Sports Arena Proposal

* Three points in your Aug. 17 editorial on the proposed downtown sports arena demand particular response: The first is your assertion that now that the developers have promised to release all documents, it is a good project which should proceed. Since they have only promised to release the documents--but have not yet done so--how can you jump to such a conclusion without actually having read them?

Second is your characterization of my charge that “you can’t trust City Hall to drive a tough bargain; the voters will drive a tougher one.” Rather than it being an “odd” comment, as you suggest, it is actually a “knowing” comment from someone who’s been in City Hall more than 25 years and knows exactly how the system works. Furthermore, in every city that has submitted its sports arena or stadium deal to the voters for approval, the developers have invariably sweetened the pot and given taxpayers a much better deal than originally proposed.

Third is your claim that the arena will stimulate economic development in the downtown area and generate tax revenue for the city at large. Many would strongly disagree. They would point, for example, to the two arenas we already have--the Sports Arena and the Forum--and note that there is no discernible economic development around either of them. Countless studies by many of the nation’s top economists conclude that despite the claims of politicians and civic boosters, such projects provide little, if any, real benefit to local economies.

JOEL WACHS

President Pro Tem

Los Angeles City Council