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W W W. D O W N T O W N N E W S . C O M
May 3, 2010
Volume 39, Number 18
INSIDE
Mother’s Day
Broadway’s Mixed Bag Plan to Revive Street Takes Key Steps Forward, But Huge Hurdles Loom by RichaRd Guzmán city editoR
Urban Scrawl on the budget debacle.
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Thousands get free medical treatment.
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War, gold and the ‘Bengal Tiger.’
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W
hen 14th District City Councilman José Huizar launched the Bringing Back Broadway initiative in January 2008, the ambitious plans were the latest in a series of failed attempts to restore the street to its heyday. In front of hundreds of area stakeholders in the Los Angeles Theatre, Huizar laid out a vision that would allow the street to recapture its role as a Downtown destination, replete with nightlife, pedestrian-friendly amenities and even a streetcar. Two years later, Huizar has taken some significant strides, gen-
What Happened in Unit 701?
L.A. Dances Again With the Cabal of NFL Owners
Police Searching for Man Who Assembled Weapons, Made Counterfeit Money in South Park Loft
by Jon ReGaRdie
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Remembering music critic Alan Rich.
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Five great entertainment options.
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20 CALENDAR LISTINGS 22 CLASSIFIEDS
photo by Gary Leonard
Councilman José Huizar is two years into his 10-year Bringing Back Broadway initiative. He has seen the upgrade of portions of the street, but now faces challenges in creating parking and moving a streetcar forward.
Double Trouble, Toil and Fumble executiVe editoR
Get ready for Cinco de Mayo.
erating more momentum than any of the previous attempts. Millions of dollars worth of street repairs have taken place and there is widespread community buy-in. During a recent meeting with Los Angeles Downtown News editors and reporters, Huizar expressed optimism about what has been achieved to date. “Bottom line is, we are very happy with where we are with the Bringing Back Broadway plan,” he said. However, the most significant tasks in the 10-year effort await. Plans for the streetcar and a parking garage that could lead to wider see Broadway, page 10
A
few weeks ago, a not-sosecret Downtown secret spilled into the open: A couple of really rich men want to build a National Football League stadium in South Park. Predicting that Anschutz Entertainment Group head Tim Leiweke and Hollywood bloodline kingpin Casey Wasserman, a team that a few years ago unsuccessfully pushed a stadium plan near L.A. Live, would come back with another stadium plan near L.A. Live, is about as risky as wagering that the sun will shine in Los Angeles this month. The only thing more surprising would have been if they weren’t working behind the scenes to create a chichi professional football mecca somewhere very close to where AEG has dropped $2.5 billion worth of hotels, restaurants and theaters. An uber-stadium — one that piggybacks on the Convention Center and gets more use than the average NFL palace — is perhaps the most obvious next play there is, even if it’s years away and would cost north of $800 million. The bigger issue, however, is what happens now that the bobcat is out of the bag. In the 16 years since the Rams and Raiders both skedaddled out of Los Angeles — and the only bigger sports blunder in the city in the past two decades was handing control of the Dodgers to Them Fightin’ McCourts — the cabal of 32
NFL owners has engaged in a dastardly game, in which they foment competition between potential local stadium developers, all in the name of money. Now, it could happen again, only this time there may be two asterisks: the potential sparring parties are richer than in the past; and they previously partnered on one of Downtown’s most important projects ever. In fact, the process has begun, with no less than the NFL commissioner quietly tossing the first hunk of raw meat into the cage, hoping the tigers will fight. Ugly? Yeah. But that’s how the NFL rolls. Roster of Locations To those who don’t follow the league’s stadium and franchise shenanigans, this may sound unlikely. But in a world where Goldman Sachs bets big against its own investors, and two wealthy old men will wager a single dollar that they can transform a homeless hustler into a suit-clad Wall Street type, while sending a well-off commodities broker to the poorhouse, anything can happen. (Oh wait, the second one was the plot from Eddie Murphy’s Trading Places, but the first one, which might seem harder to believe, is true). Before getting to the NFL’s latest shiv to L.A.’s ribs, consider life since the two football teams left following see Football, page 12
by Ryan VaillancouRt staff wRiteR
W
hen a resident of the Reserve Lofts smelled gasoline emanating from unit 701 in the early evening of April 19, the Fire Department got a nervous call. The concerned resident couldn’t have known that the act would be the first domino to tumble, ultimately setting off an on-
The Voice of Downtown Los Angeles
going manhunt for a figure police warn should be considered armed and dangerous. When fire and police officials arrived at unit 701 shortly after 6 p.m., the man inside, 33-year-old Brian Alexik, refused to open the door. After unlocking the door with a key, the door remained blocked by a homemade contraption that see Alexik, page 9
A tile mosaic replica of the CIA seal was found in the floor of Brian Alexik’s Reserve Lofts apartment. Alexik fled his seventh floor unit when police arrived.