At the height of his power when the leadership of LA still was driven by a vision of greatness for the city as well as greed for themselves, Tom Bradley pushed through a 1978 Charter measure that barred the use of public funds to support the 1984 Olympics because he knew it was the only way the people of the city would support it (Olympics-Charter.rtf).
It was a great Olympics by any measure, hugely profitable, a grand spectacle and dire warnings about traffic gridlock never materialized because trucks were banned from freeways during rush hours and major companies staggered their work hours.
Oh, what happy days those were!
It’s been a long downhill slide ever since as the commitment to public benefits has disappeared from the agenda of politicians and the civic and business leadership, resulting in thwarted demands from the people for major reforms from Valley secession to devolution of power through a borough system.
What happened instead as the broad coalition of developers, contractors, consultants, unions and other special interests coalesced into a political machine motivated only by self-interest as they looted the public treasury and profited from a war against the middle class that has driven hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs out of the city and chased away the very class that is the backbone of any community.
We are now at the point of no return.
City Hall is moving rapidly forward to gut the public’s protections from zoning and planning regulations in order to allow the continued profiteering by special interests from developments large and small.
The protectors of the public interest, the people who are supposed to make sure that every development, provides at least as much benefit to the public as to the private interest, are our elected officials.
That those officials have sold out the public interest for the political money and favors they get by squeezing all the “juice” they can from this network of special interests needs no further proof. It is transparent and has been for a long time.
So when it comes to as audacious and questionable a proposal as AEG’s to build an NFL stadium near its properties at Staples Center and LA Live, tear down half the Convention Center, rebuild it and take over its operation, we need to make sure the public interest is 100 percent protected.
Toward that end, we need the Bradley solution: An iron-clad Charter measure that takes AEG’s Tim Leiweke at his word that no public money will be used for it, that every element will be financed and paid for by AEG.
Here is draft language that could be put on the March ballot if the mayor and City Council are the least bit serious about giving this stadium proposal consideration:
“The City of Los Angeles, its officers, employees, agencies and instrumentalities shall be prohibited both directly and indirectly from appropriating funds, issuing bonds, lending credit, diverting funds received or to be received under grants, levying taxes or assessments, incurring expenses, making or undertaking any capital expenditures, or entering into any financial agreements in aid or in furtherance of the of the development or construction of a professional football stadium and related Convention Center project. The City of Los Angeles shall be prohibited from surrendering any admissions, ticket, parking and similar attendance connected taxes or revenues from these venues to private interests for a professional football stadium and related Convention Center project.”
Without that protection for the public, it is unthinkable to even consider this proposal.
Leiweke claims AEG built Staples entirely by itself (see videos) when it got a $14 million subsidy and the land for it was seized by the Community Redevelopment Agency and turned over to it. He also ignores the fact that the luxury hotel at LA Live gets to keep the 10 percent hotel tax — a $300 million gift of public money — that other businesses don’t get and the public doesn’t get the benefit of the revenue so badly needed when services are being slashed.
There’s a lot of other serious questions about this proposal but there’s no point in even talking about unless the public interest is fully protected.
This article hits the nail on the head. And I echo the comments made by 12:42 PM regarding Councilman Joel Wachs – He refused to spend a dime of taxpayer money.
Why single out this project? Why are we giving tax dollars to ANY billionaire developers? Here’s a simpler charter amendment:
1. The City shall not subsidize any business. This includes but is not limited to subsidies through grants, loans, preferential tax treatment, fee waivers, and “public-private partnerships.” This also applies to all businesses and organizations, they are organized as for-profit or non-profit.
2. The City shall treat all businesses fairly and equally. This includes but is not limited to applying the same tax rates to all businesses, the same rules, and the same standards.
3. The Community Redevelopment Agency is hereby abolished.
There’s story posted on LA Weekly and how Ron a ballot measure so we can vote NO on things like this. The problem is when you have AEG and Timmy boy throwing thousands of campaign donations to at least 8 council members including Janice Hahn, Jan Perry, etc. how do you think they will represent? Not the people of LA. I agree with Ron we should put a ballot measure not to give one penny to developers.
OMG A MUST SEE VIDEO….WATCH THIS AND LET IT DECIDE WHERE THE STADIUM SHOULD BE, NOT LA
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/08/mysterious-video-blasts-a_n_780768.html
Let me see if I understand this. The City has a budget deficit of hundreds of millions of dollars and Mr. Lieweke wants us to give him more money. Why isn’t Controller Greuel stopping this proposal.? If she is the watchdog of the City why doesn’t she stand up and demand no public money in any stadium. And don’t let them play gales. No tax rebates. Nothing.
Mr. Liweke wants the public’s money and he wants an exemption from doing an EIR. He wants to build a stadium with no parking. He wants to tear down part of our convention center. Now we hear that he is secretly negotiating with Jerry Miller in City Hall. Who authorized that?? Did the City Council? The Mayor. Or does Mr. Lieweke run the City. Let’s stop this madness now.
Signed: Margarita Montelongo, Angelino
The City is closing libraries. The City is reducing fire department services. The City is laying off employees. The City is reducing Park programs. And AEG and Tim Leweke want to have the City pay to tear down the convention center, build a new one, help fund his stadium, and cost downtown businesses and the City tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars. I don’t understand why anyone thinks giving money directly or indirectly for a stadium makes any sense. I support the proposed ballot measure. And if the Council will not put it on the ballot exactly as you have written it, we should have the citizens collect signatures to put it on the ballot. Every neighborhood council should support this.
Peter Ueberroth was a great person. He brought the Olympics to Los Angeles without it costing the taxpayers of Los Angeles a penny. Mr. Leiweke is looking to put his hand in the public’s pocket. He isn’t a Peter Ueberroth. Not even close.
I support the ballot measure. Where do I sign up!!
The ballot should also include a moratorium on all development till the City produces a Growth and Infrastructure Report.
Way to go Mr. Kaye. You understand what is going on here. We need to protect the public treasury. This is the kind of leadership LA needs! Where is our Council President, Councilman LaBonge or any of those folks downtown? Where is Wendy Greuel, our great controller?
Where is the City Attorney?
I don’t understand people like Wendy Gruel. She says she is here to protect the public and to safeguard the city money but she never really does anything. We need leaders who will protect us from rate increases at DWP. We need someone who will stop giveaways like Hollywood. And we need to make sure not money for a football stadium.
Think about this. They want to build a football stadium with NO PARKING!! That is crazy. When was the last time you tried to find parking downtown. And imagine what it will cost and who is going to make those millions and millions of dollars every game. Can’t wait to see tail gaiting in those fancy office building parking structures.
Every LA City council person should be made to read two books: “Major League Losers” by Mark Rosentraub and “Bad Sports” by Dave Zirin. “Major League Losers” outlines case studies where various cities tried to keep their sports teams by using all sorts of contorted methods and mixtures of state an local funding. In “Bad Sports”,Zirin outlines exactly who these sports franchise owners are and what they hope to achieve. The bottom line: the owners could care less about the fans. All of the owners are after one thing: something for nothing or what some would call corporate welfare.