"We're trying to change the way that we as Angelenos think about our neighborhoods, so that we actually look around and say, where can there be more shade — in the same way that many of us have thought about trees"
On July 14, 2028, at 5 p.m. local time, the opening ceremonies of the 2028 Summer Olympics will begin, somehow, at both the Coliseum and SoFi Stadium. (Fire up those jetpacks.) Three years out from the eve of this milestone, as if we were granted a portal through which to gaze at Los Angeles's future, Donald Trump attended the Club World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. It went just about exactly how you'd expect. When he walked onto the field before the game, he was soundly booed. During the playing of the national anthem, as the camera panned over to his box, he was booed again. Then, in a truly astonishing post-game moment, Trump photobombed Chelsea's victorious trophy-hoisting moment — even as his BFF, FIFA's Gianni Infantino, tried valiantly to pull him out of the shot.
I couldn't have come up with a better visual to illustrate our situation if I tried. Since November, our elected officials keep trying to pretend this presidential administration isn't going to blow up our best-laid megaevent plans — when the reality of what awaits LA is right there on international television for everyone to see.
Cole Palmer was surprised to find U.S. President Donald Trump on the stand as Chelsea received the Club World Cup trophy after a 3-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain.
One month into the occupation would have been a really good time for our state officials to suss out how, exactly, megaevent organizers plan to separate their vision from the Trump administration's agenda to accelerate the country into autocracy. Because while many of our representatives have come out swinging against the Trump administration over the last 48 days, we still haven't heard a peep from LA28 officials, who have declined to condemn the federal government's war on the city — evenwhen asked directly by the Los Angeles Times.
In fact, it was downright insulting to hear LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover — a former Army general — and LA city megaevent czar Paul Krekorian trot out the same talking points throughout the hearing without any reconsideration for our current historical context. For example: calling the Olympics and Paralympics the "largest gathering of people in peacetime" sure does hit different when soldiers are parading around LA with grenades and sniper rifles! Surely Hoover and Krekorian realize an innocent conversation about "security perimeters" takes on a whole different meaning now, especially if they're going to turn into documentation checkpoints monitored by federal agents. And while the so-bored-they're-shitting in-Humvees troops might all be departing soon, not a single legislator asked how, say, $100 billion in future ICE investments might impact the National Special Security Event designation that established the Secret Service as the lead public safety agency for LA starting in 2024. It's particularly relevant because this designation was only made possible BY THESE SAME STATE LEGISLATORS when they passed a 2019 Assembly bill that formalized this unprecedented collaboration between local, state, and federal law enforcement. I mean, you have a former member of the U.S. military right in front of you who could explain how the whole chain of command might work!
Throughout the entire three-hour hearing, the only person who got close to broaching the topic was Ryan Becker, senior vice president of communications and strategyfor Visit California. "Clearly there's some shifts in sentiment abroad, along with concerns about safety, security, and overall ease of travel and access into the United States," he said. "Some headlines about border detainment and aggressive enforcement action are certainly heightening concern and exacerbating some longer standing issues we've had at the federal level, including long visa wait times." The state's tourism outlook — which I covered in May — is certainly looking dire, especially compared to the way Paris was able to leverage more visits before and after the 2024 games. But just based on their questions, the greatest concerns for these legislators were about how to get more people to come to LA — not necessarily about protecting the people who already live here from the U.S. government.
When discussing other aspects of the planning process, these legislators didn't hold back with their questioning, highlighting the (many) concerns about the lack of coordination, transparency, and funding. But they danced around the rhetoric emanating from the White House that's putting all of that planning in jeopardy. The upcoming games are proving to be an existential challenge for our legislators. How can LA's state representatives simultaneously paint themselves as the nationwide face of the resistance for the next three years and be unable to have a frank discussion with LA28 about how they plan to deliver these megaevents when many Angelenos are too terrified to leave their own homes?
At a certain point, officials are going to have to start saying something. Because this isn't going away. During the Club World Cup final, just before Trump mugged with the trophy — a replica went home with the team, actually, the actual trophy was gifted to the White House to further placate his ego — soccer fans worldwide could see Chelsea captain Reese James lean forward to ask Trump, "Are you going to leave?" Clearly, he's not. 🔥
Everything else we learned about LA28's plans
Yes, these are real — click to expand
Actual! Maps! Of the venues! These were shown during Hoover's presentation but do not yet live on the LA28 website, although LA County's Nick Franchino has done a great job trying to compile this information independently
One recurring comment from nearly every legislator was about the lack of information on the ground. Even more troubling: LA28 is just beginning to do community outreach now, saying they were somehow not able to do this outreach until all the venues were set? (Although that's not quite true: Venice — which is in Allen's district — already got its own private community meeting.) On July 30, Krekorian is hosting the first "Virtual Neighborhood Council Briefing on the State of the 2028 Olympics/Paralympics Preparations" with neighborhood council officials, although the RSVP link forwarded to me is now broken — maybe it's not happening anymore?
Krekorian showed a series of slides outlining the city of LA's "Games for All" vision for 2028. Many of these slides are also found in this presentation given at UCLA's Lake Arrowhead follow-up event held in May. Why this vision is not being shared with the public is one of the more baffling decisions being made by Karen Bass's administration. Consider this a plea to the Office of Major Events: I beg of you, create a public-facing website with this information, along with the maps above. Make it like Metro's website! It would be supremely helpful to point people to during this chaotic time Games water and games energy
In addition to the new Office of Major Events, Bass has also created the new Office of Strategic Partnerships and a new deputy mayor of strategic partnerships, Amanda Daflos, formerly of the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation, who is working to bring in philanthropic investments
At one point Krekorian delivers an infrastructural wish list for the city: "right of way improvements... especially concentrated around the venue clusters, around Exposition Park, Downtown, the Sepulveda Basin and other venue locations... fully accessible to all... adequate shade, bathroom facilities, water facilities, and those first-last mile mobility options as well." Kind of funny how there's a grassroots plan to do all that, but, so far, Bass isn't stepping forward to endorse it. She is, however, on board with a new shade plan
Teased again at this hearing: LA28's forthcoming sustainability and impact report! This was due to the city on March 31, but in April, Hoover said the plan was being revamped post-fires. I hear LA28 is still holding stakeholder meetings so this plan is not even close to being revealed. LA28's volunteer program is still on track to be announced sometime this summer
Hoover cited a 2017 study claiming the games will bring $18 billion in economic impact. LA28 was supposed to deliver an updated economic impact report to the city of LA by June. But some of these claims, like LA28 delivering 90,000 new full-time jobs, are hard to envision as employment plummets due to ICE raids. LA County is still working on its own independent analysis as well
Hoover also mentioned that LA28 recently hired Julieta Valls Noyes, a retired Biden-appointed ambassador to Croatia and former assistant secretary for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, to develop a human rights strategy for LA28. I wonder if that strategy will include not colluding with a federal government that's taking away the rights of immigrants?
Hoover said LA28 will leave "250,000 miles" of new telecommunications networks behind (honestly, that's a decent legacy project!)
Hoover also said organizers are putting together a new 50-state torch relay route: "It's never been done before, and we believe that that torch relay is the thread that's going to bind the nation to LA and California"
"We know there will be some Olympics-related events up in the Santa Clara area," Allen says at one point. Levi's Stadium will likely host one of the soccer semi-final matches, although it hasn't been announced yet
There was lots of conversation about hospitality houses, which, as I wrote in May, have been mostly going to smaller LA County cities. (With the exception of Croatia, which Tim McOsker has secured for his LA council district, along with half of the sailing events.) Apparently there's a new organization named LA Rising — not to be confused with LA Rises — helmed by the LA84 Foundation's Renata Simril, that's conducting an "analysis of the city, what its community resources are" to lure fan zones, brand activations, and hospitality houses to LA. This is the first I've heard of this, and I would, as always, welcome your tips
"We're trying to change the way that we as Angelenos think about our neighborhoods, so that we actually look around and say, where can there be more shade — in the same way that many of us have thought about trees"
