TIPOFF COLISEUM CONCERT A GOOD OMEN FOR FUTURE NFL TEAM?

Byline: RICK ORLOV

For 11 seasons, Los Angeles fans of professional football have been in anguish, dreaming of those bygone days when the Rams and, later, the Raiders called the Coliseum home.

Well, a touch of the National Football League is returning soon - kind of a tease by the league to see whether there is any real interest in seeing pro football return to the city.

The league is expected to announce this week that talent is being booked for a Sept. 8 concert at the Coliseum, slated as part of the buildup to the start of the season.

``You have to look at this as a positive,'' said City Councilman Bernard Parks, who has made the return of the NFL to the Coliseum his top priority. ``Two and a half years ago, no one said we would have a chance against the Rose Bowl or Carson. And now we are the last one standing.''

Parks said the concert - to be staged at no cost to residents - also sends a message to local officials.

``The thinking was they would do this concert only in an NFL city, yet they chose the Coliseum,'' Parks said. ``I think that answers some of the questions about whether the Coliseum is a safe place to hold events and if it is suitable for football.''

The return of a team is still a long way off, however, with local officials insisting that no tax dollars will be used for a professional sports team. NFL owners are scheduled to discuss what they call ``the Los Angeles situation'' when they meet in October.

A high-powered meeting of a different sort took place last week among Los Angeles Unified School District officials and United Teachers Los Angeles.

In an effort to set a new tone, Superintendent Roy Romer, school board President Marlene Canter and UTLA President Pat Duffy went on a two-day retreat in Oxnard, where they sought common ground as the district finds itself under attack.

LAUSD spokeswoman Stephanie Brady said Canter came up with the idea - similar to retreats held by some of her predecessors - as a way to meet with Duffy, who is new to his job, and Romer and his staff to discuss a variety of issues.

One of the topics was the upcoming union negotiations, but it was also a chance for Romer to develop a new relationship with the school board.

Romer and former board President Jose Huizar were said to have, at best, a chilly relationship, with neither man giving support to or finding it from the other. With Canter coming in, board members said they hope to see more cooperation between the elected officials and the staff.

The district is facing pressure from all fronts these days. With a high dropout rate, improving but still-low test scores and increasing levels of campus violence, there have been calls ranging from a breakup of the district to turning all power over to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Villaraigosa and Romer have talked frequently over the past month and aides to the two have been meeting repeatedly to talk about how changes can be made.

Does the weather influence crime? It is a question for criminologists to debate and, apparently, Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton himself.

The chief gave an emphatic answer in early July while responding to academics the Daily News quoted who minimized the role of the LAPD in reducing crime. The chief said safer streets are the results of his officers' hard work, not the economy or the weather.

Then while addressing the Police Commission last week, Bratton sought to explain why the most recent statistics show a drop in homicides that is smaller than the drops in robberies, assaults and domestic abuse.

``With the warm weather, unfortunately, we've had an uptick in drive-by shootings,'' he said.

Staff Writers Dan Laidman and Naush Boghossian contributed to this report.

Rick Orlov, [phone]

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com