Schwarzenegger Allays Concerns Calif. Team Could Move To LA

Schwarzenegger Downplays Concerns Stadium Would Take Team From Another California City

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday "downplayed concerns" that developer Majestic Realty Co. "may take an NFL team from another California city" to play in its proposed NFL stadium in City of Industry, according to Patrick McGreevy of the L.A. TIMES. Schwarzenegger: "The team doesn't have to necessarily come from California. It could come from someplace else. I don't think anyone right now has in mind there to take a team and steal it from some California city." McGreevy noted a proposed amendment to the environmental exemption bill for the stadium "would have prevented" Majestic Realty Chair & CEO Ed Roski from going after the Chargers, 49ers or Raiders, but that amendment "was killed." Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger said that the stadium will "create jobs and provide a new venue of entertainment in Southern California." Schwarzenegger: "We have been trying in Los Angeles to get a football team for a long time, for many, many years" (LATIMES.com, 10/20).

WIN FOR THE AREA: In L.A., Tim Rutten writes under the header, "One-Of-A-Kind NFL Stadium." Majestic Realty "intends to build the National Football League's first certified LEED stadium." Also, L.A. County has a "jobs crisis that is creating widespread misery," and the stadium project "will hire 12,000 construction workers and, when finished, employ more than 6,000 permanent workers -- all earning union wages with union benefits." Rutten: "In other words, this is a project that not only has complied with the letter and spirit of the Environmental Quality Act but promises a greener outcome than anything else on the table. And it directly addresses our area's most pressing social and economic need -- jobs" (L.A. TIMES, 10/21).