Up in the air

Archer, an air taxi service that does not exist, was just named the "official air taxi provider" for LA28. The reason for such a provider is clear, Archer co-founder Adam Goldstein told the Los Angeles Times: people who are coming to LA for an Olympics built around our public transit system are going to need air taxis to get around because traffic will be so bad. "Imagine an Olympic event taking place in Dodger Stadium, and then having to get back to SoFi for the medal ceremony," he said. "How are you going to get there if you're stuck in two hours [of] traffic?"

While you imagine that, you can also imagine what it will be like to ride in Goldstein's air taxi service, the one that does not exist.

Surely, at some point in the process of becoming the "official air taxi provider" of LA28, Goldstein was briefed on LA28's transit-first promises to the city. Perhaps he read somewhere that we also did this 40 years ago — even to Dodger Stadium! — with 1984 technology. Oddly enough, the reason organizers put together a transit-first strategy for 1984 was because of the exact scenario he describes: they were terrified about making international headlines if athletes got stuck in traffic. LA28 partners, especially ones with air taxi services that do not exist, really shouldn't be out here trying to undermine the transit-first strategy for 2028. Right now, Metro's diligent planning is the only thing saving LA28 from global embarrassment. When we said "car-free" games, we also meant flying cars.

Archer is one of a handful of VTOL startups literally trying to get off the ground. VTOL stands for "vertical takeoff and landing," and some have a little "e" tacked on the front signifying that they're electric. (Not all of them are.) You can find videos with cute little helicopter-looking vehicles, a dozen tiny propellers flitting, making verrrrry short test flights, assuring us our rides are "just around the corner." LA has been told air taxis will solve our traffic problems for at least a decade. In 2021, former mayor Eric Garcetti established a city partnership with Archer, saying LA's air taxi service would be up and running by 2024. In 2024, Archer moved the goalpost: now LA's air taxi service, focused on megaevent venues — foreshadowing! — would be up and running by early 2026.

That timeline still seems incredibly ambitious seeing as air taxis currently don't have federal approval to fly. But Archer is using the profile boost from the games to get federal approval. Despite his administration's inability to keep our current fleet of aircraft aloft, flying cars are a priority for Trump. Goldstein confirmed as much, saying he met with former Road Rules cast member Sean Duffy to seal the deal. "We are working closely with the Trump administration to make air taxis an everyday reality in America’s largest cities as soon as possible," Goldstein posted on LinkedIn. "What this means is that the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration are confident Archer is the right partner to ensure these games showcase America’s leadership in tech and transportation." Last night, Goldstein appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show to tape what was basically a five-minute ad with an incredulous Jimmy Fallon. How quickly NBCUniversal's broadcast deal with the IOC becomes Trump-endorsed propaganda!

But air taxis only see an opportunity to swoop in because our local leaders have failed us. Look at Inglewood's ill-fated people mover, recently "rephased" as a bus rapid transit project connecting to both the K and C lines. It's great they finally pivoted, except this took seven years of them dicking around with billions of public dollars when the better solution was so clearly obvious to anyone ever trying to leave a Beyoncé show. On the other end of Goldstein's hypothetical journey, a state appeals court just invalidated Metro's environmental review for the Dodger Stadium gondola. Seven years have been lost there, too, when all the stadium really needs is a Hollywood Bowl-level shuttle service and some decent sidewalks. It's the same thing I've been saying about the Boring Company: if we'd addressed our traffic problems decades ago by building something as simple as bus lanes, we wouldn't have billionaires wasting our time with car holes. Of course, we knew this was coming; at the March IOC meeting, LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover joked that LA28's new headquarters had "a rooftop helicopter pad, to beat the traffic." But they all know in their hearts that air taxis won't solve our megaevent transportation problems. They saw it last summer! In the lead up to 2024, Paris ditched their air taxi plans and doubled down on cycling infrastructure.

In a different reality, one where LA28 truly understood the assignment, they'd be sending out press releases for an e-bike sponsor, not an eVTOL sponsor. Their big announcement this week would have been the completion of the Rail to Rail Active Transportation Corridor through South LA — one of Metro's 28 by 28 legacy improvements —which officially opens Saturday, along with six new Metro Bike stations. This is a key corridor for the Festival Trail, which would link nearly all the venues with car-free routes, something LA28 has yet to endorse. How would anyone possibly get to SoFi if there's megaevent-level traffic? Gee, I don't know, but this new dedicated cycleway drops you off pretty close by. Maybe you could ride a bike. Imagine that. 🔥

Shine on

There was a strange moment at the end of Karen Bass's State of the City where the mayor did an Olympics roll call. It was as if LA28 had written the last chunk of the speech; she even called USC's Galen Center the "USC Sports Center," the unbranded name used by LA28. But in her intention to highlight each council district's readiness, Bass ended up pointing out one way that LA is way behind: we're not booking hospitality houses like other LA-area cities. It's true that Council District 15 has a commitment from Croatia for a hospitality house in San Pedro. As Bass mentioned, South Korea's hospitality house should probably be in Koreatown, but no deal has been announced. But what I'm being told is that more countries are flocking to smaller cities: Culver City, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Long Beach. In Culver City, a proposal is being explored by the city's council that would turn its town plaza into a hospitality house for New Zealand, with viewing parties open to the public.

For the past year I've been arguing for better coordination to convene the region around shared megaevent goals. As part of the county's 88 for 28 initiative, announced last fall, Supervisor Lindsey Horvath did exactly that, gathering representatives of all 88 LA County cities. And because nothing says coordination more than duplicating efforts, Bass hosted a nearly identical convening just a few days later. Speaking of coordination, Bass also took credit for brokering a deal to move the date of the 2026 LA Marathon, which had been scheduled on the same day as the Oscars. So we're ready to host "seven Super Bowls a day," but can't handle a marathon and awards show happening on the same street hours apart? Perhaps more alarming: NBCLA's report — titled "CRISIS AVERTED" — said these events had been scheduled the same day and the city had no idea until reporters asked about the conflict. What does the mayor's new Office of Major Events do, if not tracking major events like this?

The Olympic and Paralympic Wage will go into effect July 1, pending a second council vote and Bass's signature. Tourism workers will receive the highest minimum wage in the country — $30/hour by 2028 — plus a healthcare credit starting in 2026. Councilmembers who voted no said the move was too risky when tourism is down — and it's certainly down; I wrote an entire story about it — but you know what's really risky? Hosting a megaevent where you're on the hook for potentially hundreds of millions in cost overruns. Funny how these concerns about tourism didn't really come up as they signed off on LA28's venue plan or allocated $5 billion for airport improvements. It's only risky when it's about paying people a living wage. Perhaps the most alarming portion of the final vote was learning that city-conducted surveys showed that American travelers aren't coming here because they believe that 41 percent of LA was destroyed in fires. Seems like our tourism board needs to do a little PR campaign. 41 percent!

Torched readers were blowing up my phone on the morning of April 15 after a new billboard appeared on the 101 in Historic Filipinotown: Wait, is Ozempic an Olympic sponsor? No, LA28 didn't get a new sponsor, and it couldn't be Ozempic anyway because current LA28 sponsor Lilly has their own weight-loss drugs they're already promoting at Olympic events. This gem was the work of street artist Jesus Hands, who told LA Taco's Lexis-Olivier Ray that the piece is holding up mirror to LA society. "On one hand, I don’t think the city is fucking prepared," he said. "On the other, the image that the city is trying to portray is different than the real LA culture." Despite receiving a cease and desist from LA28 on the same day the billboard went up — it was gone within 24 hours — Mr. Hands continues to share more "jabs for abs" works to his Instagram.

What Torched subscribers are reading

That sound you heard yesterday morning was me screaming into my pillow as I awoke to headline after headline praising flying cars as LA28's "sustainable transportation strategy." Read these stories instead...

• "We were in Los Angeles for the Olympics. What the Olympics were like, the Olympics were like the movie Blue Thunder. Blue Thunder was in Los Angeles. And, just like in the movie, there were super helicopters, like Blue Thunder, from the LAPD Skywatch, watching down from the sky. There were Olympic helicopters everywhere." The astonishing script from a 1984 performance by John Malpede, which could have been written yesterday
• Skijler Hutson on the freeway novel at the Los Angeles Review of Books
• A call to "prioritize humans" and fix the deadly Pacific Coast Highway comes from LA's most thoughtful car-enthusiast urbanist, Matt Farah. Appearing on Matt's show The Smoking Tire is still one of my favorite interviews. Here's a profile of Farah by David Zipper that includes a few quotes from me
• Another tree emergency, this time in Virgil Village
• Chelsea Kirk writes for N+1 about the legendary rent-gouging spreadsheet, plus a new report makes it obvious why local officials aren't going after rent gougers (hint: because they donate to their campaigns)
• John Oliver devotes an entire show to trans athletes on Last Week Tonight
• "If the Dodgers don't quit big oil, the Olympics might make them." Remember the "clean zones" around venues that LA28 requires? At Dodger Stadium that will mean covering up or even removing the vilified 76 balls for the summer of 2028. Meanwhile we're still waiting on that LA28 sustainability plan
• Why can't LA accomplish big things? Although I'd argue that what we really can't accomplish are the small things
• "The fire is a mirror: It lays bare our best and our worst, our need for one another." In the face of disaster, mutual aid is one thing LA gets right. A very beautiful piece by Ryan Francis Bradley
• Laura Bliss has a remarkable story about Gregory Ain's Park Planned tract in Altadena where neighbors are having conversations about building collectively, again
• Related: a very good LA Times explainer on how denser development can yield more fire-resistant communities. A new UCLA report has a lot of recommendations for these types of interventions that local officials probably won't listen to
• "He was describing an outcome in which the fire didn’t kill off the neighborhood. The fire primed it for even more investment." Jesse Barron writes about rebuilding the Palisades
• My dear friend Alexandra Lange has won the Pulitzer for criticism for her excellent CityLab series on designing cities for families, which I've linked to many times in this newsletter
• 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: Shade: The Promise of a Forgotten Natural Resource by Sam Bloch and Sister, Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson by Claire Hoffman

Springing ahead

Thanks to all who made it out for Torched's 1st anniversary celebrations, and a huge thanks to Spectrum's Kate Cagle for the conversation about LA's fiscal emergency. Now it's conference season! On Monday is UCLA's Lake Arrowhead Symposium follow-up event at the California Endowment; you can still get tickets. You can also get a preview of the event from my chat with Juan Matute and Kerry Sempelsz. I'll be there with nine of you at the Torched table — be sure to subscribe at the 🔥🔥 and higher level to get premium access to events like this! Speaking of subscription tiers, I've got two new ones: 🔥🔥🌱 and 🔥🔥🚍. Read more about how to support Torched and what I'm planning for year two! Coming up next Friday is Torched Talks with Karen Mack, who's giving an arts and culture update for 2028. See you then!