Still dripping from my bike ride in 93-degree heat, I entered West Hollywood's council chambers on Wednesday morning to attend a congressional hearing on transportation readiness for 2028. It was one of the steamier days during Los Angeles's hottest week of the year, and I heaved a deep sigh when the AC hit. I awaited a similar sense of relief that our federal leaders were in sync with megaevent planners when it came to moving millions more people around.
Instead, as the hearing began, I started sweating all over again.
The hearing was hosted by Rep. Laura Friedman, who convened four of her colleagues — Judy Chu, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Ted Lieu, and Maxine Waters — along with representatives from Metro, LADOT, and Santa Monica's Department of Transportation. (You can watch the whole hearing here, although it's sometimes difficult to identify who is speaking.) The point of the hearing was clearly to elevate the lawmakers' pleas for $2 billion in federal transportation funding requests, much of it needed to operate the same types of shuttles to dozens of venues that Metro very successfully operated to one (1) venue during the World Cup.
"Let's be clear," Friedman reiterated while taking questions after the panel. "If the federal funding's not secured as we heard today, there's going to be longer wait times, there'll be less buses, there'll be worse congestion, we won't have an optimal experience for visitors, and that would be a terrible result, not just for Los Angeles but for the whole nation." I would say even that is a fairly optimistic take. Without Metro getting properly funded to move people around, the whole Olympic and Paralympic experiment — literally all of it — just doesn't work. We can't all ride bikes to venues in 93-degree heat. (Although I'm probably going to do it either way.)
What also alarmed me is how these lawmakers didn't seem to have a very basic grasp of what Metro's needs actually were. (The exception, of course, being Friedman herself, who is knowledgable on these issues and also secured legacy improvements for Metrolink stations and bus shelters in her district that will absolutely improve the passenger experience.) Many seemed to be particularly confused about what fell within each department's jurisdiction. Waters complained to Metro officials about Inglewood's new people mover-turned-park-and-ride, which is not Metro's project. Lieu was more obsessed with air taxis — the only solution being discussed which does not exist — and also, at one point, asked what LA28 was??? I BEG OF YOU ALL, SUBSCRIBE TO TORCHED.
Metro's funding needs are also separate from anything LA28 has supposedly planned for in that mysterious $7.1-billion black box of a budget. Which is why Metro staff has recommended the agency make its own agreement with LA28. But the reports that Metro still needs 1,747 buses (a number recently revised down from 2,700 buses) aren't quite right. Metro already has half of those buses secured, either borrowed or gifted from other transit agencies. You could see them being used during the World Cup, where they were clearly marked.
You can see both the sticker thanking the State College, Pennsylvania agency CATA (which donated 10 buses) and the reflection of the sticker of the Foothill Transit bus that I'm on
And where was LA28? Having someone there to talk about their transportation plan, who is responsible for what, and how their own negotiations with the "America's Games" crew in D.C. have been going would have been supremely beneficial for all involved. They've attended these types of hearings before! Instead, electeds who don't care that much about transportation on any given Wednesday were out here making uninformed assumptions about how everything is going to come together in just two short years.
LA28 was invited to the hearing, a source told Torched, but declined to attend. 🔥
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LA28 is scaling back its youth sports programming. Although, technically, it's more about the city of LA's capacity. PlayLA, the LA28-funded youth sports legacy program, is making a "gradual reduction in certain sport offerings that have not generated strong community response, or that exceed the department’s capacity to sustain post-Games." Rich Perelman has a rundown of the program's impact at The Sports Examiner; my kids learned to swim for free. The spreadsheets are all cut off (conveniently?) in the Rec and Parks report so there's not a full picture of the proposed financials, and I really question some of the enrollment figures; anecdotally, I know a lot of families who opted out of sports at parks as ICE raids began. I have long argued that PlayLA is more about what LA28 wants than what the city actually needs when it comes to parks. Funnel that money into infrastructure improvements instead? Although I did notice that LA28 will be paying for the community school parks program that opens LAUSD schoolyards in park-deprived neighborhoods. But, as of right now, it all ends in 2028.
But Archer reaaaaaally didn't seem to think this one through: the air taxi was facing the statue of Kobe Bryant, who appeared to be giving Archer a gesture of approval, as hundreds (thousands?) of fans descended on the plaza to pay their respects on Mamba Day. 🦋
🌳 Over 150 people packed an Arcadia meeting this week to decry LA28's plan to remove 34 protected oak trees from Santa Anita Park for equestrian events. No decision has been made yet
🚌 Inglewood's city council approved a new public-private partnership to build the shuttle system from the K/C lines to the Kroenke-Ballmer Sportsplex™ and I assure you I will have a very deep dive into the details soon 🦋
✊🏼 LA's City Council staffers have unionized with EAA, including 330 aides across 15 council district offices. Honestly, great timing for our megaevent era 🦋
🚧 Councilmembers Imelda Padilla and Traci Park want LA's Capital Infrastructure Program to be restructured so they can retain local control over the projects that get prioritized in their districts 🦋
Nicky Twilley's exquisite New Yorker story on moving historic homes to Altadena's burned lots made me wonder why we're not moving more houses like we apparently did 100 years ago
A lot of people have sent me this story on LA's dysfunction. It's the wrong take, and I'll have the correct one for you soon
So many great ideas for mitigating megaevent heat, with specific-to-LA applications, in this study by Ronnen Levinson at UCLA's Berkeley Lab
Exactly 10 years ago this week, the Willits vs. City of Los Angeles settlement forced LA to repair its broken sidewalks so people with mobility disabilities could navigate the city. Over $1.4 billion was promised to solve the problem. Instead, the rate of repairs is so slow that in some years, the money we spend to "fix" sidewalks is dwarfed by our liability payments to people being hurt by our appalling infrastructure. I watched in awe as a huge coalition of advocates known as the Boo-Boo Bandage Brigade — including delivery robots! — performed the "Willits Slide," tracking LA’s abysmal progress and demanding accelerated action by 2028. Big news on this topic is coming, stay tuned.
SCAG you later
Yes, that's me, posting SCAG agendas like a set list
I'll be speaking at the next SCAG Regional Council meeting on Thursday, September 3 along with Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins and OCTA CEO Darrell Johnson. You can join the meeting in person or on Zoom, all details here. True transportation sickos will want to attend for the item immediately after me, SCAG's long-awaited transportation demand management (TDM) plan for 2028. 🦋
Then, the following week: the Torched paid subscriber-only party! You will not want to miss this one. Stickers, beer, trains, snacks, and the very best people in Los Angeles. You want to be one of them! Upgrade to paid today.
🍽️ Feed me your tips! Email: Simply reply to this one. Text: 323 207 5607 — save it in your phone as Torched Tips. Or Signal: awalkerinla.99
Instead of South LA losing their lap pool just for the summer of 2028, it sounds like there will be no lap pool from now until then, and possibly long afterwards
Alissa Walker
Alissa Walker
Alissa Walker
