Plan Might Help Pave the Way for an NFL Stadium
Although city officials have promised not to use public funds to build a professional football stadium in Los Angeles, the City Council will meet next week to consider a plan that would allow the use of property taxes to construct a parking garage and improve streets that could serve a stadium.
The council will hold a public hearing with the city redevelopment commission Friday to consider extending the life of the Hoover Redevelopment Project for another 12 years.
The proposal would also extend the Community Redevelopment Agency's powers of eminent domain for the area, and increase the amount of property tax dollars collected and bonds issued to finance projects, including infrastructure for a stadium.
Backers say the proposed improvements would not just benefit a potential NFL team but the surrounding community, including the museums around Exposition Park and nearby residential areas. And they said the revitalization is justified even if the NFL does not come to the area.
But taxpayer advocates on Friday criticized the proposal to spend up to $25 million in property tax funds on what the city describes as "infrastructure" improvements. The critics call the proposal an end run around the promise not to subsidize an NFL franchise in Los Angeles.
"They are talking out of both sides of their mouth," said Jean Heinl, president of Californians United for Redevelopment Education. "The private sector should pay for anything to do with the stadium."
City officials confirmed Friday that there has been talk of using redevelopment funds to improve streets, sidewalks and lighting, and to build parking facilities to serve a stadium that would be erected inside the shell of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. But officials added that the ideas have not been turned into formal proposals.
"Those are potential projects," said Councilman Bernard Parks. "But no one has defined any specific project."
Taxpayer advocates, including Jonathan Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., are watching the proposal closely because the stadium proposal has been identified in legal documents by the agency as a key reason for extending the redevelopment plan.
"Specifically, the changes to the redevelopment plan will facilitate, but not ensure, the installation of a National Football League franchise in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum by enabling the agency's financing of infrastructure improvements within Exposition Park and the community which surrounds it," said an official notice sent to surrounding property owners.
