People gathering in downtown L.A. on Thursday, May 1, 2025.
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Frank Stoltze
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LAist
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Topline:
Thousands of people will gather across Southern California on Thursday to commemorate International Workers’ Day, shutting down streets at locations across the region.
The context: Typically, May Day protests and rallies commemorate the achievements of labor unions and workers. This year, the planned demonstrations have also become a platform to protest President Donald Trump’s deportation policies.
What to expect: Demonstrations are planned in downtown Los Angeles, MacArthur Park, Boyle Heights, Long Beach and Santa Ana, so be sure to plan your commutes accordingly.
Read on ... for more event information.
Thousands of people will gather across Southern California today to commemorate International Workers’ Day, shutting down streets at locations across the region.
Typically, May Day protests and rallies commemorate the achievements of labor unions and workers. This year, the planned demonstrations are expected to become a platform to protest President Donald Trump’s deportation push aimed at immigrant communities. (May Day has a long history in SoCal.)
As crowds of people assembled in downtown L.A., Yolanda Mims-Reed said she was there "to stand in solidarity" for the things "we need to fight for."
"We need fair wages. We need our jobs to not be outsourced. We need immigration rights," she said. "We need them not bringing ICE onto our campuses and we also need decent wages and respect."
Leticia Gutierrez, who lives in Boyle Heights, said she was at the downtown rally “to support immigrants, who are the backbone of the economy here and in the United States.”
As the rally kicked off with a series of speakers on the itinerary, Yvonne Wheeler, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, told LAist her message was one of unity.
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Large crowds turn out for May Day rallies in LA and OC
"Immigrants are being deported and workers are under attack, and so we have to stay united and in solidarity with one another," she said. "One fight, one message, one struggle, one fight. Workers are united today."
Below is a list of planned protests. Be prepared to look for alternative traffic routes and additional commute times.
Some of the signs from the downtown L.A. gathering on Thursday, May 1, 2025.
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Frank Stoltze
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LAist
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People gathered in downtown L.A. for May Day in 2025.
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Frank Stoltze
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LAist
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Several hundred people were gathering in downtown L.A. to mark May Day on Thursday, May 1, 2025.
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Frank Stoltze
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LAist
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Some of the signs at the downtown L.A. May Day gathering.
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Frank Stoltze
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LAist
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Los Angeles May Day Coalition
The rally started in downtown Los Angeles at the intersection of Olympic Boulevard and Figueroa Street to highlight contributions of immigrant workers.
Street closure: Figueroa was closed from Olympic to Chick Hearn Court starting at 7 a.m. for a march that started at 11 a.m.
Protestors gather for a May Day Workers Unite! march on May 1, 2025.
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Patrick T. Fallon
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AFP via Getty Images
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People walking through downtown L.A. during a May Day Workers Unite! march on May 1, 2025.
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Patrick T. Fallon
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AFP
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Some of the signs at the May Day Workers Unite! march in on May 1, 2025.
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Patrick T. Fallon
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AFP
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Centro CSO May Day rally
In Boyle Heights, the group Centro CSO was to start marching to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles from Mariachi Plaza to call for the end of deportations.
The rally was slated for 4:30 p.m. before a march at 5 p.m.
MacArthur Park May Day Rally
Groups including United Teachers Los Angeles, Unión del Barrio, Stop LAPD Spying and Palestine Youth Movement were to unite under the umbrella Community Self-Defense Coalition to call for the end of deportations and abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The rally was slated to begin at 4:30 p.m. at the east end of MacArthur Park.
SURJ Long Beach
The Long Beach chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice planned to host a rally at Lincoln Park, 101 Pacific Ave., Long Beach, starting at 5 p.m. Organizers were requiring face coverings at the event.
OC May Day Coalition
A group of organizations in Orange County, including Action Network, El Centro Cultural de Mexico, Colectivo Tonanzin, Chicanos Unidos, VietRISE and OC Environmental Justice, was slated to rally in Santa Ana to call for “an end to the attack on immigrant and refugee families.”
The rally was scheduled for 3:30 p.m. at El Centro Cultural de Mexico, 837 N. Ross St., Santa Ana.
The nationwide ground stop that paralyzed the U.S. aviation system on Friday has ended, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The rare stop, which lasted about four hours, grounded thousands of flights at all U.S. airports in one of the biggest disruptions of the nation's air travel system since the September 11th attacks. In a Friday night news conference, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that air traffic control facilities had experienced "intermittent" outages of their radar and communications systems beginning earlier in the afternoon. Duffy blamed outdated technology for the failures.
What officials said: When pressed by reporters on exactly why those systems would become overwhelmed on an otherwise normal travel day, Duffy did not have a ready answer. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin joined Duffy in the White House briefing room and said there was no evidence the issue was due to an attack. "We have seen zero evidence this is a cyber attack," he said.
The backstory: As of 9 p.m. ET, more than 8,000 flights had been delayed Friday and 7,000 had been canceled in the U.S., according to FlightAware, a flight tracking site. The turmoil comes on the heels of nearly 7,000 flight delays on Thursday. The FAA said the issue affected Air Route Traffic Control Centers — the regional air traffic control centers across the country that handle high-altitude traffic.
Updated November 13, 2026 at 20:38 PM ET
The nationwide ground stop that paralyzed the U.S. aviation system on Friday has ended, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The rare stop, which lasted about four hours, grounded thousands of flights at all U.S. airports in one of the biggest disruptions of the nation's air travel system since the September 11th attacks.
In a Friday night news conference, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that air traffic control facilities had experienced "intermittent" outages of their radar and communications systems beginning earlier in the afternoon. Duffy blamed outdated technology for the failures.
"We have old switches, old routers. We use 1980s little copper lines. It's an old system that went down and went down everywhere. It got overloaded," he said.
But when pressed by reporters on exactly why those systems would become overwhelmed on an otherwise normal travel day, Duffy did not have a ready answer.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin joined Duffy in the White House briefing room and said there was no evidence the issue was due to an attack.
"We have seen zero evidence this is a cyber attack," he said.
A flight board showing delayed flights is pictured at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Friday.
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Tom Brenner
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AP
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As of 9 p.m. ET, more than 8,000 flights had been delayed Friday and 7,000 had been canceled in the U.S., according to FlightAware, a flight tracking site. The turmoil comes on the heels of nearly 7,000 flight delays on Thursday.
The FAA said the issue affected Air Route Traffic Control Centers — the regional air traffic control centers across the country that handle high-altitude traffic.
FAA leaders did not brief the media at the White House press conference, and did not provide any further detail on the communication outages that led to the ground stop.
This was only the second nationwide ground stop since September 11, 2001. The U.S. last issued a ground stop of this scale in 2023, when all U.S. airports were shut down due to an outage in the NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) system, which alerts pilots and airports of real-time hazards.
That outage prompted fears of a cyberattack, but the FAA later determined the issue was caused when contract workers inadvertently deleted critical files.
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) released a statement late Friday evening calling for a "prompt, penetrating investigation" into the causes of Friday's ground stop.
"A widespread communication outage of this scale is highly alarming — a clear danger to national security, as well as safe, convenient travel close to the holidays. The Department of Transportation owes Americans credible, accurate action and factual disclosure," the statement read.
The FAA has recently begun rolling out an AI-enhanced software tool known as the SMART system as part of its ambitious overhaul of the nation's air traffic control system. But Air Space Intelligence, the company that makes the tool, quickly dismissed speculation that its product could be connected to the flight disruptions.
"The current ground stop is not based on or a result of the SMART system, any product of ASI or our integration with FAA and ATC," the company said on social media.
Passengers stranded
The nationwide ground stop caused chaos in airports and headaches for travelers — many of whom are already too familiar with flight delays and cancellations during the holiday season.
At the Friday night press conference, Duffy said flights would resume but would take time to clear.
At Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Regina Harling said she waited hours — long past when her flight was supposed to depart — before she learned of the nationwide grounding by checking the news on her phone.
"There's still a sign right in front of me that says we're boarding in 16 minutes," she said Friday afternoon.
An airline worker shows people how to apply for a refund at LaGuardia airport on Friday.
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Adam Gray
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Harling needed to travel last minute to San Diego for a family emergency. Stuck at the airport, she said she was thinking about how soon she could make it to her family, but she's not optimistic.
"I was just thinking to myself that it always feels like it's getting harder to travel than it used to be," she said.
At Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Giliann Karon was on board a plane when the ground stop was ordered. Karon said she had already experienced a flight delay the day before due to bad weather in New York City, where she is heading.
"It's just kind of like, 'Oh, of course this is happening,'" she said.
Nick Gerda
is an accountability reporter who has covered local government in Southern California for more than a decade.
Published November 13, 2026 5:19 PM
A homeless encampment along the 101 Northbound offramp is seen near City Hall in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, August 21, 2026.
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Christina House/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Los Angeles Times
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Topline:
The nonprofits that run the L.A. region's federally-funded homeless shelters, outreach teams and housing services will soon be overseen by a new government agency, under a deal a federal judge says he plans to approve next week.
The significance: If approved, the shift will mark the biggest change in the control of federal homeless dollars in L.A. in decades.
What it does: The proposed settlement would shift federal grants and duties from the troubled L.A. Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) to the county government in stages, starting next month. LAHSA’s management of federal services dollars would end in June. The deal between LAHSA and the Trump administration keeps the region's request for roughly $240 million in new annual federal funding on track and adds tighter checks on how that money is spent.
‘Dereliction of duty’: “This has been an absolute past dereliction of duty by the federal government” and local governments, Carter said at a hearing Friday, referring to what he called decades of failure to properly oversee public homelessness dollars.
The nonprofits that run the Los Angeles region's federally funded homeless shelters, outreach teams and housing services will soon be overseen by a different government agency, under a deal a federal judge says he plans to approve next week.
If approved, the shift will mark the biggest change in the control of federal homeless dollars in L.A. in decades.
The proposed settlement would shift federal grants and duties from the troubled L.A. Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) to the county government in stages, starting next month. LAHSA’s management of federal dollars for homeless services would end in June. The deal between LAHSA and the Trump administration keeps the region's request for roughly $240 million in new annual federal funding on track and adds tighter checks on how that money is spent.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter said at a Friday hearing he would likely sign it Monday, ending LAHSA's lawsuit over the Trump administration’s June suspension of the agency.
“This has been an absolute past dereliction of duty by the federal government” and local governments, Carter said, referring to what he called decades of failure to properly oversee homelessness dollars.
“I choose now to turn this back to the proper governing bodies,” Carter said. "But please, this can never happen again."
Citing past audits and reports, Carter said “HUD’s been on notice since 2007” of LAHSA’s oversight failures and “abandoned” its own oversight role.
“I termed it a partnership in failure,” he added. “Local government turned an absolute blind eye to the distribution of these funds and transparency and accountability for these funds.”
“And what is so sad and disappointing is, these funds were meant to serve the absolute most vulnerable in our society,” the judge added.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, left, shown in West L.A. on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024.
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Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Los Angeles Times
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LAHSA has faced major problems in recent years. Last year, an LAist investigation found the signature of LAHSA’s then-CEO, Va Lecia Adams Kellum, finalized a $2.1 million contract with the nonprofit where her husband was working in senior leadership, despite previously telling LAist she was “completely recused.”
LAist also found the agency kept awarding millions in contract renewals to another nonprofit even after LAHSA’s own compliance team labeled it “high-risk” for, among other things, billing for services while reporting no enrolled participants. That group’s leader, Alex Soofer, recently pleaded guilty to diverting $2 million. Another nonprofit operator contracted with LAHSA, Michael Young, was arrested and charged by federal prosecutors with misappropriating millions of tax dollars, including allegedly siphoning $1 million into a high-end nightclub.
Under the deal, Carter would receive quarterly reports on progress and could intervene if one of the parties asks him to resolve a dispute.
When control would shift
The deal, on its own, does not change which nonprofits provide shelter, outreach and housing. It instead changes which government agency pays them and ensures they’re serving people as required.
Here’s what the timeline will be if Carter follows through on approving the deal:
Within two weeks of this year's federal awards: Most new grants awarded to LAHSA will instead be managed by the county, not LAHSA.
Starting Dec. 1: Grants for programs that begin on or after that date move to the county before they start.
January 2027: LAHSA, which has overseen the homeless counts since 2005, runs the annual homeless count one last time. The county runs it after that.
By March 1, 2027: The county is approved to take over as the agency that applies for federal homelessness money for the whole region going forward, instead of LAHSA.
By April 1, 2027: The county takes over management from LAHSA of many federal grants for programs already underway that continue past June 2027.
By June 30, 2027: LAHSA finishes administering federal grants that end by this date.
By Dec. 31, 2027: The county takes over the region’s federally required database, known as HMIS, that tracks which homeless services each person receives. The county also takes over another system, known as CES, that matches people with taxpayer-funded housing. With that, LAHSA's last remaining federal roles end.
January 2028: The county conducts the annual homeless count, taking over that role from LAHSA.
What the deal would mean for services
The federal government’s attorneys said the goal is to have stronger oversight over homelessness spending, after many years of documented failures by LAHSA. Attorneys who struck the proposed settlement said in court Friday that the timeline was structured to ensure a smooth transition that doesn’t disrupt homeless services.
The HMIS database and matching system, which caseworkers use to track clients and place them in homes, will switch over last to avoid disrupting services, said Shayla Myers, the lead attorney for the L.A. Continuum of Care, the body that coordinates federal homelessness funding and joined LAHSA in the lawsuit.
For taxpayers, the deal adds safeguards on spending Carter has demanded for years. LAHSA must send invoices and spending records to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) before drawing grant money, and submit receipts afterward. A HUD contractor, Guidehouse, will review its books, and the county must follow the same rules for older grants it inherits. The parties will report to Carter every three months, until LAHSA no longer has any federal roles overseen by HUD.
Bill Essayli is the first assistant United States attorney for the Central District of California.
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Allen J. Schaben
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, whose office represents HUD, told LAist after the hearing that the county is probably the best equipped to take over, and scrutiny will be crucial.
“Do I have amazing confidence in the county? No,” he said, noting that LAHSA is a joint city-county agency.
“But we're going to verify that they are going to be good stewards of the tax money.” With LAHSA gone, he added, “The buck's going to stop at the county.”
Under the proposed deal, LAHSA agrees to cooperate fully with HUD's investigations. A LAHSA attorney told the judge on Friday the agency is cooperating fully with criminal investigations, adding that it was critical that HUD agreed not to reinstate LAHSA’s suspension, so that it can continue to manage federal dollars until they’re handed off.
Judge wanted more 'teeth' for the court
Carter spent much of the hearing asking attorneys for the parties what power he would have to enforce the deal after signing. The proposed settlement lets him settle disputes and receive reports, but he said that left him looking over shoulders without the authority to actually enforce it.
“I have no jurisdiction. I have no teeth,” he said.
He read aloud from 2024 hearings in a related lawsuit, known as L.A. Alliance, where he warned that bills without supporting documents should not be paid. Essayli said that the proposed settlement would be binding “and we'll vigorously enforce it.”
Myers said the deal gives the court oversight to ensure that the problems federal authorities flagged “don’t exist.”
Carter asked to have the ability to hire an expert, at about $150 an hour paid by HUD, to help him understand the quarterly reports on implementing the deal that transfers federal roles from LAHSA to the county. Essayli agreed.
How the case got here
HUD suspended LAHSA from federal funds on June 11, citing alleged failures in the agency’s financial management and conflict-of-interest safeguards. The move put roughly $240 million in expected federal homelessness funding for the region in limbo and held up federal funding HUD had already awarded.
LAHSA, which is overseen by the city and county’s elected officials, sued.
In August, Carter blocked the suspension, writing that LAHSA and HUD had been in “a joint partnership in failure,” and ordering a competition for LAHSA's federal roles. He deferred the selection to the continuum of care — the body designated by federal law to make that choice.
Carter said he expects to sign the proposed settlement on Monday.
Myers said the deal lets the region “build a peaceful transition of power.”
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Campaign signs for Davis Joint Unified School District school board candidates are displayed outside a home in Davis.
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Tanya Perez
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EdSource
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Topline:
Left-leaning candidates running in three school board contests flagged by EdSource as races to watch are each leading comfortably in unofficial election results more than a week after a so-called “blue tsunami” swept the country. Unofficial results also show progressive candidates ahead in some races in the Inland Empire, a conservative stronghold where several far-right school board candidates ran on issues such as gender identity and parents’ rights. Counties have until Dec. 3 to certify election results.
What else? In the Orange Unified School District, four moderate incumbents are far ahead of conservative challengers in separate races. One of them, board President Stephen Glass, defeated challenger Jack Chang, and has declared victory. The conservative candidates ran largely on parents’ rights and fiscal responsibility. All four incumbents are up by double-digit percentage points, Orange County election results show. The election follows last year’s recall of two conservative school board members.
Read on... for more on the implications.
Left-leaning candidates running in three school board contests flagged by EdSource as races to watch are each leading comfortably in unofficial election results more than a week after a so-called “blue tsunami” swept the country.
Unofficial results also show progressive candidates ahead in some races in the Inland Empire, a conservative stronghold where several far-right school board candidates ran on issues such as gender identity and parents’ rights. Counties have until Dec. 3 to certify election results.
In the Orange Unified School District, four moderate incumbents are far ahead of conservative challengers in separate races. One of them, board President Stephen Glass, defeated challenger Jack Chang, and has declared victory. The conservative candidates ran largely on parents’ rights and fiscal responsibility.
“We won,” Glass said on social media. “We’ll keep putting students first and supporting every teacher, every classified professional and every family.”
All four incumbents are up by double-digit percentage points, Orange County election results show. The election follows last year’s recall of two conservative school board members.
In a race for the Davis Unified school board, an anti-transgender candidate who once stripped down to a bikini at a school board meeting, lost decisively, according to unofficial election results. Beth Bourne, president of the Yolo County chapter of Moms For Liberty, trails incumbent Elizabeth Moon by 89 percentage points, results show.
In Palo Alto — where issues over academics dominated the race — newcomers Avery Wang and Linda Henigin are ahead in unofficial results for two seats. John Craig, who ran in tandem with Wang, conceded on election night. Wang ran primarily on retaining academic rigor, especially in math. “It’s the beginning of a movement,” Wang told Palo Alto Online.
Henigin ran on a platform of improving student well-being following a recent spate of student suicides.
Elsewhere in the state, school board candidates in conservative strongholds such as Chino Valley and Temecula fared poorly in local school board races.
In Temecula, school board President Joseph Komrosky trails challenger David Sola by 10 percentage points, results show. Sola has declared victory. Komrosky had voted to ban critical race theory in district schools and attempted to ban teaching materials that mentioned slain gay rights icon Harvey Milk, drawing a sharp rebuke from Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Komrosky’s apparent defeat was part of what The Press-Enterprise reported as “a seismic shift in local governance given recent elections that gave power to the Christian right.”
In Chino Valley Unified in San Bernardino County, two conservative school board candidates are trailing far behind, results show. Chris Shaw, the husband of State Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Sonja Shaw, trails Frank Gerdine by nearly 17 percentage points, while Meagan Lichthart is ahead of Shaun Smith, backed by Shaw, by 15 percentage points.
EdSource is an independent nonprofit organization that provides analysis on key education issues facing California and the nation. LAist republishes articles from EdSource with permission.
Destiny Torres
covers all things SoCal, from breaking news to local government, with a focus on Orange County.
Published November 13, 2026 1:54 PM
A Metrolink commuter train departs from the Moorpark Station on May 26, 2026 in Moorpark.
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Kevin Carter
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Getty Images
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Topline:
Major service cuts at Metrolink, Southern California’s regional commuter rail service, are on hold for now thanks to a $20 million grant from the California State Transportation Agency. The Metrolink board of directors approved the agency’s $420 million budget on Friday.
Why it matters: The previous budget proposal included slashing a third of weekday trains and 40% of weekend trains.
Background: Metrolink staff have worked on this year’s budget since last September. The agency has pointed to slowing fare revenue, rising costs due to inflation and low ridership numbers for its budget troubles.
Read on … for the latest on Metrolink’s budget.
Major service cuts to Metrolink are on hold for now thanks to a $20 million grant from California’s State Transportation Agency. The Metrolink board of directors approved the agency’s $420 million budget on Friday.
The previous budget proposal included slashing a third of weekday trains and 40% of weekend trains.
“Thankfully, our customers were spared the disappointment and frustration of losing the service they rely on to travel the region for business and pleasure,” Tom Schamber, chief financial officer at Metrolink, said at the board meeting.
How did we get here?
The Metrolink budget had been approved quarterly since June as staff worked out the annual budget.
Metrolink staff have worked on this year’s budget since last September. The agency has pointed to slowing fare revenue, rising costs due to inflation and low ridership numbers for its budget troubles.
“Fare box revenue ended the year $14 million under budget. This was sobering, and we realized that not only was fiscal [20]26 off, but our ridership expectations for fiscal year [20]27 would need to be recalibrated to this new baseline,” Schamber said.
A majority of Metrolink’s budget is funded by Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties’ transportation agencies. For more than a year, Metrolink officials have been building a budget that member agencies, like the Orange County Transportation Authority and L.A. Metro, would approve.
L.A. Metro and OCTA cut their subsidies to Metrolink by 3% and 10%, respectively.
“The challenges ahead of us were becoming more evident,” Schamber said at Friday’s board meeting. “In addition to disappointing fare revenue and funding limitations, we must absorb inevitable cost increases in several of our largest contracts.”
What we know about the grant
The $20 million grant from the state comes with the expectation that Metrolink will retain the same service levels provided today, Schamber added.
Metrolink CEO Darren M. Kettle said another expectation is that the agency must plan to maintain its services for the upcoming year.
“We don't have a plan. We're working on a plan to make sure we have the funding to deliver the same level of service at a minimum,” Kettle said. “With respect to these conditions, based on what we know now, as of last evening, our staff is confident that Metrolink will be able to meet these conditions.”
What’s next?
Kettle said staff got a head start on next fiscal year’s budget through the state grant application. Officials said the rail agency is also gearing up for the 2028 Olympic Games.
