CITY, DEVELOPERS INK DEAL FOR ARENA; DEMOLITION WORK SLATED FOR THIS MONTH.Byline: Rick Orlov Daily News Staff Writer With the stroke of a pen - six pens actually - Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. city leaders Friday cleared the way for construction on a $300 million downtown sports and entertainment complex. City Council President John Ferraro John Ferraro (May 14 1924—April 17 2001) served as a Los Angeles City Councilman from 1966 until his death. Early life Ferraro was born in the working class suburb of Cudahy, California, just south of Los Angeles. , sitting in for Mayor Richard Riordan Richard J. Riordan (born May 1, 1930) is a Republican politician from California, U.S. who served as the California Secretary of Education from 2003–2005 and as Mayor of Los Angeles from 1993–2001. Riordan ran for Governor of California unsuccessfully in 2002. because of a conflict of interest, was joined by developer Edward Roski Jr., City Attorney James Hahn For the Iowa politician, see . James Kenneth "Jim" Hahn (born July 3, 1950) is an American politician from the Democratic Party. He was the Deputy City Attorney (1975-1979), City Controller (1981-1985), City Attorney (1985-2001) and Mayor of Los Angeles, California and other officials in signing agreements allowing construction of the 22,000-seat facility. ``This is an exciting beginning for the city,'' Ferraro said during the Los Angeles City Hall ceremony. ``This journey was not an easy one. We are either a few days beyond or a year and few days behind, but it is good news that we are finally at this point.'' Demolition of the Convention Center's North Hall, where the arena will be erected, is scheduled for late November, with construction to begin in January. The facility will serve as the new home of the Los Angeles Lakers See Lake poets and Kings professional franchises, which would move from Inglewood in October 1999 to play in the venue for at least 25 years. Roski and his partner, Philip Anschutz Philip Frederick Anschutz (born 28 December 1939 in Russell, Kansas) is an American businessman and supporter of Christian causes. With an estimated current net worth of around $7.8 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 31st richest person in the USA. , Kings co-owners, also hope that the facility will be used more than 200 times a year for other sporting events, concerts, rallies and awards shows. ``We're extremely proud of the facility,'' Roski said. ``We're proud to be part of Los Angeles again. We're proud to bring the two teams back to Los Angeles. ``It's going to be the best facility in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . And we're really looking forward to it and we want to break ground as soon as possible.'' Riordan could not participate in the signing because he owns The Original Pantry restaurant, which is two blocks from the development and likely will benefit from a new arena. Roski said he learned valuable lessons in negotiating with the city as he and Anschutz continue to work to bring a National Football League team to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum For board track racing circuit, see . Present use The Coliseum is now primarily the home of the USC Trojan football team. During the recent stretch of its success in football, most of USC's regular home games, especially the alternating games with rivals UCLA and Notre . Conversely, Ferraro said city officials learned lessons from the negotiations. ``From now on, everything will be made public,'' Ferraro said. ``We've learned that once you say something's private, everyone wants to see it.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Work is to begin this month on the Los Angeles Arena Center. Myung J. Chun/Daily News |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion