Former San Francisco Supervisor Roberta Achtenberg is
"expected" to endorse the 49ers' proposed $535M stadium plan
when she submits her ballot statement today for the June 3
vote. On Wednesday, the Sierra Club and League of
Conservation Voters came out against the plan; yesterday,
the Chamber of Commerce and San Francisco Planning and Urban
Research members backed it (S.F. CHRONICLE, 3/21)....The
City of Houston will retain facility consultant Carl Hirsh
of Stafford Sports Ventures of Philadelphia in an attempt to
forge an agreement between Rockets Owner Les Alexander and
Aeros Owner Chuck Watson for a downtown hockey and
basketball arena (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 3/20)....The Cleveland
Indians will offer hour-long public tours of Jacobs Field
from May 1 to September 30. Included in the $3-5 admission
fee are visits to the press box, dugout and a party suite
(Cleveland Indians)....A recent poll of Charlotte residents
commissioned by the pro-arena Charlotte Regional Sports
Commission found that 65% of the 505 respondents favor
"some" public funding for a new uptown arena (CHARLOTTE
OBSERVER, 3/21)....The MN Senate Committee on Local and
Metropolitan Government will reconvene "probably next week"
after members could not reach an agreement yesterday on a
financing plan for a new Minneapolis stadium (Minneapolis
STAR TRIBUNE, 3/21)....TENNIS magazine's Peter Bodo examined
the process of the USTA naming its new tennis facility the
Arthur Ashe Stadium: "The USTA had put out feelers about
selling the name of the stadium, only to learn that nobody
was even remotely interested in buying" (TENNIS, 4/97).
