Opinion: Pro football is coming to L.A. No, really.
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Are you ready for some football, L.A.?
If you aren’t, well, guess what -- it’s coming anyway.
On Tuesday, Gov. Jerry Brown did his part, signing into law a bill that limits lawsuits that could delay AEG’s $1.4-billion downtown stadium project.
What was the bill-signing ceremony like? Uh, remember your high school pep rallies?
Tim Leiweke stood in front of the West Hall of the L.A. Convention Center on Tuesday and told a roaring crowd: ‘Tear it down!’ The order was a bit premature. Leiweke, the chairman and chief executive of Anschutz Entertainment Group, will have to wait until June at the earliest to break ground on the 72,000-seat NFL stadium that AEG hopes to build at the site.... At a news conference with Leiweke, a gaggle of politicians and two high school football teams, Brown said California’s high unemployment means it’s time ‘for big ideas and big projects.’
Gosh, I knew everyone was trying to fast-track this environmental impact stuff, but I didn’t know it was going to be this fast.
But don’t worry. AEG is obviously sparing no expense in studying the effects of its stadium on the downtown area and adjacent freeways.
For example, traffic. As The Times reported Tuesday:
During a Los Angeles City Council committee meeting, officials with developer Anschutz Entertainment Group laid out preliminary proposals on how to ease traffic congestion and improve public transit near the stadium. They described a parking strategy that would direct game-day drivers to parking zones based on the direction they’re traveling from and explained plans for an AEG-funded expansion of a light rail station on Pico Boulevard.
Now that is innovative: Drivers will be directed to ‘parking zones based on the direction they’re traveling from.’
I certainly wouldn’t have thought of that. Must be the latest in urban engineering. Wonder if they’ll have ‘parking technicians’ with ‘traffic directing devices’ (that’s parking lot guys with orange flags to you and me)?
Presumably, those ‘parking zones’ will also have ‘parking spaces.’ At least, that’s what the story promises, sort of:
[Michael Bates, AEG’s transportation consultant,] estimates that 81.5% of fans would drive to weekend games, meaning that about 19,500 parking spots would be required on a game day. He expects that in 2016, when AEG hopes to open the stadium, there should be some 38,350 parking spaces available downtown.
Well, that was easy. AEG needs parking and, poof, there are going to be plenty of spaces. In parking zones.
I’m guessing they’re going to build some. The others? They’re leaving no stone unturned.
Well, OK, maybe a few stones unturned:
City Councilman Ed Reyes asked why Bates’ parking maps did not include parking west of the 110 Freeway in Pico-Union, even though the area is steps from the stadium and is already used for parking by visitors to AEG’s Staples Center. Reyes, who represents Pico-Union, said it appeared that consultants were ‘not focusing on the impact on this side of the freeway.’ He asked Bates and Delvac to make sure that residents there are heard on such issues as traffic because their lives stand to be disrupted.
Oh, and let’s not forget that light rail station on Pico. After all, in a city with such an extensive light rail system, an estimated tens of people will be taking public transportation to the stadium.
Really, though, I should stop. This is all just nitpicking. Where’s my civic pride? Where’s my passion for the game?
After all, the hard part is over: At least we already have a team.
What?
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--Paul Whitefield
