Going Public on Arena Project

Citizens may sound off Wednesday before the Los Angeles City Council on the proposed downtown sports arena, but the real action will take place behind closed doors. That situation needs to change soon or the city risks losing support for a worthy project with great potential to revitalize the area.

The council plans to discuss in private the issues that remain in negotiations over the proposed home for the Lakers and Kings pro sports teams. The deal is mostly done, to the mutual satisfaction of the developers and city negotiators. In this week’s meeting, council members could learn the details worked out so far. The city’s negotiating team, meanwhile, needs the council’s guidance as to how to proceed on the last few sticking points, which range from some financing details to who is responsible for any environmental problems at the arena site.

Pro- and anti-arena forces are lining up their troops to speak in the open session, but absent the specifics on how the $200-million project will be financed, Wednesday’s public session promises to be acrimonious, nonproductive and potentially harmful to the process.

The council approved the arena proposal in concept in September. The developers originally set a mid-October deadline for final council approval. That deadline came and went, but in the intervening weeks the terms of the proposed deal have reportedly improved from the city’s perspective, minimizing the potential impact on the city’s general fund.

Now, the council and the mayor, who enthusiastically supports the project, must quickly wrap up the loose ends. In so doing, the council should instruct its negotiators to make sure that taxpayers get more than just an arena for their money. Projects of this magnitude--the development will include retail, restaurant and office space and possibly a hotel in the future--can ripple benefits through the local economy in the form of jobs, contracts, goods and services. Those benefits should accrue to local residents, for the cost and disruption surely will.

Once these details have been finalized, the council needs to provide the public with the specific answers it deserves about costs and benefits. The arena deal is shaping up as a “win-win” for the city and the sports teams, but for that to happen, the council will have to be as mindful of procedure as it is of substance.