A Different Ballgame for O’Malley, L.A.

The story of Los Angeles’ search for a new National Football League team starts in the hills above Chinatown, a community that, by coincidence, provided the title of the ultimate movie about L.A. political intrigue.

Like the film “Chinatown,” this story is also about land.

Nestled in a canyon called Chavez Ravine is Dodger Stadium, a beautiful, blue baseball park that has been a source of local pride since the early ‘60s but is now eclipsed in splendor by new stadiums in Cleveland, Baltimore, Arlington, Tex., and, soon, archrival San Francisco.

Dodger owner Peter O’Malley wants to build a football stadium near his ballpark and put a new NFL team there. He may have plans to do more. City Councilman Mike Hernandez said O’Malley told him he wants to remodel Dodger Stadium, turning it into a “state-of-the-art” ballpark.

Other Los Angeles-area sites are being considered for an NFL team, including the Coliseum. But none has the history and political complexity of this one.

It’s the history that makes much of the predominantly Latino community around the stadium skeptical, if not downright opposed. In the late 1950s, Dodger Stadium was built on what was once a Latino neighborhood. Residences were destroyed to make way for public housing, which was never built.

Joining the residents are potent allies, environmentalists who fear that O’Malley’s plan would wreck adjoining Elysian Park. All fear more traffic.

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Dodger Stadium was built by Peter O’Malley’s father, Walter, who moved the Dodgers here from Brooklyn.

He was the image of an old-time pol, a big, double-chinned, full-voiced, cigar-smoking man who learned his politics in rugged Brooklyn, where he owned the Dodgers. O’Malley’s affable, backslapping manner was in perfect harmony with the L.A. leaders who offered him land for a new stadium when New York wouldn’t help him build one.

They put the deal together behind closed doors, and then had an election. With the help of a friendly media, the proposal was approved , although narrowly. It wasn’t exactly Chinatown, but it wasn’t exactly democracy, either.

The situation is far different today. Neighborhoods have considerably more power than in the ‘50s. Latino clout has increased.

And, unlike his father, Peter O’Malley is no salesman but a formal, reticent man seldom seen at the fund-raisers or places where politicians and business people hang out.

No politician himself, he hired an expert who understands the new environment. He is Nelson Rising, a veteran of John Tunney’s Senate campaigns and director of Tom Bradley’s first successful race for mayor.

As a top executive for the development firm of Maguire Thomas Partners, Rising persuaded hostile homeowners to accept a once thoroughly despised development, Playa Vista, near Marina del Rey. It took years of concessions and community meetings. The project was retooled and reduced. But in the end, the neighborhood went along, as did the City Council representative, Ruth Galanter. Now, Playa Vista will be home to the new DreamWorks entertainment production complex, as well as housing, stores and other business.

Today, Rising is president and chief executive officer of Catellus Development Corp., which took over the huge railroad landholdings of the Santa Fe Pacific Corp.

The railroads once ran the state. Catellus doesn’t have anywhere near that power, but campaign contributions and Rising’s connections give the company plenty of influence.

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Councilman Hernandez, who represents the stadium area, told me he will insist on major concessions from O’Malley, including land for expansion of Elysian Park and traffic improvements. Influential Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, whose nearby district is affected by the congestion, is also concerned.

Rising said he and his point man, Los Angeles developer Ira Yellin, will follow the successful Playa Vista game plan to negotiate with residents. It won’t be easy. Big shots can’t clear a path for Peter O’Malley the way old-time pols did for his father. L.A. has changed since Walter O’Malley came west and claimed the ravine above Chinatown.