Planners hired to handle stadium deal

Keep an eye out for the peripheral expenses that will be shouldered by the city - stuff that AEG head Tim Leiweke would never bring up during a press conference or that council members would choose to ignore. Case in point: The hiring of four city planners to allow for the department to work on the downtown stadium. It's probably not a ton of money, but the city is in a fiscal crisis and lots of folks are either losing their jobs or being furloughed. From Curbed LA:

The four new hires won't necessarily be working on the stadium, but will be shuffled around so existing staff can be freed up to work on those larger developments. But AEG will pay for expenses related to planning work on the stadium, according to [Planning Director Michael] LoGrande. Still, the fact that the Planning Department is hiring more planners at the same time it's facing more furloughs and being asked to cut $1 million, "is a little schizophrenic," admitted LoGrande.

Another example of the special treatment being given to AEG..