Official Resigns Over Failed Arena Plans

Inglewood City Manager Paul Eckles, one of the longest-tenured city managers in the state, has abruptly announced that he will step down April 1. His resignation, after 21 years, comes just a week after the city learned that developers of a proposed state-of-the-art sports arena have stopped negotiating with Inglewood.

Inglewood’s stalled plans to replace the Forum prompted him to leave, said Eckles, who is the highest-paid and longest-serving administrator in Inglewood. Last week arena developers--Kings hockey team owners Edward P. Roski and Philip Anshutz--announced that they were going to concentrate their efforts on a downtown Los Angeles site instead.

“This is a deep disappointment for me and most people in the city of Inglewood,” Eckles said Wednesday. “My personal commitment to these negotiations is one of the key things that has been holding me here.”

Other reasons for his departure, Eckles said, include the City Council’s recent failure to approve a 12-screen movie theater project that he contended would have been a cornerstone in the downtown revitalization project. He said the action was a severe blow to Inglewood’s credibility with potential developers.

Eckles said he has been considering retirement for quite some time; his contract expired in 1995, although he continued to work under similar terms. He said he has chosen to leave the post April 1 to keep from becoming a scapegoat in the election that day. Two council seats and the mayor’s office are at stake.

Many City Council members have criticized Eckles for drawing an annual salary of $207,000, more than the president of the United States, who makes $200,000. Many council members have said it is time for new blood.

“It has become clear to me that I am the planned target of one or more candidates’ campaigns,” Eckles said in a statement read to the City Council on Tuesday night. “I fear that this desperate tactic will divert people’s attention from the really critical issues facing the city.”

Eckles’ exit follows a long list of top officials who recently announced their plans to leave city service, including Police Chief Oliver Thompson and former Mayor Ed Vincent, who left his seat for a position in the state Assembly. Many city officials said that Eckles’ departure will leave the politically divided City Council and struggling community without the necessary leadership.

Councilman Jose Fernandez, a longtime supporter of Eckles, said his departure will paralyze the city and any redevelopment plans.

“Until there is some stability, everything will probably be put on hold,” said Fernandez, a nine-year member of the council. “It’s a very heated political climate that has become incapable of allowing the city to take any action.”

Eckles has been highly regarded among developers. John Semcken, a vice president for Majestic Realty, which was working on the proposed sports arena, said Eckles was responsible for making the Inglewood arena deal so attractive.

“Mr. Eckles did everything he could possibly do and more to facilitate a deal in Inglewood,” Semcken said. “In the end we decided that the opportunity in Los Angeles was better since it was an entire entertainment complex.”

Now, even the people who wanted Eckles to leave are not sure that the time is right. Mayor Pro Tem Curren Price, who called for Eckles to step down, is angered that he is leaving. Price said four weeks is not enough time to get the $160-million budget, which has a deficit of $800,000, in order or enough time for a transition to new leadership.

“I called for a resignation in an orderly fashion,” said Price, who is running for mayor. “He is doing the city of Inglewood a disservice by leaving so soon and it will have a significant impact on bureaucracy in the city.”

Eckles said Price’s suggestion that he resign had nothing to do with his decision. He said the arena proposal kept him in the job for nearly two years longer than he had planned and that it is time to pursue other interests.

Those feelings were reinforced since making two visits to a hospital emergency room last week for a medical problem that he described as merely a scare. Eckles insisted that he is in good health.

“I’m certainly going to miss working with the people who make up this great city,” said Eckles, “but it’s time for me to move on.”