The Brief

July 14th marked five years out from the opening ceremony for the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in L.A. Planning is begin to ramp up, as the city anticipates an influx of thousands of spectators and athletes from around the world.

LAist's public affairs show AirTalk, which airs on 89.3 FM, talked with local officials and experts familiar with the preparations about what's in the works, what's expected to be done when, and how we'll gracefully press pause on many of these massive projects for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Transportation

Los Angeles CA March 27

(

Copyright (c) 2021 Eric Glenn/Shutterstock

/

Shutterstock

)

Los Angeles is known for many things, but zippy and convenient public transportation isn't one of them. The 2028 Olympics Games may help change that. The Olympics often offer host cities the opportunity to work on and prioritize long-standing projects that may not otherwise have the necessary public support or financing.

Seleta Reynolds, chief officer of Strategic Innovation at L.A. Metro, is overseeing the agency's Olympic efforts and she hopes these large projects will get a much-needed surge in support as the games approach. One of those projects is the Purple Line out to UCLA, where most—if not all—the athletes will be housed. The airport connector is another one.

"Those are going to be game changers," Reynolds tells us.

The region will be transformed, transportation experts like Reynolds say. "With or without the games, the voters endorsed [these projects] as part of measure M," Reynolds said about some of the current construction already taking place in the city. L.A. is also hosting the 2026 World Cup, and Reynolds said the city will have to "gracefully keep our construction projects moving" while also making sure spectators have a great experience at that event.

The Olympics is a car-free event, Reynolds notes. City transportation officials have their work cut out for them.

Economics

Historically, most Olympic host cities don't turn a profit, and instead end up in debt with a glut of empty venues that have little purpose beyond hosting Olympic events. After the 1984 Summer Games, however, Los Angeles had a surplus of $230 million. This was unprecedented and may have been one of the deciding factors that helped the city win its bid for the 2028 games.

"The economic opportunity is immense," said Dean Baim, an economics professor at Pepperdine University. Baim, who has studied the impact of sporting venues and written about the financial impact of Olympics on host cities, warns of the common pitfall — a misstep in construction leading to large and unexpected expenditures. Fortunately for L.A., most of the sporting venues already exist and just need to be updated.

In the case of L.A., Baim says, the economic prospects might outweigh the downsides. The Olympics could pump money into the local economy and be a huge win for the hard-hit mom-and-pop stores that squandered during the pandemic. The job opportunities will be plentiful as well, he says.

Housing

Homelessness is far and away the biggest issue of concern for Angelenos, and is one that will only become more urgent the closer we creep to the games. So, how will the city house tens of thousands of people in five years? It's a question local officials are still working on answering.

"Remember that we all have to be a part of the solution. It's all hands on deck," Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis said. Wraparound services are necessary to prevent people from returning to homelessness, she says. State and federal funding are expected to help with job training. Solis said it's also important to expunge people's records, making it easier for them to find and keep work.

As for event housing, athletes will be at UCLA, which has spent a lot of money upgrading the dorms. Housing athletics has historically been one of the biggest price tags of the Olympic Games. Los Angeles is fortunate to have housing available. Media will be housed at USC, along with other officials.

Venues

The 1984 Summer Olympics was the most viewed event in television history at the time, with more than 180 million Americans tuning in to watch. At the time, L.A.'s Memorial Coliseum was the most fit location for the opening and closing ceremonies. It was the focal point for athletic events as well.

Runners in the Men's 3,000 meter steeplechase final compete on August 6, 1984 during the Track and Field competition of the 1984 Olympic Games at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Visible at left wearing red is Brian Diemer of the USA, the eventual bronze medalist; Julius Kariuki of Kenya is at center right, wearing red shorts and red shoes; Joseph Mahmoud of France is at center rear midair above torch.

(

David Madison/Getty Images

/

Getty Images North America

)

This next Olympics has more options for venues. SoFi Stadium will take on the bookend ceremonies, but not entirely. The Inglewood-based arena will kickoff the opening ceremony and the torch will make its way to the Coliseum in a nod to the 1984 Games.

Other local venues will include the Kia Forum, where we'll see several gymnastics disciplines like trampoline and artistic gymnastics, the Honda Center in Anaheim, which will host volleyball, and the Rose Bowl, which will be the home of the final rounds of the soccer tournament (BMO Stadium, where LAFC plays, will host the preliminaries).

Arts and culture

In 1984, L.A. was eager to transform its image, and its infrastructure, from laid-back surfer town with heavy congestion to world-class economic and cultural epicenter with state-of-the-art facilities and venues. Fortunately for the city and its residents, it did just that.

The legacy of the '84 Summer Games continues to this day in many ways, maybe most visibly in the LA84 Foundation, which administers the surplus money generated by the 1984 games and distributes it in the form of grants to non-profit youth sports organizations. Its success resonated for years and decades beyond its summer hosting responsibilities. Now, cultural ambassadors, economists and city planners are eager to build on that success.

"We want to pick up what we learned from the 1984 Olympics, because there were so many cultural activities," said Solis, who authored a motion this past May to uplift arts, culture, and recreation during the '28 summer Olympic Games.

While L.A. City is the official host of the games, Solis says she understands that the county also has a great opportunity to buttress neighborhoods and communities, and her hope is that L.A. Metro and L.A. County can integrate their efforts. "This work really needs to happen now, even five years out from the Olympics."

A mural reveals the new LA28 logo, with the "A" designed by Orlando Pride player Alex Morgan, at the Delano Recreation Center on September 01, 2020 in Van Nuys.

(

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

/

Getty Images North America

)

Kristin Sakoda, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, agrees on the need to build on the successful history of the 1984 games. From a policy perspective, arts and culture are core to our economy, she reminds us. The games, she said, are "an opportunity to increase and celebrate our local cultural diversity that speaks to the world."

The 1984 Olympics pulled off an arts festival that brought communities together throughout the county. Solis and Sakoda are working to make the '28 games reflect the rich and diverse ecosystem of arts in L.A., that visitors from around the world might not otherwise see and experience. They remind us too, that no single arts entity can pull this off alone, and that it will take a phenomenal amount of planning and collaboration, which is in its nascent stages.

The International Olympic Committee does periodic check-ins with every host city, typically done in person to get a real-time sense of the progress. L.A.'s next meeting has been planned on Zoom, which local officials say suggests things are going well.

While five years might seem far away, in Olympic years it's right around the corner.

Listen to the conversation

Los Angeles County will begin sending mail-in ballots starting this Thursday ahead of the Nov. 3 elections. Counties across the state have until next Monday, Oct. 5, to begin mailing out ballots.

In the June primary, nearly 82% of the total ballots cast in L.A. County were through vote-by-mail ballots.

State and local officials are encouraging people to vote early.

When can I turn in my ballot?

L.A. County elections officials say voters can turn in their ballots by mail as soon as they receive them. No postage is necessary.

They can also turn them in starting this week at official dropboxes across the county, which are often found at parks, community centers or libraries.

Voters can also turn them in or vote in person at the county’s Vote Centers, which L.A. County officials say will start to open on Oct. 24. Officials say all Vote Centers will be open by Halloween.

What about in Orange County?

Orange County officials say U.S. Postal Service officials are scheduled to pick up about 1.9 million ballots from the county elections office on Saturday and start delivering them on Monday, Oct. 5.

The Trump administration has tried to restrict mail-in ballots. Will my ballot be affected?

The California Secretary of State’s office says nothing has currently changed. The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month issued an injunction on President Trump’s executive order requiring states to turn in lists of voters and ordering the USPS to send mail-in ballots to the people on the approved lists.

"Voters will be able to cast their ballots without uncertainty, without hesitation, and without fear that their voices will be questioned or their ballots rejected," said Secretary of State Shirley Weber.

Los Angeles County is reporting the highest number of rabid bats on record, a to-date total of 69, officials said.

This year’s rabid bat count has already matched 2025’s total, according to the L.A. County Department of Public Health, which released the count Monday, marking World Rabies Day.

Health officials emphasized that rabid bats have been found all over the county "from suburban areas such as the San Fernando Valley to urban areas like downtown Los Angeles, in office buildings, parks, schools, businesses, and residential backyards."

That said, a large share of rabid bats — 68% of the 69 found so far — were in the Santa Clarita Valley, and they were mainly canyon bats, which are common in California.

When to be on high alert

Officials warned that a third of human encounters with rabid bats happened indoors, where the risk of exposure to the virus is higher.

Bat bites are small and can be hard to detect. Rabies can also be spread through scratches or other transfers of saliva.

“If you find a bat indoors or think you may have had contact with one, contact your medical provider or Public Health right away,” Dr. Muntu Davis, a Los Angeles County Health officer, said in a statement. “And remember, never touch a bat or any wild animals. Immediately report any bat found indoors, or outdoors if it appears sick, active during the day, unable to fly, or dead, to your local animal control.”

Who to call

Veterinary Public Health

Phone: 213-288-7060
Email: vet@ph.lacounty.gov
Website: publichealth.lacounty.gov/vet

*Call 211 to find your local animal control

What to know about rabies

Rabies in humans is treatable with a series of vaccines. Rabies is always fatal in animals, the county said in a release, so vaccinate your pets.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law Sunday that tightens building rules for sites that store explosive chemicals, responding to an Orange County chemical incident that forced thousands of residents to evacuate Memorial Day weekend.

The law also adds the chemical methyl methacrylate to a state program that aims to prevent chemical disasters.

In May, CalMatters reported that California’s toughest accidental-release prevention rules do not cover the chemical in the tank at GKN Aerospace, a company that makes cockpits and windshields in Garden Grove. Weeks later Democratic state Sen. Tom Umberg of Santa Ana amended an existing bill with language that addressed that gap. Assembly committee and floor analyses noted CalMatters’ reporting. 

Had the chemical exploded, it “would have been perhaps the greatest catastrophe, certainly in the last several decades in California,” Umberg said at a June Assembly hearing.

Umberg’s original proposal would have set stronger standards for more types of explosive chemicals, but legislators narrowed it significantly in last-minute negotiations.

The final law bars building new facilities near homes and schools and requires backup cooling systems. It also strips an exemption from environmental review that facilities storing methyl methacrylate previously qualified for.

Garden Grove advocates call the bill a good step, but say it offers the community little immediate recourse, especially with GKN Aerospace planning to reopen by the end of September.

The law’s siting requirements apply to new facilities, not to existing ones like GKN’s Garden Grove plant.

Mai Do, research and policy manager for the Orange County advocacy group Harbor Institute for Immigrant and Economic Justice, said she hopes the state will do more to address the threat of toxic chemicals at existing facilities.

“This is a much larger fight than just what's happened in Garden Grove,” Do said. “What we see in terms of the Lineage fire and other industrial crises is that this is a problem that is affecting a lot of different communities”

In an interview with CalMatters, Umberg said the bill reflected a balancing act. “This is a net benefit for the state, a net benefit for the community,” he said.

Stronger rules for new facilities, not existing ones

Over Memorial Day weekend, residents learned of a problem with a tank storing methyl methacrylate at the GKN Aerospace facility. A crack in the tank released pressure and, along with efforts by emergency responders, averted disaster, but questions remained about what went wrong.

CalMatters reported in May that methyl methacrylate and other chemicals that could explode under certain conditions falls outside the California Accidental Release Program, which requires facilities to maintain detailed plans for preventing or responding to chemical leaks or explosions.

Rachel Tochterman, a spokesperson for Sen. Umberg, said the senator took note and initially proposed incorporating a broader category of reactive chemicals into the program.

But industry groups opposed the plan, arguing it was too broad without clearer evidence.

Dawn Koepke, a lobbyist for the California Manufacturers and Technology Association and the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance, said she does not believe a regulatory gap exists that would justify incorporating more chemicals into the state’s accidental release regimen.

Facilities storing toxic chemicals are already heavily regulated under other federal and state laws, she said, including a requirement for plans to protect people from chemical releases.

Koepke said she worried that "jumping to conclusions and over-regulating" could affect "a wider array of facilities."

Tim Shestek, a lobbyist representing the American Chemistry Council and other groups, said in an email that Umberg’s original proposal would have affected “far more facilities, substances and sectors than were in the original scope.”

After amendments on the next-to-last day of the legislative session, nine industry groups stopped lobbying against the bill.

Most provisions of the law only apply to methyl methacrylate — the chemical involved in the Garden Grove incident. The bill adds it to the state’s accidental release program, requires facilities to maintain prevention and emergency-response plans, and closes the environmental-review exemption for new sites where the chemical is present.

Scrapped from the bill: a requirement to map reactive-chemical sites in CalEnviroScreen, a state program that identifies polluted communities.

GKN Aerospace plans to reopen 

Steve Carlin, senior vice president for GKN Aerospace programs, said the company has been working with regulators and independent experts “to safely reset the remainder of the facility with the appropriate oversight” work that has included inspections, upgrades to safety equipment, and additional monitoring. The company plans to reopen in the next few days.

The company also announced an additional $100 million program to pay residents and businesses that lost money during evacuations.

Lisa Fu, director of the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, a worker-safety group, wants California to regulate hazardous chemicals more broadly.

“It's just unfortunate that it's a piecemeal thing,” said Lisa Fu, director of the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative. “Is it worth it to go piece by piece in terms of trying to ban certain chemicals? It makes the work harder for us, and you can see who's benefiting and who's not.”

Newsom also signed a pair of bills in response to the Lineage fire, a June cold storage fire in Los Angeles. The fire briefly prompted a shelter-in-place order over fears that toxic anhydrous ammonia had been released into the air.

The new laws raise the fines agencies can levy on companies that endanger health and safety. They also bar building permits for cold storage facilities that lack contingency funds or insurance to help communities in emergencies.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

California is now the second state to recognize the two main Muslim holidays as state holidays.

Eid ul Fitr is the festival marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, and Eid ul Adha is the festival honoring Abraham or Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son as a mark of his devotion to God. They join a state holiday list that also includes Lunar New Year and Diwali.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the change into law Monday. Washington first recognized the holidays in 2025.

Oussama Mokeddem, legislative and government affairs director at the California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told LAist the signing day is  “an exciting day for the California Muslim community and a big day for the American Muslim community at large.”

Muslims follow the lunar calendar, so the dates of the two festivals vary each year. Next year, Eid ul Fitr will likely fall on March 10 and Eid ul Adha on May 17.

Why it's important to Californians

The holiday recognition comes at a time when the community is facing “unwarranted and unjustified criticism,” Mokeddem said, which he cited as a reason for a May 2026 attack at the Islamic Center of San Diego. A recent Pew study also found that 42% of Americans believe Muslim Americans have a negative impact on the country.

Adam Khaja, an 11th grader at Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District, said the holiday recognition signals that  "you don't have to give up an important part of your identity to fully participate in Californian society."

" For a long time, immigrant and minority communities have sometimes felt pressure to leave parts of their identity at home in order to fit into American educational or industrial institutions," he said.

What does the holiday recognition mean?

California is home to more than 1 million Muslims, and with this law, state employees can use existing paid time off to celebrate the two holidays.

And for students in K-12 public schools, Mokeddem said the law does not mandate statewide time off, but local school districts can declare a district-wide day off if enough community members bring it up as a need.

He added that students can also cite state law when they are absent from school to celebrate the holiday.

Khaja said he will be advocating for his school district to give a district-wide day off.

"Eid has always been a huge part of our lives, but I think that the school calendar and district policies haven't always reflected that," he said.

He hopes his students will not be put in a situation now "to choose between going to school or fully participating in one of the most important days of their faith."

Muslim Women Professionals, a nonprofit, has templates on how to advocate for time off to celebrate Eid ul Fitr and Eid ul Adha.