Council Kills Bid for Poll on Arena Plan

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday swiftly shot down a call for an independent public opinion poll on a downtown sports arena proposal, sparking a bitter accusation from the councilman who had sought the poll that his colleagues “are afraid of the truth.”

Joel Wachs, one of two council opponents of a proposal that has enjoyed wide support among the city’s political and civic leaders since surfacing publicly a few weeks ago, angrily predicted that voters would be infuriated and would one day “hold their council members accountable.”

The council did not discuss Wachs’ motion but instead sent it to a committee, virtually ensuring that a survey could not be done before the council’s decision deadline in two weeks.

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Wachs’ angry response came on a day when a coalition of suburban business organizations announced its opposition to the arena project. The Westside Council of Chambers of Commerce, representing 7,000 businesses, cited a likely drain on the city treasury and took issue with the possibility of a hotel tax increase to help cover the city’s project cost.

Arena developers, reacting angrily to a Loyola Marymount University poll that indicated a lack of voter support for the project, said they have commissioned a professional public opinion survey. They declined to say when the results would be available or if they would reveal them.

At issue is a proposal by the owners of the Kings hockey team to build a privately owned and operated sports and entertainment complex that would house the Kings and the Lakers basketball team for at least 25 years.

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The arena would be built on a $20-million, city-owned parcel at the Los Angeles Convention Center (it would revert to the city after 55 years). The city would borrow $60.5 million to acquire and clear land next to the Convention Center and turn it over to arena developers to build a hotel, shops and restaurants.

The Kings owners would pay to build the $200-million to $240-million complex itself, but they would keep all the profits, including ticket proceeds, parking revenues and money from the sale of advertising outside the complex.

Wachs has been trying to rally taxpayers to demand a better deal, setting up a telephone “hotline” to collect residents’ views. Wachs contends that the total taxpayers’ stake in the project could climb to $279 million or more, in part because of the $5 million to $7 million a year over 25 years that would be needed to repay the bonds that the city would issue to buy the land. At least part of that would come from the city’s general fund, he said.

Arena backers, including the mayor’s office, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and Central City Assn., say the city would make a relatively modest, low-risk investment that would pay off in new jobs, added tax revenues, a revitalization of downtown and enhanced prospects of gaining a football franchise for the Coliseum. A new hotel and other attractions linked to the under-booked Convention Center could bring the facility into the black at last, arena proponents say.