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≡ CITY COUNCIL ACTIONS ≡
The documentation is out for next week’s Los Angeles City Council meetings with two critical votes scheduled for Tuesday, 26 May.
First is item 6, a vote on the revised “Olympic wage” ordinance, the result of a frantic negotiation between L.A. business interests, labor unions and the City Council. The story so far:
● The “Olympic wage” ordinance was passed by the City Council and signed by Mayor Karen Bass and went into effect in September 2025, raising the minimum wage for airport workers and airport-area hotel workers from $22.50 per hour in 2025 to $25.00-27.50-30.00 in 2026-27-28.
● Business interests tried, but failed, to collect enough signatures for a referendum on the increases, so they pivoted and did raise enough signatures for an initiative on the November 2026 ballot which would eliminate the City’s business tax and blow an $860 million hole into the City budget.
It was stated that the City’s ability to provide services to host the 2028 Olympic Games would be imperiled if the measure were to pass.
● City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson introduced a motion last December to stretch the increases out to 2030, and he, business representatives, the unions and other City Council members worked through a difficult set of talks that finally yielded an agreement last week, that will be voted on on Tuesday.
Contrary to some reports that the increases would be stretched to 2029, the revised ordinance to be approved does move the increases out to 2030, starting with $22.50 as of 1 July 2025, then $25.00 on 1 July 2026, $25.50 on 1 July 2027, $28.50 on 1 July 2028, $29.00 on 1 July 2029 and $30.00 on 1 July 2030.
The amounts are a little higher than in Harris-Dawson’s December motion, but do in fact stretch the raises out to 2030.
The approval of the ordinance is tied in with the withdrawal by the business groups of the November ballot initiative to end the City’s business tax. Item 30 on the Council agenda states:
“The proponents of the Initiative filed a request on May 21, 2026 to withdraw the Initiative from the ballot. The proponents have stated that their withdrawal is contingent on the final adoption of the ordinance relative to revising the wage and health benefit provisions for airport employees and hotel workers in the City of Los Angeles.”
Harris-Dawson had said the ballot withdrawal was not related to the wage ordinance change, but this is now shown to be incorrect.
Assuming both items 6 and 30 are adopted, one of the winners will be the LA28 organizing committee, which will – it appears – be spared from being in the middle of an airport and hotel labor fight and possible strikes in 2028.
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Further to the City’s fight with LA28 over who will pay for the security costs for the Los Angeles Police Department related to the 2028 Games – currently estimated at $728.8 million by the LAPD – Tuesday’s item 18 is related.
Council member Curren Price Jr.’s motion of 19 May states:
“The University of Southern California (USC) hosts large events including College Football games, commencements, and various other events (collectively referred to as “Events”) at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and other venues in the City of Los Angeles. To advance safety and support the Events, the City and USC collaborate in planning security, transportation, and crowd management requirements.
“The Events are subject to the Special Events Ordinance which requires the recovery of costs for City services from the event sponsor. The Ordinance also provides for the negotiations with major sports or entertainment venues in determining a payment. In support of the long-standing partnership between the City and USC, the organizer desires to provide the City with reimbursement for all necessary supplemental services provided in connection with the Events.
“I THEREFORE MOVE that the Council instruct the City Administrative Officer (CAO) and Chief Legislative Analyst to negotiate a contract between the City and the University of Southern California (USC) to provide supplemental City services for the Events in the City of Los Angeles at venues including but not limited to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, with full reimbursement of all provided supplemental City services, and that said contract be for a term of three years with an option to extend for an additional two years (five years total).”
These are the same kinds of terms that the City is looking for from LA28 and ensuring that USC pays for City services for its events is important to tell LA28 that it must pay for all “supplemental City services” as well.
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The agenda for the City Council’s Wednesday meeting includes a special designation on item 26, another motion from Price Jr.:
“In 1932, when the City hosted its first Olympic Games, the City renamed 10th Street as Olympic Boulevard as part of its celebration of the Games and as a long-lasting memorial of the event.
“As the City builds on this legacy, now hosting both the Paralympic and Olympic Games in 2028, it is appropriate that the City rename 39th Street, which leads into Exposition Park which will serve as an important venue in the upcoming Games, as ‘Paralympic Street.’”
The motion asks to rename that portion of 39th Street from Main Street to Figueroa Street and runs into the Coliseum complex itself, giving the “Paralympic Street” name significant visibility.
This would be a lasting legacy of the 2028 Paralympic Games and one which will stand long after the Games have passed.
Wednesday’s meeting also includes an update on the construction effort on the expansion of the Los Angeles Convention Center and indicates that the initial construction work is on budget and still on schedule, although 26 days of delay have been incurred so far. As present, there is no threat to the 31 March 2028 required date to stop building and get ready to turn the site over to the LA28 organizers.
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