Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is planning to hold ‘massive’ World Cup watch parties in homeless drug-addict haven MacArthur Park.
She claims they will be a boost for “Latino-owned businesses hit by ICE raids.”
Bass revealed the plan during a podcast appearance this week, saying MacArthur Park would serve as one of more than 100 community celebration sites during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“We’ll have a massive watch party in MacArthur Park,” Bass said while describing her vision for the tournament.
The proposal comes as MacArthur Park remains one of the most controversial public spaces in Los Angeles.
The Post has spent months documenting the park as a center of open-air drug use, homelessness, overdoses and public disorder under the leadership of Bass and Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez.
Just today, federal authorities carried out another round of arrests tied to “Operation Free MacArthur Park,” the sweeping crackdown targeting the drug networks that have flourished in and around the park.
The operation began earlier this month with a massive federal raid that resulted in 18 arrests and the seizure of roughly 40 pounds of fentanyl valued at an estimated $8 million to $10 million.
Federal prosecutors described MacArthur Park as an “open-air drug market,” alleging traffickers were openly supplying fentanyl and methamphetamine throughout the neighborhood.
In a statement to the Post Bass’s spokespeople said the watch party is part of “The Kick it in the Park” activation that will occur on the soccer field.
“While there is a lot more work to be done, families are returning to MacArthur Park and this activation is another opportunity to create positive experiences there, support the local businesses, and provide resources to Angelenos in need.”
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They went on to say “Unlike past leaders, Mayor Bass is taking on the longstanding and difficult challenges at MacArthur Park with a comprehensive approach that includes law enforcement, dedicated mental health and addiction teams, and the fence that will be erected to secure the entire park.
“We all want things to change overnight, but only through sustained and strategic action like Mayor Bass is leading will we restore MacArthur Park after decades of neglect.”
The idea stunned critics who say City Hall has spent years failing to address the conditions now drawing national attention.”
Property owners like John Alle told the Post on Friday.”Mayor Bass would not come here without security. How can she expect families to do the same for cheap PR?”
Alle, whose properties surround the park, said local residents have spent years asking city leaders to address violence, drug dealing and deteriorating public safety.
“Forty-four thousand people, 17,000 families and 9,000 employees who work within one square mile surrounding MacArthur Park have been asking Karen Bass, Eunisses Hernandez and Nithya Raman for help for four years,” Alle said. “Why wait until the World Cup or the next election to address deaths, overdoses, rapes and assaults happening on a daily basis?”
