The next round of “open streets” events, including CicLAvias, will be squeezed into two months during the next three years, coinciding with the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament in July 2026 and the LA Olympic and Paralympic Games in July 2028.
LA Metro is proposing to spend $10 million to close-off streets to automobiles while turning over certain roadways to pedestrians, bicyclists and other people-powered transports in Los Angeles County in a kind of double header that will take place concurrently with two mega, international sporting events.
While the Los Angeles County transit agency targets funding for two more cycles of 29 open-street events during international games in 2026 and 2028, others with experience running open street events say the unprecedented move will result in zero open street events in L.A. County for 34 of the next 36 months starting in January.
By definition, CicLAvias are when bike riders and pedestrians take over streets for exercise and unusual fun in various neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Active Streets do the same for smaller cities in the San Gabriel Valley. The organizers putting on these events say they need to happen regularly. Losing steam in the next few years will not just deny the public popular and free events for about three years, but the lapse may even make them more difficult to return.
“From our perspective, we are not saying the goal of active transit during the Olympics (and World Cup) is not a good thing. The question is, should it come at the expense of open streets programs for three years?” asked Wesley Reutimann, co-founder of Active SGV in 2010, now deputy director of the nonprofit.
LA Metro has been a faithful funder of these events since 2013, building on the first CicLAvia in the heart of L.A. on Oct. 10, 2010. These events include the Beach Streets in Long Beach, where a major corridor is closed to cars to allow for walking, biking, and other activities; open streets events in Santa Monica; and Active Streets in the San Gabriel Valley.
There is some kind of open streets program about every month in L.A. County, Reutimann said. The biggest one was Arroyfest II, which brought more than 50,000 people riding bicycles, scooters, rollerblades, skateboards or just putting one foot in front of the other onto a closed off, six-mile stretch of the Arroyo Seco Parkway (110 Freeway) in Pasadena, South Pasadena and Northeast Los Angeles on Oct. 29, 2023.
Metro’s special focus on the World Cup and the Olympics includes 29 open street events, along with some fanfest events that slow down traffic but do not eliminate automobiles and are more outdoor parties than “open streets.” The idea is adding places to celebrate, even watch sporting events on TV screens, for those who could not attend in person.
The list includes FIFA World Cup open streets and slow streets events at El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument; L.A. Westlake; City of Torrance’s Downtown Torrance Street Activation; City of Santa Monica; Leimert Park meets Expo Park, CicLAvia; Meet the Hollywoods, CicLAvia; Pasadena CicLAvia; City of Long Beach’s Beach Streets Kickin’ It 2026; and City of Bell, Gateway Connections.
The list also includes Olympic Games-timed open streets at Figueroa in L.A.; Pasadena, Pico Rivera, Inglewood; SGV Fanfest; Santa Clarita’s Olympic Block Party; Long Beach’s Beach Streets; Leimert Park in South L.A.; and “L.A. Experience the Sepulveda Basin” — a car-free journey through parks and open space for the 2028 Games.
Funding runs from about $100,000 to $500,000 depending on the event and the city.
LA Metro said the targeting of open street and fanfest events is following a governing board directive to “maximize opportunities for the World Cup and the Games.” To date, the agency has invested nearly $26 million to fund 84 such events since 2014, said Melissa Colman, Metro spokesperson in an emailed response.
Reutimann said his group’s Active Streets events included many people taking the A Line train to the event. During Arroyofest II, 4,000 10K runners took the light-rail to the South Pasadena station near the starting line, he said.
“They (open streets) generally connected to a train line station,” Reutimann said. “They are car-free events that make it easier for people to attend without relying on a motor vehicle. They bring awareness about public transit in Los Angeles County.” He’s disappointed that his group, Active SGV, in conjunction with the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments, did not make the list for funding.
One proposed to open the streets in Alhambra and San Gabriel to highlight the different Olympic sports coming to the San Gabriel Valley in 2028. They include cricket at the Pomona Fairplex, mountain biking at Pacific Palms in City of Industry, and soccer at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
But since the event was planned a few months before the Olympic Games, it did not pair with the actual days the Olympics and Paralympics would be held. He said his group and the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments, will ask Metro to reconsider funding.
“This program (open streets) has been incredibly successful over the past decade, encouraging people to try out public transit,” he said. “Limiting this type of programing for just a two-month window (for FIFA World Cup and Olympic Games) in those years will be a loss for the region.”
The first discussion of the recommended open streets and fanfest events will take place at LA Metro’s Planning and Programming Committee on Wednesday, Nov. 19.
Reutimann said it is extremely difficult for smaller cities to obtain funding for these events. Costs for security, liability insurance and traffic control have gone up in recent years. He will ask the Metro committee to consider funding other open street events not held during the World Cup and Olympic Games.
Colman said Metro is working with jurisdictions with proposals to identify additional local funding sources.
Reutimann appreciated LA Metro’s nearly 12-year commitment to funding open streets events, saying the county is a leader in holding these events.
“I understand that the stakes are very high for the Olympics,” Reutimann said. “Paris and other previous hosts had a lot of success with fan zones. There is a lot of appeal for that. But that is not open streets.”