A plan to renovate the Congress Center of the 1970s goes ahead, the Los Angeles Municipal Council intended on Wednesday to spend 27.7 million dollars for an additional design and technical work.
The action of the council, during a vote of 14 to 1, does not allow massive renovation, but it shows that the council is firmly in the effort to revise the structure of the city center, despite a budget deficit of the city for next year which should be nearly a billion dollars.
A final vote is expected in July, when the costs of the project are clearer and that a city agreement is finalized with the APCLA, also known as the plenary conventions of the AEG, Los Angeles, the joint venture which would supervise the construction of the center.
Dozens of business leaders and construction workers proved to be at the meeting of the Wednesday council and a meeting of the Tuesday committee to urge the members of the board to move forward with the renovation.
Aaron Taxy, vice-president of government affairs in the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, said that a modernized congress center would have a training effect beyond the city center.
“It is an investment in Los Angeles,” said Taxy at the Committee meeting on Tuesday. “It is an investment in our workforce. It is an investment in companies in our city. ”
City leaders want to revise the Congress Center because its two structures, the South Hall and the West Hall, do not offer the adjoining space that high -level conventions need. With fewer events on a large scale, the city loses tax revenue that would be generated by hotels, according to city analysts.
The planned renovation, set at more than $ 4 billion, which includes debt costs,
would connect the two rooms by adding a segment on the Boulevard Pico.
Earlier this year, city analysts warned the members of the Council that the renovation was in danger, following the fear that the city will focus on the reconstruction of its infrastructure following the fire of Palisades.
However, in a updated report dated March 28, the administrative manager of the city Matt Szabo and the chief legislative analyst Sharon TSO offered the choice of a progressive approach which would allow construction to start by the end of this year and finish in 2029.
With several Olympic sports, including fences and table tennis, scheduled at the Congress Center, construction would temporarily stop during the 2028 games, said Szabo and TSO.
The main director of the economic policy of mayor Karen Bass, Max Reyes, appeared before the committee on Tuesday to reaffirm the support of the mayor to the project. Reyes said thousands of Angelenos depend on the company of the Congress Center for their livelihoods. Advance the project concerns “the future of our city … not just the city center,” said Reyes.
Doane Liu, Executive Director of the Tourism Department of the City, told the members of the Council at Tuesday’s meeting that he expects to expect that revenues double after a renovation, partly because the biggest conventions will come to Los Angeles
An increase in income would compensate for the debt but would still leave the city faced with an annual deficit of $ 45 million in the general fund due to the renovation, analysts said.
City analysts have also warned the council members of several unanswered problems, in particular the need for state approval for digital panels oriented in highway.
The member of the municipal council Monica Rodriguez, which represents the Northern Valley of San Fernando, voted the only “no” during the meeting on Wednesday, arguing that the city should not allocate money to a proposed renovation at the same time as it planned to reduce employee posts due to the deficit of almost a billion dollars of next year.
She told journalists on Tuesday that the city could not “continue to finance failure”.
“It was clear from the start that it was not going to be done in time, and frankly, it was not necessary for the 2028 games,” said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez also voted against last year’s plan spend up to $ 54 million On design, engineering and other pre-construction works for the expansion of the Congress Center. At least $ 40 million in this money was spent.
City analysts have said that the funds for pre-design and techniques do not come from the city’s general fund but are borrowed, the cost included in the overall price for renovation.
At the meeting on Wednesday, several members of the council, including Katy Yaroslavsky and Tim Mcosker, asked the city analysts to report on the options to reduce renovation and revenue of income, including the granting of denomination rights.
California Daily Newspapers
