EDITORIAL CURTAIN CALL FINAL ACT OF THE GREAT GREEK THEATRE RIP-OFF.AT long last, L.A.'s worst Greek tragedy has reached its end, and we hope that there will be no encore. With the 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. Recreation and Parks Commission giving its unanimous approval to a deal that would let Nederlander Concerts continue running the Greek Theatre in Griffith Park Griffith Park is a large public park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains. It is situated in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The park covers 4,210 acres (17 km²) of land, making it one of the largest urban parks in North America. , one of the sleazier chapters in city contracting will soon be over. And L.A. will be out $5 million in benefits. The Nederlander deal is proof that making it in L.A. - at least in L.A. city government, anyway - is all about connections. When Nederlander's longtime sweetheart deal Sweetheart Deal A merger or company sale where one company involved in the deal gives the other very attractive terms and conditions. Notes: In other words, a sweetheart deal is a transaction that a firm simply cannot pass-up. This is usually considered to be unethical. on the Greek Theatre initially came up for renewal in 1999, the City Council planned to simply renew it, no questions asked. But public outrage and a threatened ballot measure caused the council to back off and open up a bidding process, which in turn proved to be nothing but a sham. Nederlander's rival, House of Blues House of Blues (HOB) is a chain of music halls and restaurants founded in 1992 by Hard Rock Cafe founder Isaac Tigrett and his friend and investor Dan Aykroyd. It is a home for live music and southern-inspired cuisine, whose clubs celebrate African-American culture, specifically , offered a better bid, but it lacked Nederlander's connections. The commission deadlocked dead·lock n. 1. A standstill resulting from the opposition of two unrelenting forces or factions. 2. Sports A tied score. 3. , and the stalemate stale·mate n. 1. A situation in which further action is blocked; a deadlock. 2. A drawing position in chess in which the king, although not in check, can move only into check and no other piece can move. tr.v. only ended when House of Blues dropped out of the process altogether. Eventually, Nederlander and House of Blues got into bed together through an alliance to book the acts and run the theaters. The commission has happily given its approval, and now Nederlander's contract, which includes $5 million less in facility improvements than the original House of Blues bid, awaits only the City Council's rubber stamp. It's a new sweetheart deal. Everybody wins, except, of course, the L.A. taxpayer. What else is new? |
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