The Brief

The Metro Board of Directors advanced a plan to modernize Union Station last week without finding a resolution to a dispute that could complicate the project, known as Link US, in the future.

The sticking point lies 3 miles south of Union Station, at a private rail storage yard in the city of Vernon.

Metro’s current plan involves expanding that storage yard to make up for the loss of space at a different yard near the station. Both yards are owned by freight giant BNSF.

It’s a proposal that has incensed Vernon leaders and business owners who, despite Metro’s assurances to the contrary, believe the expansion of the rail yard in their city will worsen already-congested streets, increase pollution and jeopardize emergency response times.

Vernon leadership had asked Metro to remove the storage mitigation plan from an environmental impact report. Metro’s board approved the final report on Thursday with the storage mitigation plan in place, but nudged agency staff to continue working on a solution with the city of Vernon and BNSF.

Metro said in a statement that it will “be convening additional discussions with BNSF and the City of Vernon to explore alternative approaches” but that it’s not “reconsidering the entire mitigation proposal.”

Brian Saeki, the city administrator for Vernon, said the city supports Link US and is open to finding a solution to the issue of rail storage that all parties can agree on, including brokering an agreement with BNSF to minimize disruptions from the proposed expansion.

At the same time, the city is also exploring potential legal challenges to Metro’s decision, Saeki said.

What is Link US?

Currently, trains can only enter and exit from the north side of Union Station, which means they have to reverse the same way they pull in to get back on their route. In train-speak, this kind of track is known as a “stub-end” track. It’s similar to when you drive on a dead-end street and need to turn around to get back on the main road.

The solution Metro came up with is Link US. It involves converting the stub-end tracks into run-through tracks that continue south of the station over the 101 Freeway and meet existing rail along the L.A. River.

Metro said in a recent report to its board that the project could reduce the idling time for Amtrak and Metrolink trains by 30 minutes, ensure schedule reliability and improve the station’s capacity. It’s also a critical upgrade to prepare the historic downtown L.A. station to service high-speed rail.

To make room for the run-through tracks, Metro needs to acquire 5,500 feet of existing track near Union Station and along the L.A. River. The land is currently used by BNSF to store empty rail cars.

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Courtesy LA Metro

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The problem of rail storage

To make room for the run-through tracks, Metro needs to acquire 5,500 feet of existing track near Union Station and along the L.A. River. The land is currently used by BNSF to store empty rail cars.

Initially, Metro offered to buy the land from BNSF, but the company refused to sell it. So the agency proposed a plan to replace the lost space instead.

Based on its evaluation of six potential sites, Metro, collaboratively with BNSF, concluded that expanding the Malabar Yard in the city of Vernon is the best place to mitigate the loss, replacing around 3,400 feet of freight storage.

Expanding the Malabar Yard, which is also owned and used by BNSF, involves closing a small stretch of 49th Street and diverting local freight traffic along 1,000 feet of new tracks on 46th Street.

The Malabar Yard mitigation plan is meant to make up for rail storage space that BNSF is going to lose at a different yard it owns on the west bank of the LA River.

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Courtesy LA Metro

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Metro said it engaged with Vernon executive staff and businesses, as well as elected L.A. city and county officials, through dozens of meetings over the course of the year before the proposal made its way to the board for final approval.

Based on feedback from those meetings, the agency proposed nearly $25 million in mobility improvements in Vernon, including new crosswalks, train detection cameras and more.

Disagreements over potential impacts

Metro’s evaluation of its mitigation proposal determined the plan would reduce total daily train traffic in Vernon.

“That would mean decreased local emissions, minimized traffic delays due to those trains,” Ray Sosa, chief planning officer, said at Metro’s Board meeting Thursday. “The design would result in a 5-minute improvement for emergency response.”

In an email to LAist, Lena Kent, the general director of public affairs for BNSF, reiterated the community benefits Metro outlined.

A letter a lawyer for Vernon sent to Metro last week said consultants hired by the city came to opposite conclusions and claimed the agency’s evaluation is inadequate and based on flawed data.

Metro said in its statement that while it “values Vernon’s input,” it stands by the “adequacy of the certified environmental review.”

BNSF uses the Malabar Yard to store freight rail cars.

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Courtesy MVE + Partners

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Metro’s proposal could also present operational concerns for the city’s business community, Saeki said.

“ There's not a whole lot of streets that travel east/west, so by just randomly closing 49th … it's also going to have consequences to those businesses in and around that area,” Saeki said.

Mike Melideo owns a business that processes and sells large steel coils near the proposed street closure. Several trucks come and go from the plant every day, he said. If 49th Street is closed, Melideo said the trucks would have to line up on Santa Fe Avenue, potentially clogging up the perpendicular north/south street.

L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who represents Vernon,  said the city depends on open circulation and the reliable delivery of goods.

“They are pure industry, pure business,” she said. “That is a huge part of their economy.”

While Vernon only has 200 residents, there are more than 1,800 businesses located there employing 50,000 people.

So, what now?

The city of Vernon ultimately holds the permits and approvals Metro needs to follow through with its mitigation plan. At this point in time, city officials say they're unlikely to grant those approvals.

Saeki told LAist that the Vernon City Council will be meeting on Nov. 4 in closed session to discuss next steps.

There is time to resolve the disagreement, though, as Link US is still only in its early stages.

Along with approving the final environmental documents Thursday, the board passed a motion encouraging Metro to continue working with BNSF and the city of Vernon to find an alternative mitigation site, or to come to an operating agreement in which the freight company commits to limiting rail operations and minimizing the length of train cars to avoid prolonged disruptions.

But getting all parties back to the table might be tough. According to Hahn, BNSF only attended one of the meetings about the yard expansion hosted by Metro and was “ dismissive of the city's concerns.”

For Link US, the next stop is the board of California High-Speed Rail, which is the source of half of the $950 million in project funding that Metro has so far secured from state and regional partners. The high-speed rail board will also need to approve environmental documents.

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

Tom Steyer, the billionaire climate activist and businessman who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2020, is the latest Democrat to jump into California’s crowded gubernatorial field.

His two core promises — which could appear at odds — are to preserve the state’s status as a hub for business and innovation while also lowering California’s cost of living by making corporations pay “their fair share,” he said in a video message.

The nearly two-minute campaign launch film, which intersperses sleek graphics with footage of line cooks, ranchers and manufacturing workers on the job, encapsulates those dueling themes.

“There’s a reason everybody comes here to start businesses — because this is the place that invents the future,” Steyer says near the start of the video. “I never want to lose that spark.”

Steyer made his fortune as the founder of Farallon Capital, a hedge fund headquartered in San Francisco that currently manages about $42 billion in assets. After selling his stake in the company in 2012, Steyer started NextGen America, a liberal nonprofit that supports progressive positions on issues such as climate change, immigration, health care and education. The group also launched a labor-aligned super PAC to fund races nationwide.

His activism through NextGen America has elevated Steyer’s profile in recent years from little-known hedge fund manager to global climate activist and Republican antagonizer. He has spent millions to pass progressive ballot measures to uphold California environmental laws, raise taxes on tobacco to fund health care and push states to invest in more renewable energy.

Gov. Gavin Newsom terms out next year. At least six other Democrats are running to replace him, including former Rep. Katie Porter, former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

While a billionaire former financial executive might be at odds with a party base hungry for a more relatable fighter, he’s attempting to appeal to everyday Californians by spotlighting the issue that most people say is their top priority — affordability.

“The Californians who make this state run are being run over by the cost of living,” Steyer says later in the video. “Californians deserve a life they can afford.”

Steyer also promises to “launch the largest drive to build homes that you can afford” in state history, rein in monopolistic utilities that have driven up costs and “drop our sky-high energy prices.”

Steyer’s nearly $13 million advertising blitz in support of Proposition 50, the congressional redistricting plan that voters approved earlier this month via special election, led many California political insiders to speculate that he would launch another bid for governor.

He alluded to his gubernatorial ambitions when he launched a controversial advertisement that, rather than amplify the Yes on Prop. 50 campaign’s message of checking the Trump administration’s power, touted his own calls to impeach and resist President Donald Trump.

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

It's 1,000 days out until the Paralympic Games come to Los Angeles, and organizers have released a preview of the competition schedule.

The opening ceremony for the Games will take place at SoFi Stadium on Aug. 15, and the closing ceremony will be at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum on Aug. 27. That's according to a first look published by private Olympic organizing committee LA28 on its website, which lays out the days for which each sporting event is tentatively scheduled.

It's the third time L.A. is hosting the Olympics, but the city's first Paralympic Games. Athletes will compete in 23 sports across a span of about two weeks. The Paralympics will follow the Olympic Games, which will take place in July.

The Paralympic schedule provides a sketch of the excitement ahead for the summer of 2028.

The day after the Opening Ceremony, the first medals will be awarded for para athletics, wheelchair fencing, shooting para sport, para equestrian and para cycling track. Wheelchair rugby and boccia competition will start before the Games officially begin, starting a couple days ahead of the opening ceremony.

Blind football, wheelchair football, sitting volleyball and more sports will close out the summer of Olympic competition in Los Angeles, ahead of the closing ceremony.

The Los Angeles Paralympics also will welcome a new sport to the games: para climbing.

You can find the first look at the Paralympic schedule here. A more detailed schedule will come out next year.

Here’s a look at the Olympic schedule.

An ongoing dispute over maintenance of parts of the system that powers the LAX Automated People Mover could be the reason the long-awaited train won’t open until next summer, or even later, according to public documents reviewed by LAist.

The current dispute adds to a long series of disagreements between the city and LINXS, the group of companies contracted to design, build and operate the train, that have led to the ongoing saga of delays, hundreds of millions in cost overruns and diminishing public confidence that there’ll ever be a rail-only connection to LAX.

An L.A. County Civil Grand Jury report released earlier this year claimed that LINXS has used the dispute resolution process and “political pressures” to force contract extensions and additional compensation throughout the design and construction process.

In October, LAist reported about how the train’s estimated completion date moved from early 2026 to next summer. The dispute detailed in the public documents offers a more specific reason for the delay, which was previously opaque.

Dispute over metering cabinet equipment

In February, staff from city agencies directed LINXS to repair faulty equipment in a metering cabinet, according to a summary of the dispute and findings by a third-party evaluator. While the type of equipment isn’t specified, it’s likely related to measuring the power distributed throughout the system.

Power was partially shut down during the period of repair work, which lasted until July 2025.

That power shut-off delayed critical testing of the technology that allows for central control of the train’s systems, according to the third-party evaluator.

The third-party evaluator’s report said LINXS argued it was not required by contract to perform the repair work and is entitled to a schedule extension and compensation. The third-party evaluator, whose recommendations are not legally binding, agreed with LINXS’ position.

Los Angeles World Airports, the agency that manages LAX and the Van Nuys Airport, did not participate in an August hearing regarding the dispute, the third-party evaluator’s findings said.

The agency “rejected” the third-party evaluator’s conclusions, according to a November report from a management consulting firm retained by project lenders to monitor project progress.

What happens next?

According to the project contract, if a dispute remains unresolved after inquiring with the third-party evaluator, the next step is for LINXS to file a claim under a section of state law that governs complaints against public entities.

A section on the California Tort Claims Act on the Sacramento County Public Law Library website notes that the claim is a required precursor to any civil action.

“Filing a claim gives the agency the opportunity to settle the claim before a lawsuit is filed and to investigate the claim so that it can properly defend itself, or to correct the conditions or practices that led to the claim,” the website states.

The management consulting firm’s November report notes that LINXS “formally submitted” a claim on Oct. 21, triggering a 60-day period for the city to “respond to the claim and sets out the basis for the LINXS entitlements to relief.”

“Submission of [the] claim was explicitly requested by [Los Angeles World Airports] as a precursor to negotiation,” the report continues.

The status of the Automated People Mover

In a statement, Los Angeles World Airports said it’s not "unusual" to see "contractual disputes" on large capital projects like the Automated People Mover and that the train is still on schedule to open to the public next summer.

“LINXS continues to assure us the train will be ready for the FIFA World Cup, but we have back up plans in place to ensure an outstanding experience for all fans who visit Los Angeles,” the statement added. “[Los Angeles World Airports] does not comment on pending legal matters.”

Construction on the project is nearly complete, and most of the current work is focused on testing and ensuring all the parts of the system work together.

In November, Fluor, one of the companies that makes up LINXS, reported to investors that they can expect the Automated People Mover to “reach substantial completion over [the] next 3 quarters.”

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which was also named in the documents about the dispute, declined to comment.

LAist also reached out to LINXS and the companies that make up the group, but did not receive any response.

The management consulting firm also did not respond to emails requesting an interview.

Once spanning parts of the Inland Empire and the outskirts of the Coachella Valley, the newly redrawn U.S. Congressional District 41 will be uniquely different.

When voters approved Proposition 50 in November, it allowed California to use new congressional maps drawn by Democratic state officials to elect members of Congress from 2026 through 2030. Before this, maps were drawn by the state’s independent redistricting commission.

The maps — which state Republicans are trying to block — are expected to benefit Democrats.

Shortly after Election Day, California Republicans announced they were challenging Prop. 50 in federal court, arguing the new district maps favor Latinos at the expense of other groups in violation of the Constitution. The federal Department of Justice filed last week to join the lawsuit. A similar legal battle playing out in Texas — where congressional maps were redrawn to favor Republicans — saw the new maps blocked Tuesday by a federal court.

At the moment, Prop. 50 is going forward in California, and the new maps put the previously safely Republican 41st Congressional District in Riverside County in a now primarily blue district in L.A. County and even a small portion of Orange County.

“There's a lot of changes and some musical chairs that are happening,” Jodi Balma, political science professor at Fullerton College, told LAist. “Your house hasn't moved, but your congressional district boundary has moved around you, and so you might be interested to know who is likely to represent you at the end of the 2026 elections.”

Here’s how the chairs have shifted and why it matters in this corner of Southern California.

Why is the race for District 41 unique? 

Balma said District 41 is unlike many other California districts in the wake of Prop. 50.

“The others, you could kind of understand how the borders changed and some segment of the district remained the same,” Balma said. “But this one just wholesale was picked up from the Inland Empire and moved to Los Angeles, and it's a completely new district.”

The new district brings together residents who might have different lived experiences and cultural backgrounds, said Sara Sadhwani, assistant professor of politics at Pomona College.

“This district is substantively and geographically quite different from that, so you certainly can't compare 41 from before to 41 today,” Sadhwani said. “We have seen an incredible amount of growth throughout the Inland Empire, and notably, many Latino and Black communities moving into the Inland Empire, and with them brings a different kind of politics.”

While those communities might lean Democratic, she added, they have varied interests.

“For whoever wants to run in District 41, or any of the districts representing the Inland Empire, I think that those are some of the dynamics that they will need to be attuned to in order to earn those voters' votes,” Sadhwani said.

What are the big changes?

In the original map, District 41 stretched from Norco to Palm Desert. It included Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Palm Desert and La Quinta. Census data show that the congressional district originally was made up of 56% white, 30% Latino, 7% Asian and 6% Black voters. Before the passing of Prop. 50, District 41 was represented by Republican Congressman Ken Calvert for more than 30 years. Calvert now is running for the newly drawn 40th District.

The original District 41 has been sliced into several congressional districts. Norco and part of Corona now are included in the new District 35; Menifee and Lake Elsinore are in District 40; and Palm Springs and La Quinta are split into separate districts.

Whereas Prop. 50 made some slight regional changes to certain districts in Southern California, the newly redrawn District 41 encompasses completely different counties — including parts of L.A. and Orange counties.

District 41 now includes Whittier, Downey, La Habra and Los Alamitos. More than half the voters in the newly redrawn area are Latino, 28% are white, 11% are Asian and 5% are Black, according to state Census data.

Who could represent the new District 41? 

Rep. Linda Sánchez, currently representing the 38th District, announced her run for the newly redrawn 41st. Sánchez could have chosen to run in either the new District 38 — which includes Bell, Diamond Bar, Rowland Heights and part of Yorba Linda — but chose the new District 41 instead.

“After Proposition 50 passed and split my current district, deciding where to run was an emotional but ultimately an easy choice — I chose home,” Sánchez said in a statement. “Boundaries may change, but my commitment to fighting for the people I love will never waver.”

There are 80 House seats up for grabs in the California primary election, as well as 20 Senate seats. More than half of those are in Southern California.

No one else has announced their candidacy for District 41 yet, but that could change. The deadline to decide to run in the June primary is March 6. Here’s an election schedule.