Editorial: An Olympics lesson for L.A. from Rio

On the eve of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is on a 10-day junket — correction, “learning mission” — to Brazil to observe the games, meet with international sports officials and hone the city’s bid to host the 2024 summer Olympics.

Garcetti is traveling with a 25-person team from the non-profit LA 2024 committee, which is putting together the city’s bid. They’re attending as part of an official program under which cities bidding for 2024 — including Paris, Rome and Budapest as well as L.A. — will be permitted to go behind the scenes and to learn from Rio’s experience.

The mayor and LA 2024 ought to treat this trip as more than an opportunity to enjoy themselves, and more even than an opportunity to woo and schmooze the International Olympic Committee, which will select the host city in September 2017. Rio, which some observers have said is possibly the most tumultuous, least prepared Olympics host city ever, offers some sobering lessons on what not to do when planning for the Olympics.

For example, don’t be overconfident. When Rio was picked in 2009 to host the 2016 games, Brazil was a rapidly developing country, one of the so-called BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China — that were expected to join the world’s leading economies imminently. Instead, Brazil today is in a deep recession with its government mired in political scandal. To be sure, Los Angeles is not Rio, and the U.S. is not Brazil. But L.A. and California happen to be in a boom period, with strong economic growth, low unemployment and relatively stable government budgets. And such booms never last. Officials should keep in mind that L.A. could be more like 2016 Rio, not 2009 Rio.

Don’t think the Olympics will be the impetus to solve long-standing problems. Rio officials had said the Olympics would be a catalyst for change, with the government spending billions of dollars on infrastructure and community improvements that would upgrade the city’s poorest neighborhoods. But Brazil’s economic woes meant funding for social programs was slashed and there is little indication that the favelas — Rio’s poorest communities — are much improved or safer as a result of the Olympics. L.A. leaders have also said the Olympics could accelerate the planned construction of the subway to Westwood and add urgency and attention to solving the homeless crisis.

Don’t overspend. There are plenty of examples of host cities that have overpromised and overspent, and Rio is expected to exceed the estimated $13 billion budget, in part because of the last-minute rush to complete facilities and transportation before athletes and tourists arrived. L.A. makes its strongest case for hosting the 2024 games by proposing to use existing facilities — the Coliseum, Staples Center, the Convention Center among others — which would avoid the cost of new construction.

Will Los Angeles’ pragmatic approach satisfy international officials, who have gotten used to host cities promising shiny new venues? Rio’s challenges offer L.A. the opportunity to make the case for doing a smart, more efficient Olympic games.

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