CLOCK IS TICKING ON NFL BID; EERIE CALM HAS SOME WONDERING IF HOUSTON WILL LAND EXPANSION TEAM.

Byline: Steve Dilbeck Staff Writer

All is eerily quiet in Los Angeles' fleeting bid to land the NFL's 32nd franchise, offering yet another signal that the expansion team appears poised to slip away.

After a raucous first week of August, during which the state withdrew from the expansion process when the league asked for public funding and the NFL announced it would no longer focus on the Coliseum - opening the door for Houston to land the new team - there has been little 11th-hour activity to save the Los Angeles bid.

``Things have calmed down, but not in a way that's good,'' said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello.

The NFL has made perfunctory contact with the city of Carson and Hollywood Park, two previously discussed Los Angeles area expansion sites, but Aiello said there has been no significant development.

With the league's Sept. 15 deadline now only four weeks away, Carson and Hollywood Park are viewed as almost ridiculous longshots. The Coliseum effort came to a sudden halt when the NFL requested the public funding to support the bid, and it has been unable to gather itself since.

``We're hoping to re-engage them, but it's not looking that great right now,'' said Ed Roski Jr., one of the would-be team owners.

Roski said he is drafting a letter to send to the NFL he hopes will reopen negotiations, emphasizing that there really is no need for the two parking structures estimated to cost more than $150 million.

``The whole thing turned around on this parking,'' Roski said. ``We have over 12,000 existing spaces around the Coliseum once the Sports Arena is eliminated. If we build a parking garage, no one is going to want to park in it anyway.

``We were stalled when we asked for public funds for parking structures we do not need. This isn't like other places. We don't have inclement weather to worry about when walking to our cars.''

The NFL's unspoken concern, however, is the safety of the neighborhood surrounding the Coliseum. The league wants ample parking that is both close and secure.

``What's wrong with the neighborhood?'' Roski asked. ``For the whole year, 72 perent of the crimes reported in the neighborhood were during the 10 games the Raiders played. It's nothing to do with the neighborhood. USC plays at the Coliseum and it's never a problem. The neighborhood. . . that makes me mad.''

Last week Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, about the lone remaining optimist in the L.A. bid, called a press conference to try and instigate a ``45-day action plan'' to save the waning Coliseum expansion bid.

Ridley-Thomas called a meeting of the New Coliseum Partnership Executive Council Tuesday night, still trying to solidify the expansion bid and focus efforts over the next four weeks.

The councilman remains upbeat that the Coliseum deal is not dead and the NFL still wants to come to Los Angeles.

``I think the NFL is still very interested in making this deal happen, and I've had no indication to the contrary,'' Ridley-Thomas said.

Ridley-Thomas said he remains in constant contact with NFL representatives and doesn't believe they are simply honoring the Sept. 15 deadline before awarding the franchise to Houston.

``I don't think so,'' he said. ``I look these people in the eye, and they want to do this.

``The NFL is just not going to walk away from one of the most promising sites they could have in their foreseeable future. That's just not going to happen.''

Meanwhile, time grows scarce. Aiello said the league wasn't about to give odds on any of the proposed sites in Los Angeles in the final month.

``We'll leave it to others to handicap,'' he said, ``but time is running out, that's for sure.''