To the editor: California lawmakers are concerned that the Trump administration could renege on its $1 billion commitment to the 2028 Olympics (“Concerns about federal funding for the Los Angeles Olympics raised by state lawmakers” May 14). That concern should be directed to the city of Los Angeles and the LA28 committee that organizes the Games.
In 1978Los Angeles voters overwhelmingly approved a charter amendment that prohibited taxpayer funds from being spent on the 1984 Olympics unless they were reimbursed. The electoral measure was written by Councilmembers Bob Ronka and Zev Yaroslavsky, and as Ronka's chief of staff, I helped draft it. It was applied exclusively to the '84 Games.
In its quest to host a third Olympic Games, the city shirked its responsibilities to its taxpayers during the 2015 bidding process by executing an agreement that exposed the city for the first $270 million in cost overruns and the state for the next $270 million, with the city assuming all subsequent financial responsibility — a blank check.
The city is the guarantor of the celebration of the Games in LA28. However, it is not known where the committee's income and expenses are located. One of the city's top officials did not express any concerns in this article, saying that “Los Angeles knows how to do this.” No, it's not like that. In its history, the city has never guaranteed a multimillion-dollar event over which it had no control. The LA28 committee must open its books to its guarantor: the city of Los Angeles and its taxpayers.
Wayne Avrashow, Rancho Mirage
