RAZING OF ARENA SITE OK'D.Byline: Rick Orlov Daily News Staff Writer Despite warnings, the Los Angeles City Council  The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles, California, United States. agreed Tuesday to allow developers of a $300 million downtown sports arena to demolish de·mol·ish tr.v. de·mol·ished, de·mol·ish·ing, de·mol·ish·es 1. To tear down completely; raze. 2. To do away with completely; put an end to. 3. the Convention Center's North Hall even before a final deal is struck. The 12-2 vote, with council members Rita Walters Rita Walters (1930-) is currently the commissioner of the Los Angeles Public Library. Prior to this position, she served on the Los Angeles City Council representing the 9th district. During that time, she chaired the Arts, Health & Humanities Committee. and Nate Holden Nathaniel "Nate" R. Holden (1929-) served on the Los Angeles City Council from 1987 to 2002. He previously served a term on the California State Senate and was Assistant Chief Deputy to then Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn. dissenting, allows the L.A. Arena Co. to tear down to demolish violently; to pull or pluck down. - Shak. See also: Tear the building in an effort to meet its October 1999 deadline for opening. 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. said the developers have offered a $6.9 million letter of credit to replace the building if there are problems with the deal - to replace a structure built at a cost of $2.5 million some 20 years ago. ``Let me point out that when this was built, it was to be a temporary structure,'' Ferraro said. But Walters and Holden argued that there remains too much risk for the city. ``All along, everything with this project has been hurry up, rush, rush, rush,'' said Walters, in whose district the project is located. ``Now, here we go again. The deal hasn't fully closed and they want to tear down the building. If they wanted to open by 1999, they could have dealt with us in a different manner.'' Holden called it a fraudulent maneuver. ``What you guys have done is permit them to not only build an arena there, but you are giving away the convention center,'' he said. ``This is a bad deal. This is like permitting someone to demolish a home before escrow escrow Instrument, such as a deed, money, or property, that constitutes evidence of obligations between two or more parties and is held by a third party. It is delivered by the third party only upon fulfillment of some condition. closes. It's just too risky.'' Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton and other city officials, however, said they felt comfortable with the proposal because of the letter of credit being deposited with the city Treasurer's Office. ``This permits the development to proceed at no risk to the city,'' Deaton said. ``We believe this ($6.9 million) is a fair amount of money to protect us if for some reason the development deal doesn't close. We see this as a positive for the city.'' Deaton estimated the city has made $100,000 a year in the past from the North Hall and that the interest on the letter of credit will bring in nearly $70,000. |
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