Senator Opposes 2nd Stadium at Elysian Park

State Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) announced Friday that he is opposed to building a football arena next to Dodger Stadium in Elysian Park and will take whatever legislative means necessary to make sure it doesn’t happen.

“One stadium is enough,” said Polanco, flanked by about 50 residents who have been fighting Dodger owner Peter O’Malley’s wishes to build a second athletic arena in Elysian Park. The legislator spoke from a podium set up at Angel’s Point, which overlooks the stadium and the park.

Ever since Los Angeles lost its professional football team, the city has been searching for a site for a new stadium. One of the possible locations is Elysian Park, but residents say it is bad enough enduring the traffic and noise from Dodger games.

A football stadium would worsen the situation, they say, and would also destroy the park’s lush greenery. Among the opponents who gathered for the news conference was Father Juan Santillan, one of hundreds of Latino residents who were forced to move out of Chavez Ravine before Dodger Stadium was built in the early 1960s. Santillan told the crowd that he still feels “the hurt of having been displaced” when he was 12.

Other public officials have announced their opposition to an Elysian Park football stadium, including Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles) and Los Angeles City Council members Jackie Goldberg and Mike Hernandez.