Features
AEG Clears Stadium Hurdle
Anschutz Entertainment Group has settled with a Los Angeles anti-poverty coalition and agreed to the creation of a $15 million trust fund for low-income housing and $2 million in traffic and pollution mitigation efforts near the Farmers Field stadium project.
The settlement with the Play Fair at Farmers Field Coalition removes one of the most serious legal hurdles for AEG in its attempt to build the stadium and renovate the Los Angeles Convention Center adjacent to the
The coalition filed suit in August seeking to invalidate a state law that requires legal challenges to AEG over the stadium to be made within 175 days, and called on AEG to provide $60 million for affordable housing.
Becky Dennison, co-director of the Los Angeles Community Action network, told the Los Angeles Times that the settlement announced Nov. 1 includes creation of a multilingual complaint hotline during stadium construction and on event days. She said the group also agreed not to file an environmental lawsuit against the project.
AEG already agreed to come up with some $50 million in concessions including $10.3 million for a new Metro Rail station platform and $8 million in upgrades to a Convention Center plaza.
The settlements “began as a legal negotiation but soon evolved into a cooperative dialogue about how we could work together to achieve the common goal of serving the needs of all segments of the community,” AEG President/CEO Tim Leiweke said.