Depends on how well it works. If it actually brings down the temperature a noticeable amount in the summer, it might be offset by the saved air conditioning costs. LA gets some fun blackouts every summer from everyone using their AC at the same time. As a resident, I don't have any problem with the experiment.

I used to live in southern California, and LA is just hot. Always has been, always will be. $40,000 per mile to paint roads white is a waste of taxpayer money that could otherwise be used for more fruitful causes and initiatives (food for the poor, infrastructure, healthcare, housing).

How long it has been hot seems irrelevant to the question of "will this make it less hot?". _IF_ this makes it less hot, it still _might_ be a waste of money, but it all depends on how much less hot.

Let’s say a home every 80 feet. That’s 132 homes per mile. Over 7 years that’s $40 per year. I wonder if it makes the neighborhood 10 cents per house per day nicer. I haven’t lived in the LA heat.

Probably cheaper than reworking the urban design to incorporate shade trees.

No water.