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≡ SCENE & HEARD ≡
The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday that the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority – known as Metro – has asked the transition team for President-elect Donald Trump for assistance with $3.2 billion in support services for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
The Metro Board’s letter explained:
“With 10 to 15 million ticketholders projected, these Games will be the largest sporting event held in our Nation’s history. Effectively delivering a safe, secure, efficient, and accessible mobility system to support these games will require the full support of the Federal Government.”
The story noted:
“Among the list of 10 projects that Metro is asking to be funded, the most expensive is a $2-billion request to pay for an estimated 2,700 buses – double its current fleet – that the region is projected to need to move the millions of spectators expected to attend the Games. None of the projects have yet to be funded.”
An October report to Metro’s Ad Hoc 2028 Olympic & Paralympic Games Committee indicated:
● Of the $3.129.2 billion budget for Games-related projects, funding of $170.2 million (5.4%) had been secured.
● For the Games Enhanced Transit Service, priced at $2.042.0 billion, only $2.0 million in funding has been made available.
● Nine applications for Federal funding totaling $840.5 million had been submitted to the Biden Administration, with four granted totaling $228.5 million and five not funded.
The Chair of the Metro Board, Los Angeles County supervisor Janice Hahn told The Times regarding its letter to the Trump transition team:
“This isn’t just the L.A. Olympics, it is our entire nation’s Olympics. I would think that President-elect Trump would want to make sure they are a success and reflect well on our country.”
The letter asked for a White House coordinator to assist with transport issues and for senior officials in the U.S. Department of Transportation to be designated to work directly with Metro.
The Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles lobbied the Reagan Administration to create a White House Task Force – under the supervision of then-Deputy Chief of Staff Michael Deaver – to assure coordination across the entire Federal government for Olympic-related matters. That group was set up in 1982 and operated through the Games period.
The Federal government provided direct funding for security services for the 1984 Games, but did not provide funding support for transportation. According to a General Accounting Office report in 2001, the 1996 Atlanta Games received $274.3 million (in 1996 dollars) in Federal support. The 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City had $342 million in Federal support, including $106 million for transportation assistance; additional funds were added late for security after the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001.
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