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≡ METRO AND MONEY ≡
Twenty minutes into Wednesday’s Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Agency Executive Management Committee meeting, Metro Chair Janice Hahn breathlessly announced to the audience:
“Hot off the press, I just got this letter from the Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy.”
She proceeded to read it with considerable drama, adding an important comment of her own in the fourth paragraph (the comment is underlined):
“Dear Chair Hahn:
“Thank you for your letter highlighting the ongoing mobility needs of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“The U.S. Department of Transportation shares your desire to showcase the very best of the United States as it pertains to transportation throughout the Los Angeles Metro region during the Games.
“The Department also appreciates your ongoing coordination with DOT staff as you work through the projects and activities that are critical to the success of the Games. The Department continues to encourage the use of existing formula and competitive grants, as well as credit programs, for capital needs as the Los Angeles metro area prepares for the Games.
“We stand ready to help implement and offer technical assistance – we want money, not just technical assistance – should the House and Senate advance legislation in providing additional funding for mobility needs during the Games.
“The Department looks forward to our continued engagement with Los Angeles Metro, the LA28 team, our Federal partners and the appropriate House and Senate committees to address and work through plans as the Games draw near.
“We are all committed to making the Games a resounding success for the United States. If I can provide more information, don’t call me, call my assistant. Sean Duffy.”
Hahn appeared to modify the last sentence, but gushed in her usual, upbeat manner:
“That’s still, that, you know, that was a very, I thought that’s a very positive. It’s encouraging, because, you know, we’ve always said the Games are not just Los Angeles, it’s showcasing the United States of America.”
Hahn is right that even a response from Duffy is encouraging, coming on the heels of Metro’s request for $3.2 billion in Federal funding for transportation support for the 2028 Games being shut out of the Transportation Department’s budget request for Federal Fiscal Year 2026.
And as Hahn instantaneously noted, Duffy promised nothing.
That’s consistent with Duffy’s testimony during a 14 May hearing with the House Appropriations Committee subcommittee on transportation. Responding to a direct question about FIFA World Cup 2026, the 2027 NFL Super Bowl and the 2028 Olympic Games by Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-San Bernardino), Duffy replied:
“I haven’t looked at the funding levels and what’s appropriate from the department’s
perspective but I want to make sure we have enough resources to make sure it’s seamless and I’d love to work with you if you have some ideas.”
Aguilar pressed for a commitment to $500 million, but Duffy said he’d be happy to chat later.
¶
Observed: There was no airspace between what was in Duffy’s letter to Hahn and Duffy’s comments to Aguilar in May: no Federal money is coming to Metro for 2028 Games operations right now.
The good news for Metro is that the Trump Administration – as underscored by Duffy once again – will do what is necessary to make the Games work reasonably smoothly, and likely no more. So means some money in FY27 (October 2026 to September 2027) and enough to get by in FY28.
Compounding the issue is that the messaging around transportation for 2028 has been confused, with early comments from public officials and Metro about a “no-car Olympics” and now a “transit-first” Olympics, with, of course, no specifics.
What is true is that Metro can’t pay for the plan it wants to implement, and the Trump Administration and the Congress aren’t going to either. The reality is likely close to what LA28 Chair Casey Wasserman told the 144th Session of the International Olympic Committee about transportation for the Games, last March:
“[W]e are very confident in our ability to deliver, and let’s not get confused. Our venues are designed, and our city is designed, for people to drive their cars to events.
“They won’t drive them in the same quantities, at the same scale they do today, but that will also be a part of our delivery, because it would be a mistake not to take advantage of the venues that are designed and the use case they are designed for.”
So, whether Metro likes it or not, its role in the 2028 Games transportation mix is looking more and more to be part of the solution, but not all – or even most – of it.
¶
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