Coliseum Repair

After reading the Dec. 16 article about soaring remodeling bills for the Coliseum, I would like to voice my opposition to spending tens of millions of dollars for a “landmark” that has outgrown its surroundings.

With our current fiscal crisis, isn’t it better to use the abandoned General Motors plant in Van Nuys--which at 100 acres is plenty big--to build a new stadium with adequate parking? This would revive an area that has been severely affected by the recent recession, and ensure that the Los Angeles Raiders remain in Los Angeles, rather than relocating to Hollywood Park or somewhere else outside the city.

As for Exposition Park, it could be a wonderful green space for its residents (with two museums)--and a stable economic environment.

While I can understand the residents living adjacent to the Coliseum will lose the added income from renting parking spaces on their lawns, how many people are we talking about--50, 100, 1,000? In the end, I believe it would better serve the city to use the 26 acres of Exposition Park for a beautiful park, and to expand the existing educational center. Moving the stadium would also solve the problem of what to do with the huge vacant eyesore in Van Nuys.

JANIS BERMAN

North Hollywood

The writer is a former president of the California Museum of Science and Industry.