Letter Farnham

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Letter9/dp1st/mark2nd

Not the Complete Story

The 20th Anniversary Edition of the Los Angeles Business Journal (July 19) was most interesting and well done.

But the report on the Rams leaving the Coliseum for Anaheim (“Government Goof-Ups”) does not really give the reader the complete story. Nowhere did I find mention that the Coliseum Commission did not own land to give to the Rams, as Anaheim did.

Although Mr. (Fernando) Guerra was correct in saying that it would have been a lot cheaper to renovate the Coliseum at that time rather than now, the story did not reveal that the commission cannot draw upon tax subsidies from the city, county or state.

It did not have the money to have given the teams their “dream stadium” and no one stepped up to the plate to contribute.

The Coliseum did spend $15 million of its NFL antitrust award received in 1989 to lower the field, build new dressing rooms and the largest assemblage of updated facilities both in fixtures and number of restrooms to be found in any sports venue. The remaining $7 million-plus in antitrust money was used to purchase property for parking for the fans.

The press does a disservice to the public when the true picture is not painted. I wonder if anything will change within the next 20 years.

Incidentally, in your list of changes that have occurred in Los Angeles for the past 20 years, I did not see the California Science Center opening among them, although you did note the Getty Center opening at the end of 1997. The Science Center opened in February 1998, and had reached attendance of 1 million within the first six months.

MARGARET U. FARNHAM

Chief Administrative Officer,

L.A. Memorial Coliseum Commission

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