Assembly Approves Loan for Olympic Site

Despite accusations that it is a “sham” being perpetrated on the state, the Assembly on Tuesday approved a bill that would loan $15 million in public tax money to a private foundation that wants to build a year-round Olympic training center near Chula Vista.

The Assembly voted, 56 to 15, to approve the measure by state Sen. William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights) to lend the money to the nonprofit San Diego National Sports Training Foundation, with virtually no strings attached.

Campbell’s bill does not require the foundation to pay back the money. Instead, it depends on the sale of personalized Olympic Training Center license plates--at $100 a pair--to replenish the state’s general fund for the loan.

Called a Giveaway

That pay-back scenario has caused some legislators to label the Campbell measure a giveaway, and a source in the executive branch told The Times on Tuesday that it is doubtful that Gov. George Deukmejian will sign the bill.

“Fat chance,” said the source.

Criticism of the Campbell measure centers on the fact that the sale of similar personalized license plates during the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics only netted the state $2.2 million.

In addition, a recent analysis by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicle estimates that it would take 142 years for the sale of training center tags to raise the $15 million.

“The creative financing scheme that they’ve come up with is essentially a sham,” Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) said Tuesday after the Assembly vote. “The 1984 Olympics sold only $2.2 million, and it was a major undertaking with international attention.”

Katz also said it was “ridiculous” to take $15 million from a general fund that just recently Deukmejian said, through his veto power, could not afford to spare $10 million for the restoration of trauma centers in Los Angeles.

Yet Campbell and others have countered by saying that they think the sale of the new training center plates will exceed expectations, thanks to a planned advertising blitz featuring former Olympic athletes now living in California.

The $15 million, they say, is a wise public investment because the training center will not only attract tourists but also a glut of Olympic athletes, who can serve as role models for young people throughout the state.

“How can this be considered a pork-barrel bill?” Assemblywoman Bev Hansen (R-Santa Rosa) said during floor debate on Tuesday. “Sixty percent of the fine athletes come from California,” she said of the Olympic stars. This is going to serve young people and people who believe that sports play a positive aspect in young people’s lives.”

Hansen also appealed to her colleagues’ sense of state pride. “We lose our supercollider bid . . . let’s not lose this one. This is for an important part of our society, $15 million for our society. Let’s do it,” she said.

Plans for the Olympic training center call for 250,000 square feet of buildings, including a 300-bed dormitory and 1.5 million square feet of outdoor training areas to be built on 154 acres west of the Lower Otay Reservoir in the South Bay.

The land for the center, valued at $13 million to $20 million by the foundation, was donated by the EastLake Development Co., a partnership that includes the politically powerful J. G. Boswell Co. agribusiness firm of Los Angeles. The site is also next to the former Otay Ranch, which was recently purchased by The Baldwin Co., a large Orange County development firm.

Cost of $70 Million

The total project is expected to cost $70 million, and foundation director David Nielsen said the $15-million state grant is a crucial component of the financing package.

In addition to the land donation, Nielsen said, the foundation has received about $7 million in private cash pledges and expects to collect $1.2 million of those by the end of the year.

The measure now goes back to the Senate for agreement to minor amendments before it is sent to the governor for his consideration.