"Clearing the way for a planned downtown sports arena,"
L.A. City Council member Joel Wachs said yesterday that "he
will exempt the facility from his proposed ballot measure
that would require voter approval of publicly subsidized
sports stadiums," according to Beth Shuster of the L.A.
TIMES. In return, Wachs said that the arena developers, NHL
Kings Owners Philip Anschutz and Edward Roski, "have agreed
to several new financial conditions that would dramatically
reduce any taxpayer costs for the new arena." Wachs said
the developers will give the city an "ironclad" guarantee
that they will repay $58M in municipal bonds to be used for
the project; ensure that the $58M will not come from sales
taxes, property taxes or utility taxes generated by the
arena; pay about $1.6M for a two-acre property that the city
had tentatively agreed to give the developers, and pay about
$3.2M-a-year for use of the arena site for 55 years. The
previous deal called for a $1M-a-year lease. Wachs said
that the only public money involved in the arena would be
$12M given to the developers by the Community Redevelopment
Agency. Kings President Tim Leiweke "acknowledged that the
deal is financially riskier for the developers, but he said
their desire to build the facility in the city outweighed
their concerns" (L.A. TIMES, 10/9).
