Los Angeles leaders are spending billions to make the 2028 Olympics a story of climate and environmental policy progress, reports Alex Nieves.
Transit and community groups want to know whether the investment will be part of the region’s Olympic legacy or just a flash in the pan.
The question of just how enduring their efforts will be was a throughline Tuesday and Wednesday at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator’s Road to 2028 summit — an event focused on leveraging the Olympic Games to accelerate clean energy and transportation development in the state’s most populous region.
The overall vibe of the conference was an optimistic one, as Los Angeles County and dozens of cities are hustling to secure hundreds of buses, plant trees and clean waterways before millions of people descend on the region in two years for the Games. But some attendees were already wondering what comes after the two-week mega event is over.
“When we look to the future, if once the games leave and we have not left communities better than the way we found them, then we have all lost,” said Cynthia Mitchell-Heard, CEO of the Los Angeles Urban League, speaking on a panel of grant recipients who’ve received funding from the LA Olympics organizing committee for environmental projects. (The Urban League received $100,000 to create a workforce development program for people affected by last year’s Altadena fire.)
Catherine Baltazar, associate director of advocacy and organizing at Climate Resolve, argued that throwing dollars at infrastructure projects won’t guarantee long-term progress in communities that have historically lacked resources and disproportionately borne the brunt of climate change.
“Investment should not end when the Games end,” Baltazar said. “We know that these communities will continue long after the Games, and so for me, that’s the legacy that I want.”
The focus on the post-2028 future comes in part because of what was seen as a successful test run during this summer’s World Cup. The region hosted eight matches at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, avoiding any major snafus while seeing a significant spike in public transit use.
While the Olympics will be far larger than the World Cup, the region has structural advantages over many past Olympic host cities, including enough existing venues to house every sporting event. Much of the preparation now is centered on buying and leasing roughly 1,700 buses — including 500 electric school buses — to shuttle fans to and from venues that will be transit-only.
Transit advocates argue that those investments, including recent expansions of Los Angeles’ light-rail system, don’t solve for structural budget deficits that could threaten service cuts — as bus and rail operators have already warned about farther north in the Bay Area.
Los Angeles’ legislative delegation has failed the last two years to secure a boost in the state budget for systems like LA Metro, which faces a $2.3 billion deficit through 2030. Metrolink, a commuter rail line that serves six counties across Southern California, has indefinitely extended a 20 percent reduction in weekday service amid a $30 million deficit.
Matt Petersen, CEO of the Cleantech Incubator, told POLITICO the budget challenge has only intensified under a Trump administration hostile toward clean transportation.
“Local governments are struggling, states are struggling on how to put the resources where they’re needed,” he said. “I think the bottom line is: Without the feds, it’s super hard.”
But he said he still believes that Los Angeles is “well on the way to being ready” for the Games and to leave a lasting benefit for the community.
“That’s really what we’re here to do,” he said. “Ten years after the Games, what will we have seen manifest because of this moment?”
