bring a responsible Olympic experience to Los Angeles in 2024 and help us create the World Class City of our dreams. Address our concerns and we will help you promote Los Angeles as the Olympic City for 2014.
If you have any questions please contact [email protected].