Good Start on Arena Plan

Over the years, one of the biggest obstacles to downtown Los Angeles revitalization projects has been a lack of focused political will. The usual poor planning and infighting will have to be overcome if a new dream of a $200-million, 20,000-seat sports and entertainment complex at the Convention Center is to become a reality.

Well, so far so good.

It was imperative, for example, that City Council President John Ferraro and Councilwoman Rita Walters come out enthusiastically for the plan, and they have. In a letter to their council colleagues, both said that they believed the complex would “provide significant benefits to the city,” and they promised to help sell the deal. Walters’ district includes the proposed site, on the southern reaches of downtown.

Just days earlier, Edward Roski, a co-owner of the Los Angeles Kings, had made the first official move, signing a proposal to build the complex for the hockey team and the Lakers basketball franchise if the city could agree on an admittedly complex financing plan. Roski and another Kings co-owner, Philip Anschutz, had expressed concern about Los Angeles’ labyrinthine bureaucracy and internecine political climate. Both should welcome the initial response of Ferraro and Walters.

Council members Mark Ridley-Thomas, Rudy Svoronich Jr. and Laura Chick also have spoken favorably of the downtown arena concept. And the Los Angeles Convention and Exhibition Center Authority has cast a symbolic but welcome thumbs-up.

There will have to be much more of the same in the coming weeks and months as the difficult matters of financing and other problems are ironed out.

This is a plan that could rejuvenate the Convention Center, spur other downtown development and boost real estate values. It can happen, if the city pulls together.