When in 1984 Los Angeles hosted the Olympic Summer Games, Sue Steinberg lived in Van Nuys and remembered her neighbors renting out their homes to visitors from around the world.
Tourists and sports teams flocked to the Rose Bowl and Memorial Coliseum for opening and closing ceremonies. Packed buses whisked passengers to stadiums, pools and sports venues.
“It was a wonderful experience,” said Steinberg who has lived in Van Nuys for nearly 40 years. “The city was beautiful, with the banners all up and down the streets. They cleaned up the city. People were pleasantly surprised.”
But while Los Angeles was enjoying the global spotlight, not a single venue in the San Fernando Valley was chosen to host 1984 Olympics events.
Steinberg is among residents who today feel divided over the upcoming LA 2028 Summer Olympics, and are asking whether the Valley should host Olympics sports events this time.
The discussion is not new. In the 1980s, organizers who proposed four events, including rowing and track-cycling in the Sepulveda Basin conveniently near the 405 and 101 freeways, ran into strong opposition from residents and environmentalists.
Emotions escalated, and Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee President Peter Ueberroth, who lived in Encino, said someone threw poisoned meat onto his lawn. His two dogs ate the meat and died. Ueberroth said the incident happened after a rally held by Valley activists who had publicly shared the home addresses of Ueberroth and Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.
“Maybe it was a coincidence, but within an hour, somebody threw arsenic-laced meat over my fence,” Ueberroth told the Daily News years later.
Opposition to Olympics events in the Sepulveda Basin halted the proposals, with residents and environmentalists citing concerns over traffic, pollution and construction.
Now, decades later, it seems that public opinion might be shifting.
A survey conducted in July by the office of Congressman Brad Sherman, whose 32nd…
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