Congressman-elect Mike Kennedy is looking forward to what he hopes is a wildly successful 2034 Winter Olympics.
Kennedy, a Republican who will take the 3rd Congressional District seat shortly, appeared in front of Mayor Nann Worel and the Park City Council last week as he sought to build relations in the solidly Democratic community. Kennedy mentioned the Games in his comments to Park City’s elected officials, saying he wants the Winter Olympics in 2034 “to be explosively great.”
“What does unite us, for example, and I get excited about this, 10 years from now, this is going to be, this city, and you know this, is going to be ground zero for our United States Olympics in the winter,” he said. “Is there anybody in the country that wants the Olympics to bomb and fail? No, I don’t think so.”
Kennedy said he is working with state leaders and is excited to build relationships with the people who will be his colleagues in Congress. He addressed in broad terms the prospects of federal monies flowing to Utah as the Games approach. Funding from Washington is typically available to communities preparing for an Olympics. Transportation dollars are oftentimes some of the most important, and Park City will likely want to tap federal monies linked to the Games that become available in coming years.
“We are going to have Olympics, not only in Park City but also all throughout Utah, in a way that nobody has ever seen Winter Olympics, in the history of the Winter Olympics. The whole United States of America is going to focus on that. What is that going to take? A bunch of building and infrastructure. It’s going to take a bunch of federal money,” Kennedy said. “And I’m very happy to be your advocate to fight for every dime that I can bring to this place to build the things that we’ll use for two weeks during the Olympics and then for the next 70 years after that, that our state of Utah and our people can benefit.”
The Park City area is a key to the plans for the Games, with three competition venues — Park City Mountain, Deer Valley Resort and the Utah Olympic Park — identified on the map. The area is also expected to be crucial to the transportation, security and celebration plans.
It is not clear what projects City Hall may pursue that could be eligible for federal monies related to the 2034 Games, but there have been discussions about the possibility of significant transportation improvements over the next decade.
“I’m so excited to hear that we have agreement on the Olympics because that is something that we’re really excited about and that we’re planning for and going to be moving forward. So, you will be hearing from me as we get further down in our planning process. And I appreciate your openness to that,” the mayor told Kennedy.
The congressman-elect, though, also cautioned that there will be processes in place as communities seek monies for infrastructure.
“All the money is not going to just willy-nilly be spent all over the place. You’re going to get in line. And there’s going to be a list and some objective listing of what infrastructure is ancillary, what’s central to the plan — makes sense,” he said. “And we all, I’d just say it to you, we’re all going to have to be in lockstep to figure out, because everybody’s going to claim every street, every pothole that needs to be filled, every street that needs to be built, needs to be there because of the Olympics. Like, well, not all of them. I mean many of them are.”
He added: “If the federal government is sending money and it’s just being spent all over the place and Utah doesn’t have an organization, the money’s not going to come at some point. They’re dumb, but they’re not that dumb. They’re not going allow us to just blow money off. We’re going to have to be effective in how we do that.”