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≡ L.A. CITY COUNCIL ≡
The main action item on the Monday agenda of the Los Angeles City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games was the approval of a draft ordinance to allow temporary construction related to the Games to forego the usual, lengthy planning and zoning requirement reviews and approvals.
In response to public comments and Council member questions, it was noted that signage to be approved under this exemption would be temporary and only related to the Games. With a minor amendment to add a sign-off by the Los Angeles City Attorney, the draft ordinance was moved forward by a 5-0 vote.
It was suggested that a refinement be examined to allow the City to remove illegal signs related to the Games more quickly and not go through the usual legal process, in which a court hearing would not take place until the Games are already over!
But that was not the focus of the two-hour session. The protests against the Trump Administration’s immigration enforcement and recent shootings in Minnesota, and questions about who gets contracts for services during the Games were in the forefront.
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Council member Monica Rodriguez bored in on the security arrangements for 2028, which as a National Special Security Event, are led by the U.S. Secret Service:
“Clearly, given the most recent activity, there’s even more heightened concern … about the lead agency in law enforcement. We’ve clearly seen the egregious abuse of power at the Federal level, and the composition of the LA28 Board, given some of the newer members [friendly to the Trump Administration] has only elevated my concerns about what it’s going to look like here in Los Angeles. …
“We really need to have really serious conversations about who’s the lead and what the security looks like here in Los Angeles. And make no mistake, colleagues, we really need to be prepared about having some really hard conversations what we do going forward, especially when the people of Los Angeles are going to be on the hook for expenditures that perhaps exceed what has been raised and secured as it relates to the production of these Games.
“Look, we’ve just got to acknowledge it, we’ve got to talk about it, but we’ve got to be serious about this and stop pretending that they’re not going to overreach their authority.”
Rodriguez urged LA28 to increase its sponsorship goals and to raise even more money from any and all sources, again fearing a deficit from the organizing committee.
Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson weighed in about implications of the Minnesota protests that are going far beyond local and national politics:
“It’s hard to miss it. The situation with the national government in this country makes human rights an even more important question than it would ordinarily be. …
“I noticed at least three reports of countries discussing in a formal way – I mean, big countries like Germany, France – discussing boycotting FIFA [2026 World Cup], because of the actions of the U.S. around Greenland or whatever, so we have a national government who’s setting the stage for an environment where we can have a serious boycott. We had a boycott in ‘84 in L.A., we know it’s possible to overcome that. But I’m just wondering, is that part of what the [International Olympic Committee] has preparations for, how do you prepare for that, given people are making real threats and holding governmental hearings about it in other parts of the world?”
LA28 Chief Operating Officer John Harper replied, “We’ve had no discussions with the IOC, no indications that that is going to be a concern here, but obviously, we’ll continue to work with the IOC and the [International Paralympic Committee] as they drive towards 2028. But all indications are that we’re looking forward to welcoming the world, all 206 nations of all the NOCs represented in 2028.”
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Fully 43 minutes of discussion was had on the single topic of LA28’s procurement of goods and services for the Games and how City of Los Angeles-resident businesses will get first priority.
The City is part of the RAMP program (Regional Alliance Marketplace for Procurement) and wants all of LA28’s purchasing to go through this portal to ensure that City and Southern California-area businesses have a clear shot at all available contracts.
A briefing by City Bureau of Contract Administration head John Reamer noted that LA28 is also using a software tool Supplier.io for vetting small businesses which was then badly explained, but drew a furious (through civil) response from the Council members about why anything other than the City’s own review process should be used.
Reamer was instructed to work with LA28 to ensure that for those contracts which are not required to be offered to the organizing committee’s commercial partners are offered through RAMP and that the City is the one doing the verification of resident or small-business status.
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Harper made a brief report at the start of the hearing, noting “with 2028 less than three years to go, we continue to feel confident in our progress.” He pointed to the continuing success of the sponsorship sales program, which has passed $2 billion in contracted commitments through the end of 2025, about 80% of the budgeted goal.
He was challenged by Council member Bob Blumenfield on the size of the contingency in the LA28 budget, which went down slightly from $615.9 million to $613.5 million in 2025, even as the budget increased from $6.884 billion to $7.149 billion. Blumenfield asked that the contingency be fixed as a percentage of the budget, so that it goes up as the budget goes up, reflecting the Council’s continuous worry about an organizing committee deficit that would have to be paid by the City. This is to be reviewed in advance of the next LA28 annual report, due in March.
Harper also noted the continuing success of the volunteer registration program, which opened last year with 70,000 sign-ups on the first day and now past 150,000. And the ticketing registration, with 1.5 million signs-up in the first 24 hours, but no further updates since.
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