Finance
LA City Council sends back financial report on cost of safe streets measure
LOS ANGELES (CNS) — The City Council Friday asked its staff to perform further financial analysis of how the passage of a street safety measure on the March ballot would impact the municipal budget and existing programs that do similar work.
Matt Szabo, the city’s administrative officer, provided the council with an updated report on the implementation costs related to the Healthy Streets LA ballot measure, a resident-led initiative that would require the city to install street modifications described in its Mobility Plan 2035 whenever street improvements are made to at least one-eighth of a mile of roadway.
The Mobility Plan 2035, a 20-year city planning document for improving L.A. streets and promoting other modes of transportation such as walking, biking, or other transit options, was adopted by the City Council nine years ago. But since then, the city has only implemented 5% of the plan — with some staff from the Department of Transportation calling it “aspirational.”
According to Szabo, Measure HLA would cost the city $3.1 billion over 10 years, which is an additional $600 million from his original estimate in November 2023. He noted that, if approved by voters, the measure would become effective roughly five weeks after the election.
The report came before the council as a “note and file,” meaning it required no real action from the council. But several city council members criticized the report for not providing an accurate financial analysis and failing to provide a complete picture of what Measure HLA means for the city.
“I have some real concerns about some of the multipliers we’re using in terms of the costs,” said Councilman Bob Blumenfield, who chairs the council’s Budget, Finance and Innovation Committee.
He added, “I feel like I need to mention that when you talk about multiplier, you also need to talk about both sides of the equation as well.”
The city of Los Angeles has a “serious” traffic safety problem, he said. In 2023, traffic violence took the lives of 336 Angelenos and over the past five years more than 1,500 residents have been seriously injured annually.
“While we can’t put a price on a life, certainly traffic violence affects all of us,” Blumenfield said. “Just less than 24 hours ago, there was a women killed in my district walking across Ventura Boulevard at an unmarked crosswalk, which we intend to ultimately mark.”
He also pointed out that the U.S. Department of Transportation has reported that the value of human life at $11.6 million dollars, and the value of a traffic-related injury is $210,000. The economic cost of traffic deaths and injuries in Los Angeles is more than $4 billion a year, he said.
“When we talk about the cost of traffic safety measures, we should also keep that in mind in terms of the enormous cost that we have right now of not putting in critical traffic safety measures.”
Szabo said the measure would not provide any financial resources to the city to implement the plan, meaning city officials would have to work with existing pools of funding to meet its requirements.
The estimates were conservative, he said, not including escalators. He highlighted mobility plan components — the bicycle lane network, which is 376 miles of planned bike lanes; the bicycle enhanced network, 238 miles of protected bike lanes or bike paths; and pedestrian enhanced districts, and 1,120 miles of sidewalks, that are required to be in good repair and ADA compliant.
It’s estimated that it would cost $670 million to fully establish the bike lane network, $420 million for the bicycle enhanced network and $2 billion for sidewalk repairs.
“There a are number of other priorities, a number of programs, that will have to compete for the same dollars that will be required to implement the mobility plan,” Szabo said.
Streets for All, the organization that led efforts on the ballot measure, has criticized the CAO’s numbers, stating that it would actually cost $286 million over 10 years to implement pedestrian enhanced districts and bike networks.
While Blumenfield stated he did not support Measure HLA because of the possible legal issue attached to it — voters would be able to sue the city if it fails to adhere to the measure — he said aspects of the report conflated prices. He said he would dig into a few areas such as the cost of street resurfacing, implementing American Disability Act compliant curb ramps, street repaving costs, and sidewalk repairs.
He noted that the city is already legally required to make certain modifications to streets that are listed in the mobility plan, mainly ADA requirements.
Szabo noted that costs would increase if the improvements took more than 10 years, ending in 2035, since “costs go up every year.”
Szabo also raised concerns over a backlog of sidewalk repairs, of about 7,700 requests, at some 3,500 to 4,000 locations across the city, costing nearly $900 million over five years to eliminate.
Councilwoman Traci Park called HLA an “unfunded mandate” and questioned staff whether the mobility plan, as enforced by Measure HLA, if approved, would impact the city’s Pavement Preservation Program.
Park has come out against the measure alongside certain groups, including firefighter unions, who have concerns about how the measure will impact their response times to medical emergencies if traffic lanes are reduced to accommodate bike lanes or other features.
A representative from StreetsLA, also known as the Bureau of Street Services, said the measure could lead to the deterioration of streets as a result of delays to repavement and resurfacing services, and increase the city’s liability.
Council President Paul Krekorian and Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez expressed their concerns on how HLA would interact with the city’s sidewalk repair efforts and impacts to the General Fund, respectively. Szabo reiterated that sidewalk repairs are done during resurfacing efforts and performed to conform with ADA.
Councilwoman Imelda Padilla, who had concerns with HLA, zoned in on grant funding, and elicited a response from Szabo acknowledging that the departments need a coordinated office for grant work.
Both council members Eunisses Hernandez and Hugo Soto-Martinez were frustrated with the report.
Hernandez noted that the city made a $1 billion investment in the Los Angeles Police Department to cover raises, and the city needs to invest in safer streets “because we have failed to save lives.”
Krekorian also made a point that HLA may inhibit Metro transit projects or construction, so that will be another topic to look into at the committee level.
Councilwoman Nithya Raman said the mobility plan may have some intersection with existing obligations.
“I’m not quite sure how those overlap with what is required of us in the mobility plan and what additional costs we would be incurring from doing this work under the aegis of the mobility plan,” Raman said. “I think untangling that will help us have a much more straightforward discussion.”
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BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Initial public offerings, better known as IPOs, may seem like big investment opportunities, but a financial adviser is warning they could be a risky addition to your portfolio.
Dan Cunningham of the investment management company One Day in July, said he recommends that people stay away when a company starts selling initial shares on the stock market.
Most recently, Elon Musk’s SpaceX became the biggest IPO ever, but Cunningham said people shouldn’t get caught up in the hoopla.
“They generate a lot of excitement, but when you look at long term results, IPOs have not been a good investment. So we really try to encourage people to stay away from the hype. You are really betting on the future and taking an enormous amount of risk by buying IPO shares in many cases,” Cunningham said.
According to Cunningham, the good news is that, over the long term, the market and most retirement funds that mirror it will balance out.
Copyright 2026 WCAX. All rights reserved.
DULUTH — The Duluth Homegrown Music Festival is seeking both new operational leadership and a solution to financial filing issues that caused the organization to lose its federal tax-exempt status, which it has not held since 2022.
The organization is currently operating as a taxable nonprofit, confirmed Don Ness, the former Duluth mayor who serves as president of Homegrown’s
board of directors.
Ness and the board are working to discern whether there might be any outstanding tax liabilities in the wake of an apparent filing lapse.
“It’s a serious matter that requires diligence to do things right, and to correct past oversight, and to make sure that we are in full compliance with all tax and regulatory requirements,” Ness said. “The board is 100% committed to that course of action.”
As the Duluth Monitor first reported, Homegrown had its federal tax-exempt status revoked in 2022 after failing to make required financial reports for three years. The Monitor also reported that Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office has notified the organization it may be in violation of state law requiring the proper registration of soliciting charities.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group file photo
“All but one of us have been on for less than a year,” Ness said of the current board members. “We’ve been committed to saying, ‘hey, we need to improve the points of accountability.’”
The organization will also require new operational leadership. Co-directors Cory Jezierski and Dereck Murphy-Williams resigned earlier this month, after leading Homegrown through four successful festivals.
“My contract ended at the end of May, and I knew a few days later that I did not want to continue in that position,” Jezierski said. “Simply put, it was the best thing for my mental health. It’s a job that requires many, many hours and a lot of work, and it can be very stressful as well.”
Amy Arntson / Duluth Media Group file photo
Murphy-Williams did not respond to an interview request for this article, nor did preceding Homegrown director Melissa LaTour. According to LaTour’s
LinkedIn profile,
she was Homegrown director from 2016 to 2022.
Jason Beckman, a recent president who is no longer serving on the board, responded to a News Tribune email but did not provide an interview availability before this article went to press.
Ness does not believe the reporting lapses were due to any ill intent. He praised Jezierski and Murphy-Williams for their success managing festival operations. “They cared deeply about the festival,” he said. “It’s amazing to see that our community continues to support this really unique and special festival.”
“Those guys run a hell of a festival,” said Scott Lunt, festival founder and a current board member. “I think they needed help with bookkeeping.”
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group file photo
By Jezierski’s account, issues with the festival’s tax status became apparent shortly after he became co-director. “We went to file taxes, they were rejected,” Jezierski said. “At that time we, of course, didn’t know why right away, but once we started pulling on that thread, we unraveled a whole lot of the problems that were going on.”
Jezierski said “it took a long time to try to get any sort of help” from the board, but said that by the time he and Murphy-Williams left the organization, “everything had been turned over to be reconciled” with a financial professional.
Ness, like Lunt, was deeply involved with Homegrown in its first decade but had not had an official role with the festival since then. After launching the festival in 1999 and running it on his own for several years, Lunt was “burnt out,” Ness remembered.
Derek Montgomery / Duluth Media Group file photo
After a transition period during which the festival was run in partnership with the Ripsaw newspaper, Homegrown established a nonprofit organization in 2006 with Ness as festival director. Ness subsequently stepped down when he was elected mayor in 2007.
By 2025, Ness was in his current position as executive director of the Ordean Foundation.
“I was approached by a couple of longtime music scenesters,” Ness recalled. “They said, ‘There are questions about (Homegrown’s) nonprofit status. There are questions about some governance issues. We’re concerned.’”
Ness agreed to join the board, and became president. The 2026 festival ran smoothly from an operational standpoint, but Ness found the financial reporting to be lacking.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group file photo
“The last board meeting that we had prior to the (co-directors’) resignations was intended to be an overview of the festival that was a month before,” Ness said. “I certainly felt very uncomfortable with how little financial information we were receiving.”
Lunt also joined the board in 2025, marking his first time serving in that capacity. He said the new board has been spending significant time addressing the accounting and reporting issues.
“Every year at Homegrown time I’m like, ‘I should get more involved,’ and then I don’t,” Lunt said. “Then this board thing came up, and it was kind of sold to me as, like, four meetings a year. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s perfect.’ And now we’re meeting weekly.”
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group file photo
Although it’s unclear how the organization’s finances will look when the accounting and reporting issues have been fully addressed, along with any outstanding tax liabilities, both Ness and Lunt said they are confident the annual festival will continue without interruption.
“The organization will continue,” Ness said. “The festival will continue. Homegrown is in no danger in terms of its viability.” The financial documentation Ness initially received indicated budgeted revenues of about $140,000, against about $130,000 in expenses.
“Financially, I think we’re in a great spot. We have the money to hire the (financial) professionals, and we have (done so),” Lunt said. “We were hoping that we could get all this sorted out before it had to become more public.”
“We poured countless hours into this festival, and this is how it ends, with everyone talking about this,” Jezierski said. “It’s rough.”
“There’s a DIY ethos that is really at the core of Homegrown,” reflected Ness. “We’re throwing a music festival that isn’t waiting for some famous band from the East Coast to bless us with their presence. We are doing this on our own.”
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group file photo
That DIY spirit also means “you’re kind of passing wisdom down from person to person, and sometimes that’s imperfect.” Ness continued. “The ways that we do things evolve over time, because it’s not a buttoned-down corporate sort of thing. That can create its own set of challenges.”
“It’s self-supporting,” said Lunt about the festival. “It’s widely volunteer-run. You do need to pay a couple people, obviously, to keep track of some things, but it’s going to be strong into the future. It’s gone through its bumps before.”
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From AI that assists to AI that decides
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