$2.4-Billion Downtown L.A. Renewal Plan OKd

With the prospect of a new NFL stadium hovering overhead like the Goodyear blimp, the Los Angeles City Council approved a $2.4-billion downtown redevelopment plan Wednesday that promises new housing, jobs and social services in blighted sections of the city’s historic core.

Acting on a complex proposal that came together with uncharacteristic swiftness, the council voted 12 to 3 to create a special district that could bring nearly 13,000 new housing units downtown and provide $150 million to improve life for the city’s homeless.

It could also provide a mechanism to help Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz build a downtown stadium for a relocated National Football League team, most likely the San Diego Chargers, who have agreed to move their training camp to a new, Anschutz-owned sports complex in nearby Carson.

Council members insisted that the stadium wasn’t a driving force behind their approval of the redevelopment plan, which they said was aimed solely at giving a lift to beleaguered sections of the central city. In fact, a stadium is not mentioned in the proposal.

Still, some members acknowledged that Anschutz’s proposed stadium could play a role in the redevelopment, and others based their dissent on concerns about the possibility of spending public money on a stadium.

Councilman Jack Weiss said he joined council members Wendy Greuel and Dennis Zine in voting against the measure because there were too many unanswered questions, including whether the city would wind up subsidizing private projects such as the stadium and a new downtown hotel.

“I’d sum it up as too many dollars, too many questions and not enough public process,” Weiss said. “My questions concern the underlying necessity of spending what could be billions of government dollars on the pursuit of redevelopment.”

Anschutz is heading a high-powered coalition of business leaders who announced last week that they want to build a stadium near Staples Center, another Anschutz project that involved a complicated partnership with the city.

The council’s vote could make it easier to build a stadium because the city’s redevelopment agency has the power of eminent domain.

The agency could exercise that power to purchase land for projects that are deemed to be in the best interests of the city. That could include a football stadium, assuming the agency believes that it will help the downtown economy.

The redevelopment proposal has caught some people by surprise. Last year, the City Council ordered the agency to put the so-called City Center project on a fast track. It typically takes 18 months to create a redevelopment proposal, but the City Center plan was formulated in less than half that time.

Jessica Goodheart, co-director of research for the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, complained that the plan came together a little too quickly--and without sufficient public debate. Her organization is an advocate for low-income housing and generally keeps close watch on the council and redevelopment agency.

“It took us by surprise,” she said. “We read about it in the paper just like everybody else. I didn’t know it was moving so fast.”

At the same time, renewed efforts to lure a pro football team are apparently gaining momentum.

Key principals in the effort--Tim Leiweke, president of the Anschutz Entertainment Group, and Casey Wasserman, owner of Arena Football’s L.A. Avengers--were scheduled to meet in New York today with NFL executives.

Discussions were expected to touch on a variety of issues that must be dealt with before a team could move to Los Angeles, primarily a $150-million NFL loan that could be used for the construction of a stadium and guarantees that the city could host future Super Bowls.

Such discussions, however, are not necessarily an indication that a deal is close to being struck. And even under the rosiest scenario, the soonest a Super Bowl could be held in Los Angeles would be 2007.

A franchise cannot be relocated to Los Angeles without the approval of 24 of the league’s current 32 owners.

Although the Chargers are the leading candidates to move, there is no obvious exit clause in their lease until after the 2003 season.

Other teams that could potentially move in a few years are the Indianapolis Colts, Buffalo Bills, New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals.

During the hearing, city officials went to pains to emphasize that the redevelopment plan is not being driven by the proposed football stadium.

“I don’t know anything about this stadium,” said Jerry Scharlin, administrator of the Community Redevelopment Agency. “The only thing I’ve heard about it is what I’ve read in the papers. It certainly hasn’t been in our plans.”

Councilman Eric Garcetti said football “is not what this is about for us decision makers today. There is certainly no subsidy for any football team, any football stadium or any billionaire involved in this.” He acknowledged that the council action could “theoretically” make it easier to build a stadium.

“If people were convinced that it was a good idea--and that means everyone--then the CRA redevelopment area could make it easier for that to happen. But that’s a long way down the road,” he said.

The City Center redevelopment district is intended to create up to 12,900 new units of housing, one-quarter of which would be classified affordable, and up to 6.7 million square feet of commercial and industrial development.

The plan also dedicates $150 million over 30 years for the city’s estimated 11,000 homeless people. Some of that would pay to relocate and modernize facilities that offer services for the homeless.

Money would also go toward adult education and training, mental health centers and funding of studies on how to reduce homelessness.

In addition, the plan allocates funds to rehabilitate historic buildings in an 879-acre swath covering 180 city blocks.

The redevelopment district is bounded by 2nd and 3rd streets on the north; San Pedro Street, Stanford Avenue and Griffith Avenue on the east; the Santa Monica Freeway on the south, and Figueroa Street and the Harbor Freeway on the west. It includes the South Park, Historic Downtown and City Markets neighborhoods.

The plan relies on money from an expected increase in property taxes, which would swell with an expected increase in property values. Eighty percent of any new property taxes would be set aside from the usual tax stream and be channeled instead into the CRA and a housing trust fund. The rest would go to the usual recipients: the city, county and Los Angeles Unified School District.

The redevelopment agency anticipates spending nearly $2.4 billion to accomplish its goals over the next 30 to 45 years. The agency can condemn land and displace residents and businesses, but it has to create an affordable housing unit for each one it tears down and help relocate involuntarily displaced people.

A previous redevelopment district existed in the area, but the agency hasn’t received any money from it since November 2000, when it hit a legal cap of $750 million. That plan, known as the Central Business District, led to the creation of Staples Center.

Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., was bullish about the latest redevelopment plan, saying it could do for downtown Los Angeles what similar measures did for the Gaslamp district in San Diego and the Flats in Cleveland.

Coupled with other projects, such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, “it could all come together really well, and we could have a very powerful downtown,” he said.

He said such attractions and a major hotel near the Convention Center would make downtown Los Angeles competitive for large shows.

A stadium would add the possibility of Super Bowls to the mix. Though a handful of preseason, regular-season and playoff games would add a little to the local economy, Super Bowls can pour in hundreds of millions of dollars, he said.

The city’s checkered history with the NFL fed some skepticism of any plan to use the redevelopment district to build a football stadium. In 1999, the league awarded its 32nd team to Houston rather than Los Angeles after receiving a $700 million check from a Houston billionaire.

“There should be no corporate welfare in that whole process,” said Tony Perez, a spokesman for Los Angeles Councilman Ed Reyes. “I think we’ve shown as a city we don’t need the NFL.”

Times staff writers Tony Perry, Mitchell Landsberg and Sam Farmer contributed to this report.