In less than two years, the eyes of the world will turn to the place millions of us call home: Los Angeles.
But with the LA Olympics 2028 fast approaching, a walk through many parts of the city raises an uncomfortable question: Does Los Angeles really look like a city ready to welcome the world?
Residents report illegally dumped trash, only to watch piles sit on sidewalks and streets with little sign of removal. The city’s 311 service is supposed to provide a direct line between residents and City Hall, but too often, complaints seem to disappear into a bureaucratic void.
Homeless encampments remain a familiar sight across the city. And LA’s notorious traffic has long since become one of its defining characteristics.
This is Los Angeles, one of America’s most recognizable global cities alongside New York.
Visitors arrive with images of palm-lined boulevards and the romantic Los Angeles portrayed in movies like La La Land. Yet social media tells another story, filled with disappointed tourists complaining about dirty streets, unpleasant odors and neighborhoods where they don’t feel comfortable walking at night.
Even as basic city services struggle, enormous sums are being discussed for Olympic preparations.
Los Angeles recently sought roughly $2 billion in federal funding to help build out the transportation network needed for the Games.
But before constructing a multibillion-dollar transportation system for the LA Olympics 2028, city leaders should answer a more fundamental question:
When visitors step off those buses and trains, will they find clean, safe streets where they actually want to walk?
Los Angeles is also grappling with another uncomfortable reality: two consecutive years of budget deficits.
The city’s financial resources are strained while the list of urgent needs keeps growing — police and fire services, homelessness, transportation, roads and other basic infrastructure.
Those aren’t optional luxuries.
Picking up trash on time, meaningfully addressing homelessness and making it possible for residents to feel safe walking their own neighborhoods at night are not ambitious Olympic projects.
They are the basic responsibilities of city government.
Los Angeles can renovate venues and build an impressive transportation network. It can spend billions making sure the Olympics look spectacular on television.
But none of that can hide what visitors will see when they leave the stadium.
A world-class city isn’t defined only by its arenas, freeways or international reputation. It is also defined by whether its streets are clean, whether basic services work and whether residents and visitors feel that the city around them is functioning.
The Olympics offer Los Angeles a rare opportunity to show the world what this city can be.
But they also put a deadline on problems that residents have been living with for years.
Before Los Angeles focuses on throwing one of the world’s biggest celebrations, it needs to get its own house in order.
The most important preparation for the LA Olympics 2028 isn’t another flashy project.
It’s making sure Los Angeles fulfills the most basic responsibilities of being a city.
Joy Song, reporter for the Korea Daily.
