Suit Likely Over Downtown Plan, Supervisor Says

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said Thursday that he expects the county to sue the city of Los Angeles for adopting a $2.4-billion downtown redevelopment plan.

Yaroslavsky argues that the plan, touted by city officials as a way to revitalize downtown and possibly lure professional football back to Los Angeles, would unjustly redirect property tax dollars away from the county.

Yaroslavsky’s threat came as proponents of a football stadium in the redevelopment zone met with National Football League officials, seeking their support.

The so-called City Center plan, its proponents say, would create homes and jobs and might help pay for a sorely needed hotel near the Convention Center. But county officials counter that the plan would illegally deprive them of $278 million over 45 years.

“They’re taking money out of the mouths of poor people,” Yaroslavsky said. “I don’t think the county will have any choice but to sue, to take legal action, because this redevelopment project flies in the face of the law. It defies common sense.”

The redevelopment plan, whose area includes the South Park, Historic Downtown and City Markets neighborhoods, would redirect how taxes are divided among the county and other government entities.

The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency would receive 60% of future tax revenue from the district, and 20% would go into a housing trust fund. The remaining 20% would be given to the normal taxing entities--the city, county, Los Angeles Unified School District and community college district.

The redevelopment area would cover 879 acres--or 180 city blocks.

Redevelopment districts are used to revitalize blighted areas, and county officials have argued that some land included in an earlier district--about 30 acres near Staples Center--shouldn’t be included in the new district.

“That’s not blighted,” Yaroslavsky said. “It’s just a way to fatten the redevelopment plan and make it more economically attractive.”

He said the county would have to wait on the City Council’s final procedural vote Wednesday before filing suit.

Supporters of the project, meanwhile, repeatedly said Thursday that their aim was to invigorate the downtown economy, not to pave the way for billionaire Philip Anschutz’s proposed football stadium in South Park.

“We have made no contact with them. They have made no contact with us,” said Donald Spivack, deputy administrator of the redevelopment agency.

However, stadium proponents lobbied city officials to adopt the redevelopment plan and have had informal discussions about the stadium with several council members and Mayor James K. Hahn. It appears that more “briefings,” as those involved call them, will occur in coming weeks.

But a few council members were unconvinced that the redevelopment plan moved forward so quickly without the stadium proposal being a key factor.

“I honestly think there is a master plot,” said Councilman Dennis Zine, one of three council members who voted against the plan. “The billionaire developers have a plan. I don’t know what the plan is, but I know they want a hotel. I know they want a football stadium.”

Councilwoman Jan Perry, whose district would include portions of the redevelopment area, said speculation that the stadium was the driving force behind the plan is “erroneous.”

Comments such as Zine’s are what caused Perry to briefly consider amending the redevelopment plan Wednesday to prohibit the use of redevelopment agency funding for a football stadium, but she decided against the provision after input from council colleagues and the mayor’s office.

Anschutz, who owns Staples Center and all or part of 18 sports franchises, is heading a high-powered coalition that wants to build a stadium near Staples Center. The group includes supermarket billionaire Ron Burkle, real estate magnate Ed Roski and Casey Wasserman, owner of the Los Angeles Avengers, an arena football team.

Anschutz officials are in New York this week, meeting with NFL officials. “We met with them, and we continue to pursue this with vigor,” Wasserman said. “But it’s a long way from happening, and there are a lot of issues to be resolved on all fronts.”

Outside observers say the Anschutz group is the only organization in recent memory to have so many factors line up in its favor for bringing football back to Los Angeles.

The San Diego Chargers are rumored to be the most likely tenant of a Los Angeles stadium.

Though the deal would face many hurdles, “they have the means, the motive and the opportunity,” said David Carter, a USC sports business professor and part of the Sports Business Group, a Los Angeles consulting firm.

“This group has the means, financially and with respect to their [political] connections. They have the motivation to do it because of the Anschutz sport empire and the motivation of Casey Wasserman and others to really make this team happen. And clearly, the San Diego Chargers provide the opportunity.”

However, other officials are skeptical.

“The challenge that the South Park project has is to prove itself to be superior to a proposal that could be advanced by the Coliseum,” Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas said.

Ridley-Thomas also said he heard that the NFL is floating the idea of building a stadium that could be used both by the Dodgers baseball team and a football team. The NFL had made similar proposals years ago, he said.

“I believe the idea is worthy of considering,” Ridley-Thomas said. “It is a question of whether or not it can be accomplished.”

Representatives of Hahn and Anschutz said they had not heard of the proposal, and a Dodgers representative did not return calls seeking comment.

A source close to the Anschutz group said the organization once considered turning Chavez Ravine into a site for an NFL venue and building a baseball stadium downtown.

The source added that the scenario gathered no momentum in part because it would not be greeted favorably by the NFL, which is looking to build modern stadiums that are part of entertainment districts.

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Times staff writer Sam Farmer contributed to this report.