DEMS BLAST TAX-EXEMPT SPORT VENUES KUCINICH: OWNERS GET RICH, NOT COMMUNITIES.

Byline: LISA FRIEDMAN

Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- New York's Yankee Stadium and Detroit's Comerica Park came under fire Thursday as House Democrats blasted taxpayer subsidies of sports venues and questioned new uses of federally tax-exempt bonds to pay for arena construction.

Calling tax-exemption for stadiums "the financial equivalent of steroids," Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee on domestic policy, charged that taxpayer-financed stadiums enrich team owners, not communities.

But experts testifying before the panel said the more than $300 million in subsidies and other perks that Los Angeles officials are poised to bestow upon the developers of the Grand Avenue and l.a.live projects may be acceptable.

"It has to be better than just a stadium," Brad Humphreys, an economics professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, said after the hearing.

The $2.05 billion Grand Avenue redevelopment project, now two years in the making, includes a 16-acre park, 2,000 condominiums and a luxury hotel. Construction is set to begin this year. Boosters estimate that the project will create 29,000 construction jobs and 5,900 permanent jobs. But the price tag to the taxpayers will be $95 million, as well as $30 million in public improvements.

The $2.5 billion l.a.live complex, meanwhile, calls for $300 million in public financing through a loan, tax breaks and fee waivers. The 4million-square-foot entertainment-commercial complex across from Staples Center is expected to include condos and two luxury hotels.

"There's more sustainable economic activity going on" in mixed-use facilities than stadiums, Humphreys said. "You leverage your subsidy more."

He and other experts had no such positive words for stadiums. They and several community activists told story after story of unfulfilled promises of jobs and economic revitalization in exchange for millions of taxpayer dollars.

"The blessings of major league sports have yet to rain down upon us," said Frank Rashid of Detroit, a founder of the Tiger Stadium Fan Club and an opponent of the Tigers' move in 2000 to Comerica.

Joyce Hogi of the South Bronx told of her community's attempt to stop the Yankees from building a stadium on local parkland. Residents, she said, are barred from parking in the stadium's four garages, the park rebuilt for the neighborhood was created atop the concrete garages, and the entire area is an "economic dead zone" offseason.

Experts said during the past 15 years, U.S. cities have granted stadiums $15 billion in subsidies and rarely see the creation of jobs and economic revitalization promised.

Activists also questioned the noneconomic benefits to taxpayer financing of stadiums. While supporters often point to the civic pride and enhanced image of cities with gleaming new stadiums, Rashid said one only needs to look toward Detroit, which has hosted the World Series, the All-Star Game and the Super Bowl.

"We've had the top events and all of the television exposure. Is your image of Detroit really significantly improved?" he asked the panel, to widespread laughter.

Lawmakers, meanwhile, said they would consider forcing developers who engage in citywide campaigns to push approval of their projects to comply with federal fundraising limits if the projects fall under tax-exempt-bond status. Kucinich advocated reversing a recent IRS ruling that allows stadiums to use previously prohibited private payments for debt service on tax-exempt bonds.