In three years, Los Angeles will host the 2028 Summer Olympics in July, theoretically attracting thousands of tourists and plenty of news coverage.
The weather will be good. But how will the city be?
There is plenty of anxiety about that question from sources like the Los Angeles Times, which wrote a year ago: LA is too ugly to host the Olympics. They recommended a flower planting campaign.
But flowers really aren't the only problem. The $6.9 billion budget for the Olympics won't fund buildings, since existing buildings will be used, but long-term construction projects at the LA airport will have to be completed. And there are other problems:
– Homelessness. Large encampments line streets and sidewalks, open drug use, trash on streets and beaches, and a lot of anti-social behavior.
– Traffic. Los Angeles equals traffic jams. Plenty of long delays.
– Wildfire damage. Thousands of homes were destroyed in recent wildfires. In the Pacific Palisades along, 6800 homes were leveled in January 2025. By May 2025, 68 building permits had been issued.
– Crime. The crime rate in Los Angeles is 29.7 percent higher than the national average, with 3,115 crimes per 100,000 residents. While homicides have decreased, auto theft, shoplifting, and burglary continue to increase.
The city is considering a no-drive policy, directing tourists to use public transportation. Crime on the Los Angeles MTA and its properties increased by 54.7 percent between 2020 and 2023, leading to a decrease in ridership. In the first 3 months of 2024, crime on the LA Metro increased 65 percent.
