The Brief

When an ambitious gondola-transit system was unveiled in Irvine last month, it promised to have residents reaching for the skies and breezily bypassing traffic as it whisked them up and over the 1,300-acre Great Park below.

Even better, city officials said: the company would donate services and equipment worth up to $10 million in the first year.

But LAist has learned that the project has already cost taxpayers around $700,000, doled out via contracts that were signed out of public view — and outside the pathway voters established for Great Park procedures and expenditures.

The project is scheduled to come before the Great Park board on Tuesday, but at least one council member wants to hit the brakes.

Councilmember Kathleen Treseder told LAist she is “very concerned.”

“ It seems like the train has already left the station,” she said. “I'm trying to figure out how to stop it.”

How we got here

For years, Irvine has been looking for a public transit system to best navigate the Great Park, which city officials envision as a rival to NYC’s Central Park. But it’s also a 1,300-acre beast to navigate: any public transit system would have to provide visitors and residents with access to the recreational and entertainment facilities planned for the park without causing traffic headaches for neighbors.

The city hit roadblock after roadblock with proposals for how to best navigate through and around the park’s pedestrian walking paths and roadways via a tram or light rail system.

So city planners looked to the skies.

The company Irvine contracted to study the viability of such an ambitious project turned out to be the very company with interests in building a gondola public transit system, which some critics consider problematic.

The project came in front of the Great Park board — composed of Irvine’s mayor and council members — for the first time in April. At that meeting, City Manager Oliver Chi previously told LAist officials were asking the Great Park Board “whether or not we want to formally start assessing Swyft and engage contract negotiations for what a system could look like in the Great Park.”

But nothing was finalized at the time, and there was no indication that this was to be the public transit system of Great Park. Yet,after that meeting, everything about the project seemed to speed up.

What happened next

Just two weeks later, hundreds of Irvine residents descended on Great Park for the annual State of the Great Park address. There were drummers, a pop up ice hockey rink, bounce houses — and a full-size model gondola. There was also a VR experience that took visitors on a gondola ride through Great Park.

Visitors enjoy a VR experience of the proposed Irvine gondola public transit system.

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Courtesy City of Irvine

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The model gondola pods were branded with the city’s crest and Great Park’s distinct orange color. People queued up to sit and take photos inside.

For some, like Treseder, the big question was how could all of this have happened in just the two weeks since the Great Park board gave the go ahead to start taking fledgling steps towards a potential partnership.

She flat out refused to attend. She said she “didn't think it was appropriate for us to be spending the money on the fake gondola for that event.”

Chi, the city manager, has not returned phone calls seeking comment on this issue. (On Friday afternoon, Santa Monica city officials announced that Chi is the new pick for its city manager post.)

Jeral Poskey, the chief executive of Swyft Cities, said Friday, “ I don't know city policies or what the rules are around Great Park spending. Everything I've heard says it's all followed process.”

The company behind the gondola project

Swyft Cities is the company Irvine is negotiating with for the gondola public transit system. Gondolas are used in the United States at ski resorts and tourist attractions. But Irvine’s would be the first to use a gondola as a public transit system in the U.S., proponents say.

Gondolas are used for public transit in other places including Algeria, Colombia and Bolivia. But Swyft Cities has yet to build a gondola transit system anywhere.

The company is offering Irvine a one-year trial period worth around $10 million in equipment and services — for free — in exchange for being recognized as “the mass transit option for the Great Park.” That money will cover eight gondolas operating between two stations connecting the Great Park’s visitor center and balloon ride with a planned retail facility, as well as maintenance and operational costs.

Poskey said at the April meeting that the idea for the gondola public transit system was born at Google when the tech giant was exploring solutions to connect one end of its sprawling campus with another. Poskey was working at Google at the time.

The pandemic upended Google’s plans, but Poskey was so taken with the idea that after he left Google he started Swyft Cities and has been shopping the gondola idea around the world, from Queensland in New Zealand to Sugar Land, outside Houston.

The tech system behind the project, Whoosh, was pioneered by a New Zealand-based company.

Poskey told LAist in an interview that the company had done studies that addressed how the gondola public transit system could fit into the masterplan for Great Park and how it could meet the ridership demands.

Why Great Park is different

Great Park is a nonprofit corporation governed by unique rules.

Voters passed Measure V in 2014 mandating that expenditures or contracts cannot be authorized for Great Park without a recommendation from the Great Park Board of Directors and approval from the City Council.

At an April meeting of the Great Park board, Treseder asked about a gondola contract she had discovered that dated back to December 2024 for about $200,000 — the first time she said she had heard of it.

“ I was not told of it at all by anybody,” she said.

Chi said the contract was to test the viability of a gondola system.

So about those Great Park contracts 

According to the December agreement Treseder discovered, the city is “actively planning a Whoosh system to enhance connectivity within Great Park.” The contract noted the need to reach out to entities like the Orange County Transportation Authority to discuss next steps.

But the project has not even come in front of Great Park’s finance and transportation commissions, an important early step in the process.

The money spent to date, however, suggests this project is well on its way.

LAist has also found four other contracts associated with the project totaling just over $550,000:

• May 21, 2024: A $172,000 contract with Swyft Cities for a feasibility study
• Feb. 3, 2025: A $50,000 contract with HDR (an engineering company) to forecast gondola ridership numbers
• March 26, 2025: A $249,550 contract with Aria Group to build a model gondola pod
• March 28, 2025: A $65,200 contract with Swyft Cities to build a VR experience of the gondola public transit system

Together with the contract from December, around $700,000 has been spent on the project so far.

Those last two contracts are noteworthy because it means Irvine taxpayers had no idea they had footed the bill for the VR experience and the very gondola they were posing with that day in Great Park.

Poskey told LAist Swyft Cities was not involved in the building of the gondola model for the Great Park event: all they did was provide the city with the design.

April’s meeting agenda had no mention of the contracts. After LAist started asking questions and filing public records requests, the contracts are now scheduled to be discussed at the next meeting.

What’s next 

Irvine’s Great Park board will meet at 2 p.m. Tuesday. Staff plan to share with board members how they arrived at the gondola public transit system plan.

How to watchdog local government

One of the best things you can do to hold officials accountable is pay attention.

Your city council, board of supervisors, school board and more all hold public meetings that anybody can attend. These are times you can talk to your elected officials directly and hear about the policies they’re voting on that affect your community.

• Read tips on how to get involved.
• The next scheduled Great Park board meeting is 2 p.m. on Tuesday, May 27. You can find meeting agendas and upcoming dates here. 
• And submit an eComment on the agenda here. 

After the Department of Justice issued a wide-ranging subpoena to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles last June, the records of more than 3,000 patients now will be protected until at least February 2029 under a settlement reached between patient families and the federal government.

What the federal government was seeking

The DOJ wanted to pull a wide swath of information from CHLA’s records related to hormone therapy prescriptions, including the identities and social security numbers of the people it was prescribed to. Lawyers for CHLA patient families said the broad request also included details of patients’ sexual health data and records of their mental health and said the inquiry violated their constitutional rights.

What CHLA’s lawyers are saying

“This is a massive victory for every family that refused to be intimidated into backing down,” said Khadijah Silver, director of gender justice and health equity at Lawyers for Good Government. “The government's attempt to rifle through children's medical records was unconstitutional from the start.”

Silver also noted that DOJ confirmed it had not received any sensitive patient data under the parts of the subpoena that had been struck down.

What’s in the settlement

Under the agreement, which was first reported by Reuters, the federal government has withdrawn its requests for personal information like social security numbers, prescription records and “documents relating to the clinical indications, diagnoses or assessments that formed the basis for prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy.”

The government cannot make new requests of this type to CHLA until February 2029. The settlement also establishes a process for the DOJ to continue to pursue seeking some limited redacted medical records from CHLA.

What it means for parents and children

In the aftermath of the subpoenas, many advocates were worried that families would face federal prosecution for seeking gender-affirming care for their children.

However, according to the settlement, the DOJ said it “is not currently aware of information that would support the federal prosecution of parents or guardians who have sought and consented to receiving gender-related care for their children at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.”

What the hospital and DOJ say about the win

LAist has reached out for comment to both entities and has not heard back.

The backstory

The subpoenas were issued on or about June 11, 2025, according to the settlement. They were made public in July, though many patient families remained in the dark about whether they were affected. CHLA announced it planned to close its clinic for trans youth June 12.

Judges have ruled against similar requests and struck down subpoenas seeking records from other hospitals, like Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Boston Children’s Hospital.

Los Angeles voters could soon get another chance to weigh in on Measure ULA, better known as the city’s “mansion tax.”

First approved by voters in November 2022, the measure has taxed real estate selling for more than $5 million. It funds tenant protection programs and affordable housing construction.

But economists have found that because the tax also applies to apartments — not just mansions — housing developers are pulling back on building in the city compared to other parts of L.A. County. One UCLA study concluded the city would have more low-income units on balance if the tax did not apply to new apartments.

Now, there’s a new effort brewing at City Hall to change how the “mansion tax” works.

City Councilmember Nithya Raman, chair of the council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee, introduced a motion Friday to place a new measure on the June ballot. The ballot measure would ask voters to exempt recently constructed apartment buildings from the tax, among other changes.

“We've seen some real pressures on the market as a result of ULA,” Raman told LAist. “It was sold to voters and talked about as a mansion tax. I don't think it was intended to slow the construction of new apartments in a city with an acknowledged and widespread housing crisis.”

Supporters of the tax say it’s working as intended. They dispute claims that ULA is responsible for slower housing growth in the city.

No council votes have yet been taken.

Local reform effort follows failed state bill

Supporters say the tax has funded eviction defense and rent relief programs. It has also produced the city’s largest-ever pot of money for low-income housing development, though less than 200 apartments have been completed and leased so far.

Joe Donlin, director of the group United to House L.A., called the latest reform effort “irresponsible.”

The proposed tax exemption for apartments built within the last 15 years would be “a tax break for developers and billionaires,” Donlin said.

“That would be giving money away from ULA programs that are protecting renters, that are keeping people from falling into homelessness, and building affordable housing,” he said.

Raman’s motion would also cancel the tax on homeowners affected by the Palisades Fire. Another change would restructure certain financing terms in order to attract traditional lenders to participate in ULA-funded affordable housing projects.

Many of the changes are similar to those proposed by state lawmakers in a bill that failed to advance at the tail end of last year’s legislative session in Sacramento.

Dueling effort at repeal is underway 

But those who support reform say without some changes, the tax could soon be thrown out entirely. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is collecting signatures for a separate ballot measure that would overturn not just Measure ULA, but similar taxes across the state.

Mott Smith, a reform proponent and the co-author of a UCLA study that found the tax had sharply reduced high-end real estate sales, said this is shaping up to be a tough political fight.

“I commend Councilmember Raman for doing her best to turn Measure ULA into something that might actually work before it goes away,” Smith said.

Some L.A. council members have already signaled opposition to the push for reform.

Alejandra Alarcon, a spokesperson for Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, said in a statement to LAist that Jurado opposes the motion as written.

“Voters overwhelmingly supported ULA to help build and sustain diverse communities,” the statement read. “Any changes to the measure should be made with community advocates at the table, not without them.”

What’s next?

The new City Council effort has a long way to go before any changes are made to the tax.

If a majority of the council approves it for the June ballot, a majority of local voters would need to sign off on changing a measure that received nearly 58% support from voters back in November 2022.

The eagle (egg) has landed.

Southern California's famous bald eagle couple, known as Jackie and Shadow, appear to have something new to take care of, as seen on the popular YouTube livestream run by Friends of Big Bear Valley that has captivated thousands of people.

Jackie laid the first egg of the season around 4:30 p.m. Friday in the nest overlooking Big Bear Lake, according to organization records, as more than 14,000 people watched the livestream.

In recent months, the birds were seen working on their "nestorations"— bringing in fresh sticks and fluff furnishings to the top of the Jeffrey pine tree they’ve claimed as their home, according to the nonprofit.

Last year, Jackie laid the first egg of that season around the same time, following up with a second and third a few days later.

Fans are once again eagerly watching the eagles for signs of more eggs in the clutch, which refers to the eggs laid in each nesting attempt, usually three days apart.

Jenny Voisard, the organization’s media and website manager, told LAist the Big Bear bald eagle fan community grew when the couple successfully raised two bald eagle chicks, Sunny and Gizmo, last season.

“The building of the nest, the bonding, the flirting, the mating, the bickering, the moving the sticks around, defending against intruders, you know, that's all been new for a lot of people,” she said.

“People are all kind of like nervous aunties and uncles,” she continued. “So we just try to keep everybody calm.”

As always, Jackie and Shadow are in charge. Fans will have to wait and see what this season will bring, Voisard said.

What to watch for

Friends of Big Bear Valley has been keeping track of the nesting season milestones, including a new daily record of at least 28 sticks delivered to the nest in November. The eagles’ previous single-day stick record was 25, according to the organization.

Other milestones include Shadow dropping off the first fluff in December, and the first mating a few weeks later.

“Pancaking” is a term Friends of Big Bear Valley uses to describe when the eagles lay flat in their nest bowl, before the eggs have arrived, for increasingly longer stretches of time.

The organization said Jackie had her longest “pancake session” of the season so far this week, laying in the nest for a little more than a half hour.

“That activity is a sign that we're getting closer to egg-laying,” Voisard said. “[Jackie’s] doing a few things, she's making the shape and she's testing it out.”

Jackie will likely also eat more fish from the nest so she has enough energy for the egg-laying process, Voisard said. Last January, the eagles brought two fish to the nest in the hours before the first egg was laid and three fish a day earlier, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley records.

When eggs are imminent, she said Jackie will “pancake” on the nest for long periods of time before rousing and puffing up her feathers. Then, Jackie typically makes a high-pitched, whistling tea kettle noise as she has contractions, according to the organization.

On Friday, Jackie made the tea kettle noise about three minutes before the first egg was laid, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley records.

“She looks almost royal, because all of her feathers are out and it's just — I cry,” Voisard said with a laugh. “It's usually pretty amazing.”

The eagles know best

While there are signs of new life coming to the nest, every season is different for Jackie and Shadow, and Friends of Big Bear Valley is encouraging people to be patient.

It was unseasonably warm in the area this past fall, and last season was the first time Jackie and Shadow successfully raised two chicks to fly away from the nest instead of just one. The organization has said both factors could delay this season’s egg-laying timeline.

“I'm sure [two] was a lot more work than with just one,” Sandy Steers, executive director of the organization, told LAist previously. “So I think that had something to do with them needing a longer break.”

And some seasons have ended with an empty nest, including in 2024 and 2023 when both sets of eggs didn’t hatch after weeks of waiting.

Voisard said while we can’t predict what’s going to happen this year, fans don’t have to watch in fear or let human emotions get in the way of enjoying the eagle experience.

“We feel all of the feels with Jackie and Shadow … happiness, laughter, we get worried, we feel joy, we felt sorrow,” she said. “It's all OK, and Jackie and Shadow move forward, no matter what.”

Jackie and Shadow in Big Bear's famous bald eagle nest on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.

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Friends of Big Bear Valley

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YouTube

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