Fixing a hole

I couldn't resist. After watching a viral video imploring Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to "Mamdani a pothole," I made my own video showing off the SUV-sized pothole that's plagued my neighborhood for years. Two days later — a Sunday, meaning the city was paying overtime — two Streets LA employees rolled up and confirmed it was, indeed, one of the worst potholes they had ever encountered. Vindicated! By Monday morning, the pothole was patched, although not technically fixed; the entire street will still need to be resurfaced. Two days later, a water main broke down the block. You know the old LA adage: when one hole closes, another opens.

If you're (blessedly) not following all this, Streetsblog LA has a "viral pothole video madness" summary and the best ongoing reporting on why this is happening — including, specifically, why the city has stopped resurfacing streets. The response to my videos proved my point: budgetary choices made by this mayoral administration have underfunded basic city service deployment to the point where the only way to get LA infrastructure fixed in a timely matter is by pleading on social media or appealing directly to your councilmember. (Which is what the council offices tell constituents to do now because, as I also noted, I had reported this pothole to 311, and the new 311 app does not work.) Yes, the proposed Capital Infrastructure Program would change that, but until the CIP is in place, the only fixes that are getting prioritized for the next two years are the ones around Olympic and Paralympic venues. (I was tickled to hear all of these very wonky infrastructure topics come up at this week's mayoral debate.)

I've had stories go viral many times in my career, but nothing compares to the engagement from an Instagram reel. After one week, the original video has a half-million views and over 2,000 commenters, including at least one Trump administration official. (The comments really took a turn after Fox shared a clip.) I have also fielded over 200 direct messages from people asking me for advice or help with their own city service failures. I've been sent dozens more videos — behold, the reprehensible state of the city's public bathrooms — that did not receive any mayoral response.

But there's one video that I can absolutely guarantee will not be addressed by the mayor in a day or two: in the city of LA, sidewalk repair requests can take up to seven years.

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On Tuesday morning, sidewalk advocates will gather at City Hall to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Willits v. City of Los Angeles settlement which was supposed to funnel $1.37 billion into repairs that would allow people with mobility disabilities to navigate LA's shattered streets. I'll be there to demand change for the Angelenos who were promised these fixes a decade ago — but are still waiting for the city to show up. 🔥

Let's get moving

Will the people mover be operational by 2028? Many people are asking. The 2.2-mile airport connector is still stuck at 99.6% completion, with project contractor LINXS suing the city, but new financial calamities could now endanger the longstop date of December 8, 2026. "In that unlikely scenario, the project with LINXS could be terminated and Los Angeles World Airports, which manages LAX, would have to find a new contractor, further delaying the train's future." More on the people mover not moving on the latest episode of L.A. World, the new podcast from L.A. Material, featuring three of my favorite LA voices: Antonia Cereijido, Hayes Davenport, and Julia Turner. And I also love to see how many reporters are citing Nick Andert's amazing YouTube explainer. (Relatedly, will the Theme Building be opened?) 🦋

The parks anchoring the Sixth Street Bridge are finally opening and Sam Lubell does an excellent job detailing the concerns on both sides of the river about who will maintain them — and the bridge — as the world's attention is focused on what was designed to be LA's Olympics centerpiece. Meanwhile, Matt Hamilton of L.A. Material went deep on the nonprofit AltaMed with a brief mention of its proposed "art park" that sounds less like a park and more like a megaevent activation that's currently being expedited in the vacant First and Broadway parcel diagonal to City Hall. (Which was supposed to be another park... until that money was transferred to help finish... wait for it... the Sixth Street Bridge's Arts District park.) All of this has made me wonder how the city could leverage the ordinance that fast-tracks Olympics construction, which just passed council this week. If projects are determined to be essential "for" LA28, they can be exempted from environmental review — for better or for worse. 🦋

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What Torched subscribers are reading

A very special shoutout to all the mom reporters who had to somehow cover the last day of school, the final results of the mayoral primary, and the start of the World Cup in a single week. Oh, wait, maybe just me? I truly feel like I haven't actually caught up until now. Here's everything you should read from LA's summer of soccer.

• If you need a comprehensive explainer of everything heat-related that's keeping local policy experts up at night, spend some time with UCLA's Heat of the Moment, with gorgeous photos to boot
• Wildfire smoke is so much worse than experts thought
• Fantastic reporting by LAist's Libby Rainey (always a must-read) on removing up to 1,600 homeless Angelenos around LA28 venues 🦋
• The LA Times has a very in-depth story about the eight-mile gap in the LA River bike path and various proposals to close it, but I'd say the real barrier is not the cost
• Will it ever be safe to swim in the LA River? And my story on how Paris did it
• "All the trains I rode in Los Angeles" and quite a bit of walking too in this excellent story by Kathryn Xu
• "America is having a soccer awakening. Can it have a transit one too?"
• "The 1984 team did much to alleviate the bad traffic in order not to be embarrassed,” says USC's Genevieve Giuliano. "It did not last." Great coverage by Caro Kyllmann from Clean Energy Wire
• Love this NextCity piece from Maylin Tu on how transit agencies are trying to incorporate more fun in order to stay funded
• Related: some interesting micromobility data around fan zones and the accessibility issues faced by disabled fans.
• "According to four executives at U.S. host city committees, all of whom asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships, FIFA management repeatedly assured the cities they would receive the same $1 million contribution towards legacy, despite no public statement ever being made by the organization." Of course they did? We did get our federal security money, and a promise of some U.S. Soccer-sponsored lessons, but no word on that FIFA money yet 🦋
• The promotional materials for the inaugural LA Jazz Festival sounded a lot like the way LA was promoting the World Cup: 16 days of live music all over the city; 26 concerts in local parks! But the whole thing was called off the day before. Read Julia Wick's essential reporting for L.A. Material — yes, another L.A. Material mention, you should really become a subscriber! — which also features IOC sponsor Airbnb
• Remember those "military exercises" that rattled neighborhoods in early June? Pasadena councilmember Rick Cole was on This American Life talking about them with Ira Glass, although it was not mentioned that these were done in preparation for the World Cup 🦋
• Neighbors of Destination Crenshaw, which was supposed to open in 2024, are complaining about construction. Again, the city's inability to complete projects like this finished in a timely manner is seriously undermining faith in public space
• Somehow the LA Daily News got all these megaevent officials on the record to talk about what they need to do better for 2028, but my only question is, are they talking to each other?
• How the World Cup was "a great dry-run" for 2028
• "Saying, 'No' to more mega events is saying, 'Yes' to a city that puts residents ahead of corporate sponsors. It’s saying, 'Yes; to a city that puts long-term planning ahead of last-minute scrambling." Cerianne Robertson says LA must stop bidding for mega sports events
• Related: NOlympics LA on the 10 reasons why the World Cup was a failure — every single reason extremely on point
• And a great interview from No Bad Days with NOlympics LA's Erik Abriss
• Want to really relive what the World Cup was like in LA? Eat the World's coverage is truly the best digest

Getting up

This week, I was so honored to join as a co-host of the Rent Brigade's very popular Graffiti Tower tour with a Torched twist. Thanks to Chelsea Kirk and Jordan Wynne for this incredibly comprehensive overview of six very consequential downtown blocks. I especially loved when an A train wrapped with LA28 graphics MEANT TO EVOKE GRAFFITI CULTURE rolled by the very same towers that the city is trying so feverishly to erase by 2028. The Rent Brigade just announced more tour dates and we'll absolutely plan another Torched tie-in in the future.

I was also happy to join Spectrum to talk about the city services agreement and why it's such a bad deal for LA. Here's a clip to share on Instagram, if you are so inclined. And! I was so thrilled to submit a very on-brand poem to the new LA Poetry Club. My poem vanishes forever on Saturday, but I've already been writing more verses in my head as I walk around LA.

Coming up next! On September 1 join me for Torched Talks with Jason Sisney, the chief budget advisor to California State Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and go-to for all things LA28. We're talking the day after the end of the two-year legislative session and if you're looking for a thoughtful overview of how our public money is funding major events, trust me, you won't want to miss this one!

Then, on September 3 — also my birthday! — I'll be speaking at SCAG's Regional Council meeting. Details will be posted here soon, but be sure to put that date on your calendar.

Finally, on September 10: the party of the year! The Torched's paid subscriber party awaits your upgraded subscription so I can bestow you with beverages and stickers. RSVP here and see you there