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EDITORIAL HEALTHY SKEPTICISM BEFORE ANGELENOS SUPPORT HOSTING 2016 OLYMPICS, THEY SHOULD ASK ONE QUESTION: WHY?


CERTAINLY, getting picked to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad are an international multi-sport event held every four years, organised by the International Olympic Committee.  would be a tremendous honor for Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. . Being the only American city to have welcomed three summer games This article is about the Epyx video game series. For the international multi-sport event, see Summer Olympic Games.
Summer Games is a sports video game developed by Epyx and released by U.S. Gold based on sports featured in the Summer Olympic Games.
 (eat your heat out, NYC NYC
abbr.
New York City


NYC New York City
) is something that would make Angelenos proud of their under-appreciated town.

But before there's a lot of time, energy and money spent courting first the U.S. Olympic Committee, then the International Olympic Committee “IOC” redirects here. For other uses, see IOC (disambiguation).

The International Olympic Committee (French: Comité International Olympique) is an organization based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas on June 23
, over the next decade, the city officials launching the bid need to answer one important question: Why?

Specifically, why should L.A. residents support a far-off sporting event as a way to boost civic pride when there are dozens of urgent needs and long-term goals Long-term goals

Financial goals expected to be accomplished in five years or longer.
 that are just as, if not more, deserving of their attention?

Safe streets, for one.

If that's too much to accomplish in just 11 years, perhaps a graffiti-free city might be enough to have people dancing in the streets.

We don't oppose the effort to have the Olympics return to Los Angeles. The 1984 L.A. Games reaped real benefits, including a revenue surplus of $245 million that is still benefiting sports locally and elsewhere 21 years later. But that result happened only because some fought hard to keep public money from being used.

Thus, residents and elected leaders should employ a healthy skepticism of all the platitudes that are tossed around by city officials, developers and business people about how this is great for the city and won't cost taxpayers a thing.

Of course it will - in uncollected fees and waivers for the use of city streets and parking services and cops, and in hidden improvements to the area in and around Memorial Coliseum For other similar named athletic facilities, see .

Memorial Coliseum (or Veterans Memorial Coliseum in some cases) can refer to:
  • Alexander Memorial Coliseum, Atlanta, Georgia
  • Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Indiana
.

Everyone involved should be honest about the costs and who will bear them, as well as who really benefits from the event: The average family of four in Sun Valley who may watch the games on TV, or the developers and business people who are betting heavily on anything that might make their shaky investments in the surrounding downtown area pay off.

It's a valid question.
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No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2005, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Title Annotation:Editorial
Publication:Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
Article Type:Editorial
Date:Sep 9, 2005
Words:344
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