Wachs Supports Effort to Overturn Greek Contract
City Councilman Joel Wachs lent his support Tuesday to a referendum drive aimed at forcing his colleagues to reverse their recent decision extending the lucrative contract for the Greek Theatre.
Wachs, a mayoral candidate and a frequent critic of the Greek deal, said he believes the contract should have been competitively bid rather than granted to the politically well-connected current operator.
The five-year contract extension was granted to Greek-Nederlander Inc., which has run the Los Feliz theater for 25 years. The Nederlanders, and their attorney, Neil Papiano, are close friends with council President John Ferraro and other lawmakers. The council approved the extension last month without allowing other competing companies to bid for it.
Universal House of Blues, which fought hard against the extension, began the referendum drive last month to either overturn the council decision or to place the issue on the ballot for a public vote.
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