PLANNING WATCH – When sports fans descend on Los Angeles for the World Cup in 2026 and the Olympics in 2028, they will discover a major US city that unsuccessfully tries to hide the devastation that most Angelenos ignore.
What do we mean by urban decay that is so extensive that it cannot be hidden? Economist Richard Wolff has identified two trends that can be found across the entire United States:
Trend #1. Infrastructure. In Wolff’s analysis, US infrastructure is falling apart, largely a result of deferred maintenance because of hard-pressed local budgets. This is confirmed by the American Society of Civil Engineers, which grades 18 categories of infrastructure. For the categories most germane to Los Angeles, the average grade is D+ (Airport D+, drinking water C-, hazardous waste C, roads D+, schools D+, transit D, and wastewater D+)…