Budget committee backs short-term ‘modernization’ of LA Convention Center, sends plan and wider options to full council

The Los Angeles City Council Budget and Finance Committee on Sept. 16 voted to send the committee chair’s amended recommendation — favoring a shorter-term modernization of the Los Angeles Convention Center and directing staff to report back on a competitive process for a larger expansion after the 2028 Olympics — to the full council for consideration.

The committee moved the amended plan by Chair Zev Yaroslavsky and Councilmember Blumenfield and approved it 3-2 (Yaroslavsky and Blumenfield and Councilmember Hernandez voting yes; Councilmembers Hutt and McCosker voting no). A competing motion to send the item to full council without a committee recommendation failed 3-2 earlier in the meeting.

The vote follows months of debate and a week of renewed scrutiny after new information arrived from state and project partners. City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo told the committee the project’s revenue assumptions had changed after amendments to AB 770 in Sacramento and that the city can no longer assume the previously advertised $61 million a year from freeway-facing digital signage. "If the governor signs AB 770 as it was passed, it would have no positive impact to the convention…