Passing the torch, Los Angeles begins sprint to host 2028 Olympics

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Los Angeles’ time on the clock as the next host of the Summer Olympics started in dramatic fashion last weekend, during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics. It was a fun and poignant moment that kicked off four final years of preparation that could bring big changes to the Southern California region.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo—who famously transformed the French capital to encourage biking, transit and even swimming in the Seine—handed off the Olympic flag to L.A. Mayor Karen Bass. Both Bass and Hidalgo are the first women mayors of their cities.

Bass, who took office in 2022, stood alongside gymnastics phenom Simone Biles. “It’s my hope that together, along with Mayor Hidalgo, we sent the message to girls all around the world that they can do anything—they can run for gold and they can run for office,” Bass said on social media.

After Bass proudly waved the flag on stage, movie star Tom Cruise descended on a cable from the roof of the Stade de France to meet her. He took the flag out of the stadium on the back of a motorcycle, leading to a video montage that featured the Hollywood sign, L.A.’s Art Deco City Hall, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and a beach concert with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billie Eilish, Dr. Dre and the ubiquitous Snoop Dogg. 

Theatrics aside, Bass brought the Olympic Flag with her when she flew back to L.A., where she talked to reporters about her goals for the city’s third Olympic games.

“We are focused on all the ways we can match Paris’ success in Los Angeles,” she later said in a statement. “My goals for the Games are big, and I want to ensure Angelenos from all corners of the city have the opportunity to show the world all of our communities, that we will grow small and local businesses, and that we will invest in the transportation improvements necessary to leave a lasting legacy in our city for generations to come.”

Bass acknowledged the massive scope of work that had to be completed by 2028.

“I think we all feel pressure. We feel the pressure to make sure that our city, the region, is prepared and ready and that we take full advantage of what’s going to come our way,” Bass said.

A ‘No-Car’ Olympics

Bass turned a lot of heads even before departing Paris by declaring that, in a region known for its car culture and clogged freeways, the vast majority of Olympic venues in L.A. will only be accessible by public transit.

“That’s a feat in Los Angeles, because we’ve always been in love with our cars,” the mayor acknowledged, “but we’re already working to ensure that we can build a greener Los Angeles.”

The city has been on a building spree of light rail lines since 2016. A long-awaited Metro stop at the Los Angeles International Airport is scheduled to open in November, which, when combined with a new people mover to link the airport to the station, will allow travelers to get in and out of the airport without a car or truck for the first time.

Organizers are also planning on using 3,000 buses—including many borrowed from other jurisdictions—to ferry athletes and spectators to venues.

Bass wants companies to allow their employees to work from home during the 17-day event, which would reduce vehicle traffic.

No New Stadiums

Los Angeles’ effort is also significant as the city promises to be the first Olympic Games in modern history not to build any new permanent venues, something the International Olympic Committee has pressed for to promote sustainability. Instead, the L.A. region will host events at 80 existing sites.

Of course, the region boasts several iconic locations already. The Coliseum—where the opening ceremony, as well as track and field events will occur—was the focal point of the 1932 and 1984 Olympics. Its Olympic torch still works: the University of Southern California lights it for the fourth quarter of its home football games. 

The 2028 games will also feature the Rose Bowl, an existing NFL stadium and the arena where the Los Angeles Lakers play. In fact, SoFi Stadium, home to football’s L.A. Rams and L.A. Chargers, will host swimming contests with room for 38,000 fans, making it the largest swimming venue in Olympic history. And instead of building an Olympic village, L.A. will host visiting athletes on the UCLA campus.

But the region is spending money to upgrade its infrastructure to accommodate visitors. The city is expanding its convention center, which will host events for five sports. LAX is in the middle of a $14 billion makeover. And the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is spending $20 billion to expand bus and transit lines, much of it the result of a 2016 ballot measure to add a half-cent sales tax to fund transportation improvements.

Still, organizers hope that the 2028 games will avoid cost overruns that have tarnished the legacy of Olympic games in other cities. Some even hope to turn a profit, repeating a rare feat that Los Angeles achieved last time it hosted the Olympic Games in 1984.

Oklahoma Connection

As part of its commitment to use existing facilities, the L.A. region is partnering with a city 1,500 miles to the east to host several events. Oklahoma City will feature softball and the canoe slalom.

The latter sport will take place at Riversport Rapids, a $45 million venue paid for as part of a 2016 ballot measure that has already held U.S. Olympic team trials.  

Softball, meanwhile, is making a return to the Olympics. The sport made its Olympic debut in the 1996 games in Atlanta but was removed before the 2012 games. They were featured again during the 2021 games in Tokyo as a one-time deal.

It will be held in Devon Park, sometimes called “the mecca of softball,” which can hold 13,000 people and which is the home of the Women’s College World Series. The decision reflects the fact that custom-built softball stadiums differ in their dimensions from professional baseball stadiums that are more common in U.S. cities. Their outfields aren’t as deep, and there’s more of a uniform distance between home plate and the outfield fence, rather than a deep center field.

The only catch? Riversport Rapids and Devon Park are in a different time zone than the majority of Olympic venues.

“There’s no better softball stadium in the United States to host an international tournament of that caliber,” Ken Eriksen, Team USA’s coach at the 2020 Olympics, told The Athletic. He worried that the softball players would feel left out from the rest of the Olympics but said it wouldn’t affect their performance. “Once the competition starts, it’s about the games and it’s about winning the medals. So you’re going to have a trade-off. Once again, great venue—you’re going to miss the experiences, but then you’re playing for a gold medal.”

Still, fans in Oklahoma City are thrilled.

“These Olympics were awesome. Only one thing was missing. Softball,” wrote Joe Mussatto, a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. “Get ready, though. Not only will softball be included in the 2028 Summer Olympics, but it will be played right here at Devon Park. Oklahoma City, we’re officially on the clock as an Olympic host site.”

Mussatto, in fact, proclaimed Oklahoma City, which is home of USA Softball, as “the softball capital of the world.”

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News to Use
Trends, Common Challenges, Cool Ideas, FYIs and Notable Events

Abortion
Eight states will vote on abortion in November. Missouri and Arizona are the latest states that will allow voters to decide whether to add abortion protections to their state constitutions. If the proposed amendments pass, both states would legalize abortion until around 24 weeks, which is generally recognized as the point of fetal viability. The two states join six others with similar ballot measures in the upcoming election: Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Nevada, New York and South Dakota. Meanwhile, as Arizona prepares to give voters the choice of whether to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right, the state’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that informational pamphlets sent to all voters can use the phrase “unborn human being” to refer to embryos or fetuses. Also on Wednesday, the Montana Supreme Court ruled that a 2013 law requiring parental consent for minors to obtain an abortion is unconstitutional, finding the statute violates a minor’s right to privacy and equal protection. 

Water
Air Force avoids PFAS water cleanup, citing Supreme Court’s Chevron ruling. The branchof the military is refusing to comply with an order to clean drinking water it polluted in Tucson, Arizona, claiming federal regulators lack authority after the Supreme Court overturned the “Chevron doctrine.” Air force bases contaminated the water with toxic PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” and other dangerous compounds. Though former Environmental Protection Agency officials and legal experts who reviewed the air force’s claim say the Chevron doctrine ruling probably would not apply to the order, the military’s claim could represent an early indication of how polluters will wield the controversial court decision to evade responsibility. The ruling is expected to have a profound impact on the EPA’s ability to protect the public from pollution, and the Tucson dispute highlights the high stakes in such scenarios—clean drinking water and the health of hundreds of thousands of people.

Higher Education
US colleges are cutting majors and slashing programs after years of putting it off. As colleges large and small try to make ends meet, many have turned to program cuts in recent months. Among their budget challenges: Federal COVID relief money is now gone, operational costs are rising and fewer high school graduates are going straight to college. In addition to growing concerns about the cost of college and the long-term burden of student debt, the pool of young adults is shrinking. Two of North Carolina’s public universities got the green light last month to eliminate more than a dozen degree programs. Arkansas State University announced last fall it was phasing out nine programs. Three of the 64 colleges in the State University of New York system have cut programs. Experts say it’s just the beginning.

Elections
Wisconsin voters reject ballot questions that would have curbed governor’s power. Voters in the state answered “No” Tuesday to two ballot questions that would have stripped the governor’s power to independently spend federal emergency funds. With 99% of the votes counted, the unofficial results showed “No” winning by a margin of about 14 percentage points. If the unofficial results hold, this will be the first time since 2018 that Wisconsin voters have rejected a proposed constitutional amendment. Republican lawmakers authored the amendment after Gov. Tony Evers repeatedly blocked their attempts to call the shots on how Wisconsin’s share of federal pandemic relief funds were spent.

Corruption
Ally of Illinois ‘super mayor’ indicted on federal bankruptcy fraud charges. Dolton police Deputy Chief Lewis Lacey, a strong ally of embattled Mayor Tiffany Henyard, was indicted Monday on federal bankruptcy fraud charges. Though unrelated to his duties in Dolton, Lacey’s indictment is the latest shoe to drop in a burgeoning federal investigation into alleged corruption by Henyard, the longtime, self-described “super mayor” who has been named in a slew of federal subpoenas served earlier this year. Meanwhile, the Illinois comptroller said Thursday that state payments of about $135,000 to Dolton would be suspended for the village’s failure to turn over annual financial reports.

Book Bans
Utah bans 13 books at schools under new law. More than a dozen popular books have been banned from all public schools in Utah in the first wave of bans expected under a new law that prohibits books when at least three of the state’s 41 school district boards claim they contain pornographic or indecent material. The list of banned books include a popular young adult novel series by author Sarah J. Maas called A Court of Thorns and Roses and books by Judy Blume and Margaret Atwood. The books are still available at public libraries. At least three other states—Tennessee, Idaho and South Carolina—are moving toward putting the state government in the book-banning business, rather than leaving the issue to local communities, according to PEN America, an organization that advocates for free speech.

Transportation
The culture war comes for traffic lights. A pair of obscure provisions that passed the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee preview another possible divide driving politics in 2024: Republican motorists vs. Democratic pedestrians. Over the years, Hill Republicans have used their power over local Washington in order to target abortion rights, same-sex marriage, medical marijuana and physician-assisted suicide, among other issues. But in the current Congress, traditional red-meat wedge issues have been joined by measures that focus on D.C.’s municipal traffic policy. One of the proposals would forbid Washington’s local government from banning right turns at red lights. The other would do away with the automated traffic-enforcement cameras that ticket D.C. drivers for speeding, blowing stop signs and other violations.

Criminal Justice
Florida teens get longer prison sentences than adult offenders. Florida is one of 13 states that give prosecutors unfettered power to try children as adults without getting sign-off from a judge. And when judges determine the penalties for those kids, they give them higher sentences on average for felony crimes than older, adult offenders, according to a Miami Herald investigation. Children tried as adults were sentenced to a little more than three years in prison on average for third-degree felonies—around 50% longer than the average sentence given to adults for the same class of offense, the Herald found in an analysis of 15 years of state court system sentencing data. Most felony charges are third-degree offenses, which are the lowest class of felony crimes and include burglary, some types of assault, drug possession and certain DUI offenses. 

Drones
Maryland police use of drones sparks discussion over public safety vs. privacy rights. A drone program in Montgomery County, Maryland, that began in 2023 allows police to see live images of a scene and track the movement of people from above. Critics have raised concerns about privacy, democratic oversight and potential misuse. Supporters cited benefits such as improved response times and resource efficiency. A lawmaker says the issue could be a topic when the General Assembly convenes in January.

Opioids
Washington’s fentanyl-sniffing dogs: The newest tool in the fight against opioids. There are just a handful of working K-9s in Washington state that can sniff out fentanyl. Usually, these dogs are assigned to prisons, but that’s about to change due to bipartisan state legislation passed this year that will allow Washington to create a model program for training and certifying dogs to detect fentanyl. The authors of the legislation say the dogs are meant to make the public more safe. But criminal justice advocates and prisoners who interact with the K-9s don’t think their use should be expanded, arguing that the trauma of being searched by a dog isn’t worth the benefit, especially given mixed research on whether K-9s are effective.

Picture of the Week

#CityHallSelfie Day @ELGL50 @FounainInnSC #BestInnSC pic.twitter.com/3gDL4OZLEU

— Shawn M. Bell (@ShawnMBell) August 15, 2024

This past Thursday, Aug. 15, was City Hall Selfie Day! Did you participate? Organized by ELGL, short for Engaging Local Government Leaders, the day is a celebration of public service showcasing pride in local government institutions. It is the ninth annual City Hall Selfie Day. Last year, the celebration reached more than 1 million people. To participate, local government employees in the U.S. and across the globe took pictures of themselves or groups of employees and posted them to social media. Search #CityHallSelfie on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, and X, formerly Twitter, to see how cities and counties celebrated.

Government in Numbers

$600,000

The amount of money the city of Chicago now owes to the private entity it leases its parking meters from for lost parking revenue during NASCAR’s Chicago Street Race in July.

The event, now in its second year, has its costs to residents—police overtime, street fixes, lost park access, and now, reports the Chicago Tribune, parking revenue. Parking spot closures tied to the race cost Chicago $348,306 in 2023 and another $273,665 in 2024, a Tribune records request revealed. The more than $600,000 in so-called true-up costs covered by the city and owed to the parking meter system’s private owner further complicates the cost-benefit analysis of the race as the city and racing authority weigh its long-term future.