News of the Arroyo
Title: | Protecting the Rose Bowl |
Subtitle: | |
Date: | 2006-11-10 |
Summary: | November 10, 2006 - The Star-News sums up the significance of the Prop A election on Tuesday and what it means for the Rose Bowl and the Arroyo Seco. |
Author: | Editor |
Publication: | Pasadena Star News |
Content: | THE overwhelming rejection of Pasadena\'s pro-NFL Measure A calls to mind a number of commonsense reasons why so many Californians have a love-hate relationship with ballot measures. The first one is the foremost reason. We often enough join the chorus of citizens who acknowledge the importance of the statewide initiative process for times when the lumbering beast that is the Legislature seems incapable of taking action. But in Pasadena, the entire elected City Council had way more than enough opportunity to weigh the merits of launching an effort to woo the National Football League into the Rose Bowl. Hundreds of hours of community discussions. Dozens of hours of formal talks at the council level. Impassioned pleas from both sides. In the end, with all the evidence in, the people\'s representatives gave the thumbs-down to the idea of pro-football in Pasadena. There was absolutely no need, and very little public clamor indeed, for a ballot initiative on the issue once it was decided at the council level. And yet, because signature gatherers can word things the way they want to at supermarket doors - \"Save the Rose Bowl!\" \"Oh, sure, I\'ll sign that\" - the issue made the ballot. That cost citizens hundreds of thousands of dollars, a cruel expenditure for a decision that had already been made by their representatives. We still thought the vote might be close, considering that most Pasadenans live far from the bowl and would not be as affected by the traffic and quality-of-life issues as neighbors would. But there was also the matter of a supposedly unbiased poll showing that 75 percent of Pasadenans believed going after an NFL bid was a good idea. The fact that over 72 percent of voters Tuesday instead said a resounding \"no\" to professional football in the Rose Bowl makes us question everything about that poll. Its premises were based on two fallacies: first, that the Rose Bowl is falling apart; second, that the stadium takes a lot of taxpayer money in support. In fact, the hallowed stadium is not in severe disrepair. And it uses almost no tax dollars; a primary source of its revenue is greens fees at the surrounding Brookside Golf Course. Beware of bogus, biased polling - and so-called \"economic studies\" - paid for by those with a vested interest in the outcome. But what also so swayed voters from all over the city is the incredible recreational resource that the Arroyo Seco, in which the stadium sits, has become. They don\'t want to give that resource up on another half-dozen or more weekends a year. It\'s the people\'s Rose Bowl, not the NFL\'s. And the absurd 95-page contract hidden within the simple \"Rose Bowl renovation\" language of Measure A would have turned almost all stadium operations over to the football league. The plans were to essentially tear down the stadium and start over - a no-go situation for most Pasadenans. There\'s also the plain fact of recent NFL disinterest in the extreme in returning to Southern California in the first place. No need for a binding marriage contract with someone who doesn\'t even want to go on a date. The only good thing about the energy wasted by the whole dismal affair is that, once and for all, the idea of inviting the NFL to take over the Rose Bowl is dead. Now, finally, Plan B is the only plan we need. There\'s no emergency here, no rush. The UCLA Bruins and the highly successful swap meet are excellent tenants. New revenues can be explored to fix up the (only recently fixed up, but bungled) seating problems in some parts of the stadium. Preventative maintenance can proceed over time. The bowl will be a great resource for many decades to come. It\'s a pleasure to see the dark cloud that had hung over the Arroyo Seco and its stadium blown away by this overwhelming vote of Pasadenans. |
Url: |