It is fitting that the first Festival Trail charrette would start at the birthplace of Los Angeles, at El Pueblo Historic Monument.

After engaging in conversations over the past year with nearly every one of the over 100 people in attendance, it was truly heartening to be in one room, charting the pathways that will turn the big idea of the Festival Trail into a reality. The only way to implement the Festival Trail plan and community projects is through cross-sector collaborations and cutting through bureaucratic silos.

Our first charrette was a milestone in this exciting journey together. The LA2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games are a catalyst for permanent connectivity, accessibility, economic uplift and affordability in the LA region. We would like to reflect on what we heard from you, share about our next steps and outline some ways you can continue to join us to help make Festival Trail come to life!

A Recap: What we heard from you

Creating universal accessibility along the Festival Trail and beyond into the greater LA region

We heard so many remarkable ideas about how the Festival Trail can be planned to truly be inclusive across age groups, abilities, and identities. Some key takeaways...

LA needs infrastructure with stacked functions and built for accessibility for everyone– i.e. shade structures should also be water catchments and provide lighting at night, hydration stations should be at multiple levels so kids, people in wheelchairs, and elderly can all comfortably benefit.

People of all ages and abilities should be able to easily navigate and understand the wayfinding along the Trail, which can be done in a few ways: clear visual paths and universal cues and indicators, a single mobility app for the LA28 Games, focusing on filling the gaps to ensure seamless connectivity –especially when transfers on routes are necessary

We need people of all ages and abilities to feel safe and seen – this can look like creating public spaces where people can rest, connect and stay a while; designing spaces where multiple modes can interact safely in well lit spaces
People’s basic needs must be met and amenities that activate spaces should be enjoyed by everyone – i.e. clean and accessible bathrooms, hydration stations with multiple levels, shade structures, inviting benches, food trucks
Investment needs to catalyze pedestrian and bike infrastructure in the form of protected pathways, and we need to upgrade the broken infrastructure we have to reflect the highest public right of way accessibility guidelines (PROWAG)
Notably, we heard from everyone the importance of storytelling along the trail which will highlight and place keep our diverse neighborhoods, to celebrate with the world's visitors our rich global cultures

What strategies exist for fundraising in this moment when public dollars are unpredictable and highly sought after?

We were amazed at the lists of ideas generated at the fundraising and implementation component of our charrette. Los Angeles holds so much opportunity among the sports and entertainment industries, major brands in tech, fashion, finance, and other industries as well as major philanthropic sources of funding. From exploring charitable arms of sports teams and athletes to identifying big names in entertainment and media, we are confident that the model Festival Trail is proposing will catalyze a new way of getting our city to permanently function better for Angelenos, and demonstrate a new mobility culture for Los Angeles that is embraced all over the world. We want to connect the dots collectively and create a positive holistic legacy from the Olympics and Paralympics. Festival Trail aims to create spaces for people that will be owned and operated by communities.

Visions for Resilience Hubs and connectivity along the trail

We heard incredible ideas during the two Field Kit workshops with our partners, Spherical Studio. We wanted to provide a brief visual summary of some of the ideas you shed light on.

Next steps for the Festival Trail

Join our coalition

The Festival Trail will be as great as the sum of its parts and we can only undertake this work together. We invite you to join our coalition and contact us with your specific ideas for collaboration.

Charrettes

The Festival Trail team will be replicating our charrette program along the Festival Trail corridor to ensure we ground truth and solicit feedback from community members across the region. Every neighborhood in Los Angeles has its own layers of identities and culture, and the trail will be the pathway through and a reflection of the diversity of our city.

Fundraising

Closing gaps and accelerating projects along the Festival Trail corridor is going to be done by getting the right players in the room together and marrying philanthropy and private sponsorship to the folks that have the innovative tools to implement. Festival Trail is launching a fundraising campaign in partnership with California Community Foundation to initiate the first design and planning phase. If you have specific funding leads that align with one or more of the Festival Trail workstreams of mobility, affordable housing and resilience hubs, we welcome you to contact us to discuss strategy and partnership.

Gaps Analysis

Our team is working on developing a highly detailed analysis of the mobility and access gaps along the Festival Trail corridor. As you heard during the charrette, universal design is paramount in how we will plan and execute the segments of the Festival Trail. The details and feedback of what accessibility really means and looks like will be deeply incorporated into the analysis, visioning and planning stage.

Donate to Festival Trail

Festival Trail Co-Founder presents to first charrette participants in the beautiful Pico House

We would like to thank the following partners with whom this first charrette would not have been possible

El Pueblo for being the most wonderful hosts

LIME Scooter for being our event sponsor

Council Member Ysabel Jurado and her team for representing CD 14 and supporting the efforts of the Festival Trail

Veronica Hahni, Executive Director of Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative (LANI) for showing us what longterm community investment and ownership can look like

Ryan Conroy, Director of Architecture at CityLAB UCLA for demonstrating innovative solutions to building more affordable housing in Los Angeles

Cesar Campos and Emily Rosales from Spherical Studio, who engaged our attendees in lively discussions to envision what resilience and placemaking could look like along the Trail

Edgar Gutierrez and Mariana Vera of Arellano Associates for taking notes of all the remarkable ideas and feedback our attendees shared

SOMOS for their strategic guidance creating a regional coalition

LA Commons for guiding our work to tell the story of all communities across Los Angeles

California Community Foundation, our fiscal sponsor, for helping us launch our charitable fund!

We would like to thank key leaders from the City and County that participated in this important milestone for the project, including

Deputy Mayor, Jacquline Hamilton

Department of Cultural Affairs General Manager, Daniel Tarica

Metro Chief Planning Officer, Ray Sosa

Chief Deputy City Engineer, Deborah Weintraub

Former Executive Director of UFCW Western States, Jim Araby

Let the Charrettes Begin!