Arches for the Ages : * Don’t Feed the Coliseum to the Development Lions

If anyone doubted that Los Angelenos take their history (however brief it is compared to other major cities) seriously, they were disabused of the notion when a public outcry arose over plans to demolish the Memorial Coliseum and replace it with a new football stadium.

Now, to their credit, Mayor Tom Bradley, the Coliseum Commission and the venerable old stadium’s private manager, Spectacor Management Group, have pulled back from that idea and come up with an alternative proposal that pleases even perturbed preservationists.

They have agreed to hold public meetings at which various means of redesigning or renovating the Coliseum can be discussed by any and all of the many parties who have a direct interest in the facility or who just care about the future of the historic stadium in Exposition Park.

Makes sense. The Coliseum needs a face lift, to be sure, but any plans that are made to do that should be discussed in the open. In a city a tad short of truly historic places, the Coliseum is special. Even local residents who aren’t sports fans have some feeling for a stadium that has been the site of two modern Olympics (and could host a third in the next century) and has glowed to speeches by noteworthy political leaders from John F. Kennedy to Nelson Mandela.

The Coliseum is 67 years old and needs to be modernized, and not just for aesthetic reasons. Without state-of-the-art seating, scoreboards and playing facilities, it will not be able to compete with other local venues. If it starts losing money, it will be a drain on public coffers when tax revenues must be spent on far more urgent needs. Now that we have a way to discuss all the needed changes, it’s time to get on with the work.