200 Leaders Show Support for Coliseum Plan

More than 200 business, political and community leaders have signed letters to National Football League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue expressing their support for the construction of a stadium inside the historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas sent out about 800 letters urging support for what he calls the New Coliseum as a way of luring a football franchise to downtown. Among those who signed the form letters to Tagliabue are:

* City Council members Hal Bernson, Rudy Svorinich Jr. and Rita Walters, County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and Rep. Julian C. Dixon (D-Los Angeles).

* International Olympic Committee member Anita DeFrantz.

* Linda Griego, president of Rebuild L.A.

* Danny Bakewell of the Brotherhood Crusade and half a dozen religious leaders.

* Executives of several local banks and major hotels.

But neither the letter encouraging support nor the mass mailing to Tagliabue specifies what type of project the local leaders want or whether they would back spending taxpayers money to launch it.

In other news related to the Coliseum, NFL President Neil Austrian has made a formal invitation to the city to present its plans for the Coliseum overhaul at the league owners meeting Oct. 30 and 31 in New Orleans, and offered “a task force of NFL staff expertise” to help with the plans.