LA’s reform bills are coming due today: homelessness taxes, rail cuts, and a warning that Olympic security may not be ready.
This is The LA Daily Fix. Today, we’re following where voter-approved money is going, why transit riders could feel the squeeze, and what city leaders are hearing about safety planning for 2028.
Big accountability day.
Exactly. Let’s start with Measure A.
From LAist:
Los Angeles County has the largest homeless population in the U.S. with more than 72,000 people. Measure A, a half-percent sales tax increase, aims to raise $1 billion a year for homeless services and affordable housing. The measure was passed amid concerns about the Los Angeles Regional Homelessness Authority (LAHSA), which was responsible for managing public homelessness dollars.
Right, and that’s the tension. Voters said yes to a permanent tax hike because homelessness feels like the county’s defining emergency. But they said yes while trust in the existing system was already badly frayed. A billion dollars a year is not a pilot program. People are going to expect to see results.
Now, over to transit. From Joe Linton at Streetsblog Los Angeles:
Southern California commuter rail operator Metrolink is cutting commuter rail service due to increased operational costs and shortfalls in fares and annual county contributions. The company is also dealing with reliability issues with its newer diesel locomotives, which have led to extended train delays due to parts shortages.
That’s the transit death spiral in miniature. Fewer trains make the system less useful. That can mean fewer riders. And then that becomes the argument for more cuts. If Southern California wants commuter rail to be actual transportation, not a stranded asset, the funding has to match the ambition.
And on 2028 Olympic planning, from Oduu:
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell has warned a City Council committee that Los Angeles is unprepared for the 2028 Olympics due to significant personnel shortages and a lack of dedicated local funding for law enforcement operations during the event. The department is facing a $16.5 million deficit and the loss of over 500 officers annually through attrition.
That kind of warning can sound early, right up until it suddenly doesn’t. If L.A. wants the world’s cameras here in 2028, it also has to pay for the unglamorous machinery that keeps a mega-event from becoming a civic stress test.
You’ll find links to everything we talked about today in the show notes, if you want to dig into any of these stories on your own time.
That’s The LA Daily Fix for Thursday, April thirtieth. Thanks for listening. This is a Lantern Podcast.