Hot labor summer games

A better pre-Labor Day press conference couldn't have been scripted. On Tuesday, Unite Here Local 11, one of the most powerful unions in the city, endorsed Nithya Raman for mayor. "Our members know how to fight," said Unite Here co-president Kurt Petersen, as he stood on a Koreatown corner. "And when you're in a fight, you remember who showed up. Nithya Raman showed up."

I don't need to remind Torched readers that this is the same union that fought for the Olympic wage for tourism workers — what will be the highest minimum wage in the country by the time 2028 rolls around. Or, as part of the Fair Games coalition, how Unite Here is calling for a moratorium on short-term rentals and for LA28 to renounce the IOC's sponsorship deal with Airbnb. And it's pretty easy to demonstrate that LA Mayor Karen Bass did not, in fact, show up for these fights. Bass never put out a public statement celebrating passage of the Olympic wage — which she signed into law! — but did put out a public statement about a deal she proudly brokered to ensure it would be delayed. Bass also slipped a provision into her budget that would greatly expand Airbnb's footprint ahead of 2028.

As councilmember, Unite Here leaders noted, Raman supported the Olympic wage and was arrested during a hotel worker protest on Century Boulevard in 2023. But her support in their fight against Airbnb is what sets her apart. As someone who has been writing about Airbnb policy for a decade, I can say Raman has been working the hardest — at some times it feels like single-handedly — to reform and enforce LA's short-term rental rules. So if it wasn't already, the LA mayoral race has now become a referendum on Airbnb's power.

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But Airbnb is only one part of Unite Here's platform. This mayoral endorsement is setting up an even bigger fight about who will stand with workers as they turn the heat up on LA28. Reminder that Unite Here is the same union that won a historic labor agreement for the World Cup, guaranteeing their SoFi workers the right to strike if they felt they were in danger from ICE. Could a similar agreement be coming to LA28 venues? Because this union also holds the biggest bargaining chip of all: a contract that expires on May 1, 2028, just 10 weeks before the games begin.

Just look at how some Unite Here members spent their Labor Day weekend. With the Lucas Museum opening to members (more on that below), the Fair Games coalition was in Expo Park handing out leaflets outside the gates urging Lucas Museum co-founder and LA28 board member Mellody Hobson to meet with them and hear their demands. Many of the memes — which I have to say, as a Star Wars fan, were expertly executed — directly highlighted the Airbnb connection. It's going to be one hot labor summer after another. 🔥

That thing's operational

The Lucas Museum for Narrative Art is finished, meaning another nail-biter project for 2028 that I no longer have to track! I stopped by this week for the press preview and enjoyed some elements of the building, but I'm really most intrigued by the 11 acres of new green space designed by Mia Lehrer and how it can be a model for the rest of Expo Park. Two years ago I wrote a Los Angeles Review of Architecture piece about the decade-long battle to bring George Lucas's museum to LA after he was rejected by two other cities — "kicked out," as Lucas said in his remarks — and Eric Garcetti's obsession with luring things to LA that no one else wanted, including the Olympics! We also talked about the Lucas (the Lucas? is that what we're calling it?) on this week's LA Podcast.

How many homeless people will be displaced around LA28 venues? Last month, local officials told LAist that 1,600 homeless people would be displaced by LA28 security zones. "That just seemed obviously low," Randall Kuhn, a UCLA professor and demographer told LAist this week, so he joined a coalition of UCLA and USC researchers who now say that number is closer to 6,000 (and that doesn't include Pasadena or Long Beach, who do their own homeless counts). These numbers also assume perimeters of one mile, which could potentially be greater in some places. Expect more reports on how homelessness and megaevents collide at the coalition's website: Home 2028. 🦋

Everyone is losing their mind about "LA28's exclusive roadways" and how designating some lanes for athletes is going to mess up their hypothetical commutes two years from now. This isn't news — I wrote about proposed Olympic lanes in 2024 — but the actual headline is the just-unveiled transportation demand management (TDM) plan that's much, much more comprehensive than just a few dedicated lanes. (In fact, calling 2028 the "TDM games" is honestly a more accurate description than "car-free" or "transit-first" games but doesn't roll off the tongue quite the same way). At least the Los Angeles Times spoke with SCAG officials who presented the entire TDM plan right after I spoke at the Regional Council meeting this week. I'll have a full rundown for you, including what I'm most excited about, very soon. 🦋

More essential reads

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What Torched subscribers are reading

• L.A. Material's Pablo Goldstein on how wheelchair basketball was invented in the Valley 🦋
• A two-year NPR investigation into heat-related deaths: "On average between 2018 and 2025, we estimate that some 9,000 deaths each year in the country are impacted by heat — a factor of five higher than the official average over that same period. Some years, heat-related deaths can top 10,000"
• Sahra Sulaiman writes about a Leimert Park intersection being named for KAOS Network's Ben Caldwell, who opened what was effectively a cybercafe network during the 1984 games and is making big plans for the neighborhood in 2028
• LA Public Library icon Glen Creason on when librarians were Google
• An excellent deep dive into the Inglewood no-longer-people-mover shuttle from the LA Local's Isaiah Murtaugh Barish with accompanying video. More to come on this project and its ONE THOUSAND VEHICLE PARKING GARAGE
• I highly recommend Sammy Roth's assessment of a recent environmental forum and the differences between the mayoral candidates: "Strangely enough, Bass may have made the best argument for her challenger. Asked for the biggest difference between herself and Raman, she said, 'I have a record. She has wonderful ideas and plans.' I’ll take Raman's 'wonderful ideas and plans' — Bass' words, not mine! — over the mayor's record. For climate voters, this is an easy choice."
• And an extremely important forum fact-check from former heat officer Marta Segura, who Bass said she removed due to Segura's supposed failure to complete a climate action plan: "I did not expect to hear my name on stage. I also want to be clear: if my policy work at the City hadn’t been questioned, I wouldn’t be speaking up now to set the record straight." A must-read 🦋
• I appreciate the emphasis on infrastructure in this story about why LA traffic deaths are on the rise
• And it pairs well with this story about how Bass is using a state law to block safety improvements near Forest Lawn (in Raman's district, interestingly) where a driver was killed last month
• And a general reminder that I've got a list of Torched-recommended books up at Bookshop (where I earn a small commission if you buy one). Just added: Billy Fleming's Building Postcarbon Futures: Land, Justice, and Energy Transitions (which I'll be discussing with Billy next week, see below), and the recently updated An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles which now, sadly, includes structures lost in the 2025 fires

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Until this week, I had no idea this iconic shot of Rafer Johnson in the Coliseum peristyle during the 1984 opening ceremonies had this ad for AT&T above him. Thanks, LA Public Library — see, they're still Google, and these days, better than Google.

Keeping tabs

As you can see, I had a truly enjoyable morning at SCAG talking about what worked during LA's World Cup and how transit agencies can apply those lessons in 2028. Thanks to my fellow panelists, Metro's Stephanie Wiggins and OCTA's Darrell Johnson, and to SCAG's Kome Ajise for inviting me and asking such fantastic questions. (And for the cupcake!) I'll share the video when it's up, but it will be posted at SCAG soon.

I also posted the latest Torched Talks video starring California budget advisor Jason Sisney, who came straight from an emergency legislative session to talk about financial backstops for the games, all the 2028-related legislation headed to Gavin Newsom's desk, and so many small details like changing state gun laws to allow shooting and para shooting competitions (not kidding!).

Coming up on Thursday, September 17, I'm so thrilled to join Billy Fleming and Terremoto's Jenny Jones to discuss Billy's new book Building Postcarbon Futures: Land, Justice, and Energy Transitions as part of the LA Forum's At Recess series. And on Saturday, September 19, I'm moderating a panel at the South Bay Transit Summit on yet more transportation megaevent lessons.

But first: the party of the year is coming up Thursday! Paid subscribers, be sure to get on the list. If you're not a paid subscriber, what are you waiting for? See you all later this week!