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≡ RODRIGUEZ’S LETTER ≡
“With just 830 days remaining until the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, the City of Los Angeles still lacks clear, enforceable protections over hundreds of millions of dollars in public exposure.
“This is not a minor gap; it is a critical failure that must be fixed now. Bankruptcy cannot be the legacy of these Games.”
That’s from a letter sent by Los Angeles City Council member Monica Rodriguez, a self-styled budget hawk, to LA28 organizing committee chief executive Reynold Hoover, which was obtained and reported by Scott Reid of the Southern California News Group, apparently before the organizing committee had seen it.
Reid’s story quotes significant parts of the letter, including:
● “The Enhanced City Resources Master Agreement (ECRMA) must guarantee that the City is fully reimbursed for all costs before a single dollar is directed to an LA28 Legacy Fund. Taxpayer protection comes first. Every dollar owed to the City must be reconciled and paid before any surplus is retained or repurposed.”
● “These costs are uncertain, volatile, and likely to increase. Federal support is not guaranteed, and jurisdictions across the country will be competing for the same limited funding. These projections also fail to account for real-world risks like emergencies, weather events, and unforeseen operational demands that could increase the City’s financial burden.”
● “At the same time, the City is expected to stand behind these commitments without meaningful financial transparency into LA28’s financial operations. Under the current framework, LA28’s expenses, including executive compensation, bonuses, and vendor contracts, are reimbursed ahead of the City’s costs, yet the City lacks adequate visibility into how those funds are being spent. That is unacceptable.”
Rodriguez’s letter echoes a similar memorandum of concern from 24 March 2026 from City Attorney Hydee Feinstein Soto, which is one of the City agencies involved in the negotiation of the Enhanced City Resources Master Agreement:
● “[T]here are two remaining issues in the ECRMA that must be resolved in the City’s favor for LA28 to fulfill their promised ‘no cost to taxpayers’ foundational principle – (1) what happens if the federal government does not pay the assumed $1 billion and (2) what happens if the City’s extraordinary expenses exceed $1 billion?”
● “The ECRMA as drafted by LA28 limits the obligation to reimburse City costs before LA28 is permitted to create its own legacy fund with the surplus. … The City requires unambiguous language in the ECRMA to foreclose any scenario in which funds might go back to the wealthy backers and investors of the LA28 organization without reimbursing taxpayer-funded extraordinary costs.”
Rodriguez demanded more information from LA28, asking for “complete transparency” into LA28 spending, calling it a matter of “public responsibility.”
The Enhanced City Resources Master Agreement was due to be completed, per the 2021 Games Agreement between the City and LA28, by 1 October 2025. Although $1 billion for security costs related to the 2028 Games was authorized in the Federal Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget, there was no additional funding identified in the 2026-27 Federal budget highlights document released last week.
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