NFL, Dodgers at Coliseum

* Re “NFL Picks Coliseum for L.A. Team,” April 21: So, now the Coliseum will be renovated to prepare for our new football team at a reported cost of $350 million! Who will be watching out for the taxpayers of Los Angeles to make sure that not one cent comes from the public’s money to pay for this?

ROGER GILMORE

Topanga

* There’s been much written and much talk about the question of Los Angeles community support of an NFL team. The Rams left, the Raiders left--and what will happen if we get another team?

I can’t remember reading anywhere that one of the major problems is the lack of sufficient, convenient and safe parking. I quit going to the Coliseum years ago for that reason. Dodger Stadium is a different story altogether. Good, convenient, inexpensive and safe parking! I’d like to know what plans are on the table for Coliseum parking. If they’re good plans, people will come.

DAVID LEDBETTER

Pasadena

* Regarding a proposed site for a Dodger ballpark next door to the Coliseum: How myopic can Fox get? Abandoning Dodger Stadium, the most beautiful major league ballpark I’ve seen (and I’ve seen a few, from Fenway to Candlestick) would be a catastrophic sellout of L.A. baseball tradition as well as of a strong and loyal fan base.

It’s interesting that Fox responded to the initial furor about an Exposition Park sports complex as being “too preliminary” (April 14). In plain English, that does not mean “no.” This attitude proves to me, and hopefully to many other Dodger and baseball fans, that a “football first” mentality for the sake of national Nielsen ratings prevails at Fox and also in the minds of a few economically powerful Angelenos. An Exposition Park sports complex is not worth the tarnishing and possible destruction of one of the crown jewels of Southern California.

TED PERLE

Lake Forest