News of the Arroyo
Title: | Pasadena's NFL plan scrutinized |
Subtitle: | |
Date: | 2005-05-13 |
Summary: | May 13, 2005 - "Mayor concerned costs outweigh the benefits" - Will a professional football team in the Arroyo Seco bring the benefits dreamed of several years ago when the proposal was first floated. Mayor Bill Bogaard is increasingly skeptical |
Author: | Billy Witz, Staff Writer |
Publication: | Pasadena Star News |
Content: | For the second time this week, a local politician has expressed reservations about the terms his city is negotiating with the NFL. Two days after Anaheim councilman Harry Sidhu warned that the city was giving away too much to the league, Pasadena mayor Bill Bogaard said Thursday that after two years of negotiations, the costs associated with an NFL deal look greater and the benefits less than he expected. \"The economic benefit appears modest and inadequate in relation to the environmental costs,\" Bogaard said. \"The deal at the outset was suggested as offering very significant benefits, both economic and environmental. I think the transaction will fall short of those hopes.\" The city council, which will take up debate Monday night on whether to certify the Rose Bowl renovation\'s environmental impact report, also will discuss the status of term negotiations. Any action the council takes would be non-binding, but it would signal to the NFL where the city stands on certain issues when league owners meet May 24-25 in Washington D.C., where they are expected to whittle the current field of four sites - the Rose Bowl, Coliseum, Anaheim and Carson. In May, 2003, the city council approved 15 negotiating points it wanted to see from the NFL. Last Monday, it released the updated version. Among the differences: the Rose Bowl would no longer ask for four Super Bowls in a 15-year period, and plans to mitigate traffic by using shuttles from Old Town Pasadena have hit a snag. Pasadena had asked for no more than 14,000 parking spots to be in use on game days, but since the new owner would keep all the game-day parking revenue - a key money stream since it isn\'t shared with other teams - there is little incentive for the owner to restrict parking in the Arroyo Seco. Now, the proposal calls for letting the NFL use 18,000 parking spaces. The current maximum capacity, including the use of Brookside Golf Course, is about 21,000 spaces. Governance is another unsettled issue. Discussions of price and terms of payment for the deal will be discussed in closed session. \"It\'s not a take it or leave it statement,\" Bogaard said, \"but a place to continue negotiations if the NFL has interest in Pasadena.\" Meanwhile in Carson, the city kicked off its environmental certification process Thursday when notices of preparation for its EIR were mailed out to nearby residents and public agencies that could be affected by the project. A draft EIR is expected to be complete in early September. A 45-day period of public review will follow and the EIR is expected to be presented to the city council for certification by the end of February 2006. --- Billy Witz covers the NFL for the Daily News. Contact him at (818) 713-3621 or billy.witz@dailynews.com |
Url: |