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Well, what would you expect to happen when a bunch of cocky bizjocks from L.A. insist on a bill that would exempt them from many of the legal hurdles that everyone else must go through - including developers looking to build stadiums in other parts of the state? The legislation was hurriedly introduced with eight days to go in the session by Speaker John Perez and state Sen. Alex Padilla, who keep pushing AEG's exaggerated claims about the number of jobs that would be created. From ESPN:
The bill, which was still being drafted late Thursday night, would allow legal challenges to the stadium's environmental impact report to be heard immediately in the California Court of Appeal, which would then come to a decision within 175 days. The expedited process would bypass the Superior Court and avoid the protracted litigation AEG has been fearful of. In exchange, AEG has pledged to build a carbon-neutral stadium with more public transit users than any other stadium in the country and have committed to making Farmers Field one of the only stadiums in the country to have a net zero carbon footprint.
From the LAT:
An attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, who had tentatively supported the idea of an expedited court-review process on Thursday, said there are too many loopholes for the group to support the bill in its current form. The bill does not contain strong enough language to make sure AEG meets goals for reducing air pollution and traffic congestion in a timely way, said David Pettit, senior attorney with the environmental group. The deal, as proposed, would "give AEG special treatment in return for things that AEG would need to do anyway," Pettit said in a statement. "This weak, last-minute, backroom deal is a missed opportunity for Los Angeles and a dangerous precedent for California. It can and should be fixed."
Just curious: Does anyone know how Gov. Jerry Brown, not exactly known as a jock, would feel about legislation that messes around with the CEQA laws?
Mark Lacter created the LA Biz Observed blog in 2006. He posted
until the day before his death on Nov. 13, 2013.