When Mayor David Perez of the city of Industry looks out over the rolling, 600-acre site on his city's eastern edge, he sees the future home of an NFL stadium and an economic engine that would bring jobs and tax revenue for the entire region.
When Joaquin Lim, the mayor of nearby Walnut, imagines a stadium there, he sees a potential disaster: traffic, noise and "passionate, emotional" football fans.
The eastern San Gabriel Valley has become the latest battleground in the decades-long -- and some say quixotic -- campaign to bring pro football back to the Los Angeles region.
Industry, a city of more than 2,500 businesses and fewer than 800 residents, thinks it has what Irwindale, Pasadena, Los Angeles and Carson lacked.
Skeptics abound. But Industry is taking a first step today, when the city's 84 registered voters will consider a $500-million bond that would pay for stadium-related infrastructure bonds. And two days later, the City Council is scheduled to certify the project's environmental impact report.
Those plans, which include the construction of four practice fields, restaurants, banquet facilities, offices and an NFL attraction, have divided the valley.
Some neighboring cities, including West Covina and La Puente, passed resolutions in favor of the stadium, citing its potential economic effect on the area. And earlier this month, the Independent Cities Assn., a nonprofit that represents 52 cities in Los Angeles County, endorsed the plan.
But two of the stadium's closest civic neighbors, Diamond Bar and Walnut, oppose the plans. They cite concerns about traffic and the effect that thousands of visitors to the stadium could have on their streets and quality of life.
By contrast, Industry's focus is primarily on, well, industry. In the early 1950s, as the Los Angeles area was quickly urbanizing, residents in the area feared that the city of Los Angeles might annex their land for industrial use. The city charges no business taxes but instead relies on revenue from various retail outlets within its boundaries, including the Puente Hills mall. And it is unabashedly business-friendly: Factories and other facilities are allowed to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The fact that the city has so few residents, Perez said, is one of the reasons that it is so attractive as a potential NFL site. "They are going to be unencumbered."
