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Calif. Senate Rejects Sale Of LA Coliseum, Sports Arena
May 18, 2008 
The state Senate rejected legislation Thursday
that would require the state to sell the site of the historic Los
Angeles Memorial Coliseum and adjoining Los Angeles Sports Arena.The bill's author, Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced, said the stadium is "falling apart" and that selling the land would generate as much as $400 million to help ease the state's budget crunch. California is facing a $15.2 billion deficit in the fiscal year that starts July 1. "All I'm asking right now is that we take a look at this property as well as many other properties in the state and evaluate whether they're surplus and whether they bring in good tax revenue," Denham said. The state owns the land on which the 85-year-old coliseum and 48-year-old arena sit, said Pat Lynch, general manager of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, which manages the two facilities under a 49-year lease with the state. Denham's office said the state also owns a third of both structures, with Los Angeles County and the city of Los Angeles owning the rest. Lynch, however, said the state owns only the land. Opponents said the bill would undercut efforts to improve Exposition Park, which is owned by the state and houses the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the California Science Center and the California African American Museum, in addition to the coliseum and sports arena. "This measure doesn't do service to the overall objectives we seek to happen in Exposition Park," said Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, a Los Angeles Democrat who represents the area. "The Science Center, the California African American Museum are all state-owned assets the state benefits from. Sale of this particular property doesn't fit the master plan for that park." Ridley-Thomas also said selling the property would not help bring an NFL franchise back to the coliseum, the former home of the Raiders, now in Oakland, and Rams, now in St. Louis. "That ship has sailed," Ridley-Thomas said. Another opponent, Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, questioned whether a sale was even legally possible "given the historic nature of the coliseum." The coliseum was designated a national historic landmark in 1984, the day before it the start of the Summer Olympics. It also was the site of the 1932 games and the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1958 to 1961. The neighboring University of Southern California currently uses the stadium under a 25-year lease that can be renewed for another 22 years. A Senate analysis of the bill also cast doubt on the sale, saying a buyer could have trouble assuming control of the coliseum until the commission's lease expires in 2054. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, denied that the coliseum is underutilized, noting that more than 115,000 people watched a Dodgers-Boston Red Sox exhibition game there in March. "A crowd of 100,000 is not uncommon," he said. "This building by no means is an irrelevant facility. This is by no means an outdated facility. ... Sure, some upgrades are warranted. But it should achieve its potential while still in the hands of the people." The Senate voted 21-16 against the bill, but agreed to allow Denham to take a second vote at a later time if he chooses. Denham also has proposed selling several other properties owned by the state. Those include San Quentin State Prison, part of the Cow Palace site in Daly City and a wastewater treatment plant at Soledad State Prison. "We know that we have thousands of excess parcels of property around this state," said Sen. Tom Harman, R-Huntington Beach. "It's about time we seriously started looking at them ... and get rid of underutilized and excess properties." Copyright © 2008, KTLA
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