Los Angeles allocates $5.3 million to upgrade sidewalks for 2028 Olympic venues

Los Angeles City Council approved nearly $5.3 million to improve pedestrian facilities around venues for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. About $4 million of the funding will be directed to the Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative (LANI) and the nonprofit Los Angeles Conservation Corps, which will employ and train local youth while accelerating repairs of broken, uplifted sidewalks that hinder residents, especially those with disabilities.

The program builds on a 2015 settlement of an ADA lawsuit that committed the city to spend $1.4 billion over 30 years on accessibility upgrades, a goal that has progressed slowly. Mayor Karen Bass is championing the new effort, leveraging existing partnerships and discretionary funding to speed up the work, which has been described by LANI capital projects specialist Anna Apostolos as more reliable than traditional city processes.