A group of "high-profile architects" advising L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on AEG's Farmers Field Project "are recommending a redesign of the Los Angeles Convention Center hall that is part of the project," according to Dakota Smith of the L.A. DAILY NEWS. Several members of the Vision Team assembled by Villaraigosa to consult on the project "believe the plan has major flaws, including having visitors enter the new hall through a dark, unsafe space created by stretching the building over Pico Boulevard." The recommendations, "compiled in a formal report released this month, comes as the City Council is set to vote Friday on the project's environmental impact report." Burbank-based Woodbury Univ. School of Architecture President Norman Millar, a member of the Vision Team, said, "This is not good city design. Plain and simple. It's a no-no." L.A. City Council member Ed Reyes "sits on the council committee that reviewed the stadium proposal," and said that he "was never made aware of the Vision Team's report." Told of the recommendations yesterday, Reyes replied, "Wow." He added, "It would have been to everyone's advantage to see how we can provide the best-case scenario." Vision Team member Joseph Coriaty said that "more time and money -- at least $50 million -- is needed to redesign the convention center hall." Smith writes, "Seen as unrealistic because of budget constraints and the project's fast timeline, city planning officials never presented the recommendations to move or redesign the hall to the full Planning Commission, which signed off on the project at its meeting two weeks ago." Villaraigosa spokesperson Peter Sanders said that the mayor "was aware of the Vision Team's concerns" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 9/27).
