Supporters Stage Event in Favor of Arena

A group of business people and politicians brought their own witnesses forward Thursday to tout the idea that a sports arena at the Los Angeles Convention Center would be good for city taxpayers in the long run.

“We really don’t need a brain surgeon to tell us that this area is ripe for revitalization,” Councilwoman Rita Walters said at a press conference across the street from where the arena would be built. “We need the arena for the Convention Center to realize its full potential and spread redevelopment.”

The press conference was held two days after Councilman Joel Wachs organized a similar gathering, at which the Convention Center’s biggest customers attacked plans for an arena, complaining that it would cause parking shortages, traffic jams and loss of the North Hall exhibition building.

In an apparent effort to counter those concerns, the Central City Assn., a downtown business group, brought in Margaret Mullen, executive director of the Downtown Phoenix Partnership. Mullen said that building the America West Arena in downtown Phoenix sparked an economic development that had eluded the city after it built its convention center years ago.

Even though fewer than 45% of Phoenix residents approved of using public funds to build a sports facility, the City Council backed the arena, which opened in 1992. Downtown tax revenues increased from $90 million in 1992 to $111 million in 1994, Mullen said. Phoenix covered 50% of the costs.

Nate Holden, one of the few Los Angeles City Council members who opposes using tax funds to build an arena, also attended the press conference. He said that arenas don’t necessarily revitalize downtown areas. “They [the spectators] are going to come to the game, get out of their car in a safe, secure parking lot, go upstairs, eat their hot dog, drink beer and go home,” he said. Holden supports an arena if it is built with private money.