Politics Links Hospital to L.A. Coliseum

Here’s a riddle: What do the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center have to do with one another?

Answer: Not much, except in the byzantine world of Capitol politics.

Some Los Angeles-area legislators are trying to seize control of the Coliseum from the county and city of Los Angeles by establishing a state commission that would oversee all operations in the state-owned Exposition Park.

In the view of county officials, including Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, the move is part of a bigger effort by Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg (D-Sherman Oaks) and Eastside lawmakers to force the county into increasing the size of County-USC Medical center to 750 beds--a connection that Hertzberg denies, but one that other lawmakers privately confirm.

Weird politics play out in the closing days of every legislative session. But the apparent link between the Coliseum and County-USC Medical Center is one of the more convoluted pieces of legislative sausage to have moved through the Capitol meat grinder in some time.

As it is, the city, county and state share oversight of the Coliseum under an arrangement that dates back decades. Assemblyman Roderick Wright (D-Los Angeles), long a critic of the Coliseum Commission, has a bill, AB 260, that would turn over management of Exposition Park, including the Coliseum, to a new seven-member state board.

The bill had stalled until recently, when it became the focus of some of the week’s most intense lobbying. Top Senate and Assembly leaders are pushing to win its passage, while Los Angeles County lobbyists are scurrying to block it.

“They see there is a valuable asset in the middle of Los Angeles and they want it,” said county lobbyist Dan Wall. “This is another example of the state of California trying to meet its own needs at the expense of local government.”

Wright long has focused on what he sees as the failings of the Coliseum Commission, saying that it has presided over the loss of sports franchises, including the National Football League’s Rams and Raiders. He shrugs off the local opposition. “They hate it because somebody is taking away their sandbox,” Wright said.

County officials said that some lawmakers tell them privately that if supervisors agree to expand the proposed new medical center--a majority of the board resists that idea--the attempt to take over the Coliseum might disappear.

“The Coliseum is being sold on an altar of pique and special interest,” said Yaroslavsky, a Coliseum Commission member. “This is not a way to make public policy, I’ll tell you that.”

Yaroslavsky’s belief that there is a connection between the Coliseum and the proposed new County-USC Medical Center has helped harden his opposition to an expanded hospital.

“They can kidnap my firstborn son and it’s not going to happen,” Yaroslavsky said.

The plan to rebuild County-USC Medical Center near downtown has for years been a source of friction between supervisors and some state lawmakers. A majority of the board wants to limit the new hospital to 600 beds, contending that the county cannot afford a larger facility.

Eastside lawmakers said the facility should have 750 beds to serve the area’s growing population of poor people who lack health insurance. As an alternative, legislators have suggested that the county build a 600-bed hospital near downtown and a separate 150-bed hospital in the San Gabriel Valley.

“We need to build it; it’s never going to go away for us,” Assemblyman Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) said. “There has yet to be a demonstration that the need has diminished. We should focus on meeting the health care needs of the region.”

For his part, Hertzberg insists that the Coliseum bill is not tied to his efforts to persuade supervisors to enlarge County-USC.

“I want that problem solved,” Hertzberg said of the hospital. “The indigent population is not being served.”

As for the Coliseum, Hertzberg said, “Local control is local control. But it’s our property. It’s a state facility. . . . It is our asset and we should do something with the money, and take the responsibility for it.”

Of course, any deal would require the votes of lawmakers from other regions of the state. One Los Angeles lawmaker involved in the issue noted that any hospital deal could, in turn, be linked to bills affecting other regions--particularly a measure to expand San Francisco International Airport.