Letters to the Editor: Olympic planning is tough for L.A.? Try this plan: No Olympics

To the editor: Thank you for the excellent update on planning for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, also known as former Mayor Eric Garcetti’s boondoggle. He’s gone, good riddance, but buyer’s remorse is natural and necessary.

It’s shameful, but unsurprising, that L.A. appealed to the Biden administration to provide more than $300 million to help with the Games.

Any request for federal funds should be preceded by compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which would require studying the Games’ anticipated exacerbation of the climate crisis. NEPA would also require evaluation of alternatives to the “project,” and the preferred ought to be “none,” or no project.

The Olympic spectacle benefits the wealthy few at the expense of the rest of us. Our mayor needs to focus on existing problems such as the apparent disposable outcasts among us. We should not gamble with bankruptcy due to our puerile addiction to “games” that distract us from the existential threats that the elite would rather we ignored.

Robert Leyland Monefeldt, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Amid all the bad news about wars and the climate, how delightful it is to see the great news that L.A. is trying to double its bus fleet in time for the Olympics.

Good luck to all those working to procure the funds, but please, once the Games are over, keep the buses. Doubling our fleet could do more for traffic abatement, affordability, climate change reduction and future livability than any other action our city could take.

Truly, the only opposition to this civic improvement would have to be from the car manufacturers and oil companies.

Douglas Green, Sherman Oaks

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To the editor: The article reports that 2,700 buses are needed to solve the transportation problem for the upcoming 2028 Summer Olympics. Perhaps this problem can be solved less expensively and by connecting with local schools and students.

Assemble school buses and create wraps for the buses, designed through contests in the schools. It is neat to see your art go down the street. There are more than 3,500 buses in the L.A. Unified School District’s fleet.

We need ways to involve Angelenos in this event, ways to make us truly feel like we are hosting the Olympics.

Cheryl Younger, Los Angeles