News of the Arroyo
Title: | Taking a peek at Rose Bowl |
Subtitle: | |
Date: | 2004-08-18 |
Summary: | August 18, 2004 - Delays in the review of the Rose Bowl are raising concerns around town. The new design for the stadium will be unveiled on Saturday. |
Author: | Gary Scott Staff Writer |
Publication: | Pasadena Star News |
Content: | Tuesday, August 17, 2004 - PASADENA -- The city\'s two-year effort to land a pro football team in the Rose Bowl has been stuck in the doldrums for several months now, offering critics of the plan an easy target and making skeptics ever more skeptical that the NFL is dealing with the city in good faith. But proponents hope to regain the momentum that carried the bid through last year\'s May surprise, when the league owners announced the city of Carson was also a contender for a team, as well as the league\'s decision to reject a design that had strong community support. \"I feel we took one step back before we took two steps forward,\" said Rose Bowl General Manager Darryl Dunn to the point we had been working toward, and hoped we would have been here over a year ago.\" On Saturday, city officials will make public a new design for converting the Rose Bowl into a professional football stadium. A series of public meetings and mailings will follow in subsequent weeks to further define the community\'s standards for a renovated Rose Bowl. \"This is crunch time,\" said Councilman Steve Haderlein. He acknowledged that the lack of action over the past six months or so has left many in the community uneasy. \"With no news, people start getting a little worried, a little skeptical,\" Haderlein said. \"The honest truth is not a lot happened in the last year.\" The City Council took a sneak peek at the new design in a closed session meeting Monday. Several members said the renderings were too vague to draw any conclusions, but they all agreed that the public\'s reaction is key to how negotiations take shape. At least one councilman lowered the expectations with his comments, indicating the community has some work to do to refine the design. \"There is certainly room for improvement and I think the (Environmental Impact Report) will bear that out,\" said Councilman Victor Gordo \"The NFL has essentially give us its wish list,\" Gordo said. \"I think we should be cautious as we are going through the EIR to be sure that it identifies areas that need improvement and that we make those improvements.\" The NFL said the earlier design, presented at a ceremony outside the Rose Bowl stadium in April 2003, was too expensive and lacked important amenities found in most modern stadiums. The original design was generally accepted by Pasadena\'s influential preservationists, but it remains to be seen whether they are willing to compromise any further. \"We are trying to keep an open mind as go through the process,\" said Susan Mossman, executive director of Pasadena Heritage, \"but we certainly start from the point of view that protecting the landmark and preserving the arroyo are hurdles too high for the NFL to leap.\" Mayor Bill Bogaard, who has been cool from the start to the idea of turning the Arroyo Seco over to NFL games, said he will push to have the rejected design listed as the preferred plan in the EIR, with the new design as a possible alternative. Both designs were completed by the firm HOK + Sports of Kansas City, though the second design was paid for by the NFL. Bogaard has become increasingly concerned about the way the negotiations with the NFL are being handled, especially the fact that John Moag, the city\'s broker for the deal, is no longer working under contract. The mayor, however, does not appear to have much support among his fellow council members. \"I don\'t have a lot of concern about the Moag contract,\" said Councilman Paul Little. \"I think the relationship is going to remain the way it has been.\" Little also seems to ready to move forward with the new design, rather than get hung up in what has become an increasingly tight schedule of NFL deadlines. NFL Senior Vice President Neil Glat es for developing a final project proposal. Though the dates are not hard and fast, Glat said, \"Missing the milestones could put your proposed stadium project at a serious competitive disadvantage.\" Rose Bowl Operating Company board member Ross Selvidge said the city needs to take a step back because it has entered into a thicket of bad deals that will cost the city money and may eventually derail the bid. \"If we continue to make the sorts of deals we\'ve made over the last two years, we will end up with a bad NFL deal,\" Selvidge said. \"And a bad NFL deal is worse than no NFL deal.\" As examples, Selvidge cited agreements to have the NFL pay for the EIR and the new design, as well as the city\'s decision to move forward with Moag without a new contract. \"It is a terrible, terrible way to proceed,\" Selvidge said. But most council members appear comfortable with the way negotiations are progressing. \"I believe that in the end we will all be reminded of one thing: The future of the Rose Bowl as a stadium is at stake,\" Gordo said. \"If we don\'t find the resources to renovate the stadium, there may be nothing left to preserve.\" -- Gary Scott can be reached at (626) 578-6300, Ext. 4458, or by e-mail at gary.scott@sgvn.com . |
Url: |