The Olympics aroused Tokyo activists. Now LA residents are preparing for battle Los Angeles

Just as Tokyo 2020 marked the end of the Olympics, the meeting ended the cycle of anti-Olympic groups in Los Angeles and a new one began. According to their own schedule, they only have a couple of years to close the door in LA 2028. And while specific strategies have yet to be defined, they have not changed their general view.

There are no Olympics, said Leonardo Vilchis, founder of the tenant group Unin de Vecinos (neighborhood association). We are not going to negotiate a loss. Instead, we act aggressively to prevent it from happening.

Much of their strategy is based on recent experience in Tokyo, where the International Olympic Committee (IOC) steamed opposition from local residents oppose the event. Under the agreement, agreed by the IOC, the City of Tokyo and the Japanese Olympic Committee, the Japanese had no say in whether the event should be taken forward, nor the power to stop the event if circumstances change, such as the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Up to 83% a survey of respondents by Asahi Shimbun in May 2021 said they did not want the Games to be held in Tokyo this year.

Los Angeles is ready to host the Games on the same terms as set out in the Host City Agreement signed in 2017 without public commitment and handing over important calls to the IOC.

Vilchis sees similarities in the undemocratic nature of this provision and is mostly concerned about hosting games on these terms. People look at real estate, the government is sweetening the trade and is promoting these things presumably for the benefit of a community that has no say in how this affects them, he said. Locally, his organization has struggled with such messages in the Boyle Heights district, where they have opposed cafes and art galleries aimed at revitalizing the neighborhood.

Basically, they increased the value of real estate and pushed businesses out of our low-income middle-income neighbors, he added. Cities like us already tend to displace poor people, sacrifice them for projects that are supposed to benefit them, and all of this is accelerating the Olympics.

Cities that offer to host the Olympics often see them as a blessing for urban development, global visibility, and increased tourism revenue, the IOC’s position. It has proved not true. In fact, the cost tend to exceed concrete benefitsand at each Olympics since 1960 has gone over budget. According to careful assessment $ 15.4 billion, Tokyo 2020 is already the most expensive Summer Olympics ever.

Jonny Coleman, a member of NOlympics LA, argues that Angelenos is in a much more vulnerable position than the citizens of Tokyo.

The inequality here is much more extreme, and its problem is that the city has tried to deal with address rifles for people in tents in Venice Beach, by changing policies to criminalize homelessness, you can feel the pressure to do it, he said.

Harrison Wollman, press secretary for Mayor Eric Garcett’s office, said: Los Angeles already has all the world-class stadiums, venues and infrastructure it needs to host successful Olympics and Paralympics, so these upcoming games are not dependent on any new developments.

The prospects for the Olympics already exist opened the doors development projects. SoFi Stadium, a multi-billion dollar development in Inglewood that is expected to host the opening and opening of the 2028 Olympics. driving rents up and low-income tenants away. Since 2016, the predominantly black and Latino area has been landlords and real estate developers seeks to benefit from SoFi’s presence and the upcoming new LA Clippers Arena.

Residential building to be rented across from the University of Southern California, Expo Park and the Banc of California Stadium make way for the picture, a mixed-use development that includes a hotel, student apartments and apartment buildings. The Los Angeles City Council indicated that more hotels are needed for the Olympics, and the Los Angeles City Council has approved the project’s taxpayer support.