It says a lot about the complete and utter failure of the Coliseum Commission that the first five items on its agenda for its monthly meeting Wednesday are closed door items about threats of lawsuits against involving “one of more cases,” its lawsuit against the former management that they allowed to rip off the public and its controversial deal to surrender control of the historic stadium and Sports Arena to its primary tenant, the University of Southern California.
It’s that deal with USC to effectively abolish the commission itself — a joint city-county-state body — that got the ire of U.S. Capital, the sports and entertainment company that wants a chance to compete for the prize of managing the facilities and the commission has so poorly managed for so long.
On Tuesday, attorneys for the firm sent a “see you in court” letter to screen writer David Israel, chairman of the commission, putting him on notice the deal with USC is being negotiated in secret in violation of state open meetings laws and in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).(Coliseum-Lawsuit Letter.pdf)
Attorney Theodore Griswold of Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch used tough language to make his point perfectly clear, saying he is “gravely concerned” about the “stealth proposal” and “back-room dealing” while ignoring “public interest laws that guarantee financial, environmental and social protection
of public resources.”
of public resources.”
“The current action of the Commission as well as “public meetings laws and
public and environmental review requirements, disregards the public interest in the use and future planning of vital public resources, and makes no attempt to seek fair value for the use of public resources by precluding any public bidding process for the future use of the Coliseum . . . .
public and environmental review requirements, disregards the public interest in the use and future planning of vital public resources, and makes no attempt to seek fair value for the use of public resources by precluding any public bidding process for the future use of the Coliseum . . . .
“A private university‘s goals and interests are significantly different from the goals and interests of the general public, and it is difficult to see how putting the Coliseum management in the hands of USC will further the public purposes of the
Commission.”
Commission.”
Here are the bullet points on the issues raised in the letter:
- A decision on the proposed action without the benefit of CEQA compliance would violate CEQA mandates and be subject to immediate challenge to void the decision.
- The failure to
publicly disclose the considerations of Commission, the rationale of its decisions and purported benefits to the people of California violates the Open meetings Act, Brown Act and the public trust. - The Commission lacks the legislative authority to undertake the actions which it proposes which would abrogate its statutory duties.
- The Commission has
undertaken directional action which forecloses the consideration of reasonable alternatives and commits the Commission to a specific course
of action without the
benefit of CEQA review.
Given that City Council members and County Supervisors as well as prominent citizens sit on the commission it is hard to believe that such an important asset could have been so badly managed for so many years, decades actually, and then moves to cut this kind of deal in the darkness of back rooms so the public cannot see and evaluate what is going on.
Perhaps, the Coliseum which hosted two Olympics, a World Series and Super Bowl is the perfect symbol of the failure and corruption of our governmental institutions.
SEE I’VE BEEN POSTING SINCE LAST YEAR USC WAS GOING TO GET A FREE FOOTBALL STADIUM!!! I JUST THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO BE FARMER’S FIELD (Figuring it would be built without a team from the NFL.) Oh well, was close. Better give USC the whole damn thing including the Sports Arena too before they move the entire school to Ventura County! Just look what Pepperdine did going over to Malibu with a whole new campus. Also why stop with the Coloseum and the Sports Arena? USC should also get the Port of Los Angeles too—I bet they could rebuild it to park those new wider ships that are going through the Panama Canal this year in NO TIME. If these two freebees work out, then Give the Trojans LAX after that too.
Too bad USC built that too-small Gaylan Center on crummy Figueroa. They could of held out a little more and went for the Gold Ring!!!
ISN’T IT HIGH TIME UCLA START BUYING SOME OF THESE POLITICIANS? WHERE THE HELL ARE THE BRUINS FREE-BEES?
You’re right, Encino Wayne! And, why stop there? Another Gold Ring would be for USC to add the soon to be, largest landlord, LAHD to the deal. Why, with it’s successful REAP program acquiring foreclosed apartment buildings thru non-profits, it could rent units to all those tourist coming in via the Port and LAX. Then the mayor could get on TV and take credit for eliminating the high rental vacancy that he caused by not repealing the City’s business tax, which drove employers out of town, which caused all those unemployed tenants to move out and seek employment in other more friendly cities. Then, the landlords would be grateful, because they would now have help paying for the sky-rocketing water/sewer/trash fees.
And in closing, this would help all of us, to get our minds off that insincere, outdated, infomercial Antonio just did with CBS2, about his childhood.
Which one of the reporters from CBS2 was on his or her knees giving the Mayoral Blow Job of an interview? We used to have a press in this town who undertook investigative journalism beyond counting cockroaches in restaurants with “hidden camera” exposes. Now the lazy ass reporters read the Mayor’s press release and drink the Mayor’s KoolAid. Pathetic.
Interesting that no names are mentioned, except for “Commission”. If Caruso is in on secret talks and considering running for Mayor, were in for the same kind of City Mismanagement for the next 4-8 years.
The Commission is being run by Latham and Watkins. The President of the Commission, Barry Sanders, is retired from Latham. Really, this is all that needs to be said why they meet in secret and the deal is filthy dirty.