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 would be a tremendous honor for Los Angeles. Being the only American city to have welcomed three summer games (eat your heat out, NYC) 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, 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 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.

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.