City Council Approves Plan for Arena Talks

Meeting again in private on a proposed sports arena complex for downtown Los Angeles, the City Council on Friday voted 10 to 2 on a set of instructions for its negotiating team that some officials predicted will yield a finished deal within days.

The council based its instructions on a memo written by its negotiators, and obtained by The Times, that laid out 14 issues the negotiators thought should be addressed in the memorandum of understanding to frame a business deal between the city and the arena developers, Kings hockey team owners Edward P. Roski and Philip Anschutz.

The issues included jobs and community outreach for minorities, women and residents of the poor neighborhoods surrounding the project site at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Negotiators also want to ensure that arena operators would deliver on their promise to have the Kings and the basketball Lakers play most of their home games in the arena for 25 years.

City negotiators also are seeking to protect taxpayers’ funds if arena operators fail to complete the $200-million structure, if revenues to repay the city investment fall short or if arena operators go bankrupt. For example, they want developers to stick by their initial agreement to cap city costs at about $63 million.

Councilman Joel Wachs, who has repeatedly criticized the deal as proposed in the fall, said he voted for it this time around because he believes steps are being taken to protect taxpayers’ investment--acquiring and preparing land for the project.

“We are taking a very hang-tough but reasonable position . . . and I’m hopeful we can reach an agreement,” Wachs said. He said he saw growing consensus among his colleagues for limiting the amount the city would put up for the project and for insisting that arena developers cover the city’s annual $7-million cost of repaying the securities it would issue for the land.

That extended to requiring that developers find others ways to “make the city whole” if the current plan for a ticket fee does not pan out, Wachs said.

The other vocal arena critic on the council, Nate Holden, said he voted against the plan and remained as opposed as ever.

Joining Holden in opposing the plan Friday was Councilman Mike Hernandez, who said he wants specific assurances that nearby residents will share in the jobs the project is expected to create.

He also said he dislikes a provision that would prevent the Convention Center from selling advertising or its name to commercial interests while allowing the arena to do so. (Arena operators would be prohibited from advertising firearms, alcohol and tobacco, however.)

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas issued a statement urging colleagues to consider the benefits an arena could bring and not to focus only on costs and revenues.

Council President John Ferraro, under pressure to provide more information to the public about the project, said he hoped to have a negotiated document to release within a week.

Arena developers could not be reached for comment Friday.