Features
Inglewood’s Eminent Domain Problem
Buried in the 22-page document is a proposal to employ eminent domain to acquire additional land to supplement acreage already owned by the city near the proposed project. A site map filed with the document indicates a four-block area containing 100 “potential participating parcels” where the arena might be built.
The Los Angeles Times reports that within that four-block area are “an estimated 2,000 to 4,000 people, predominantly Latino” as well as businesses, schools, churches, apartments and single-family homes, in some cases occupied by the same families for generations.
Not only did the city and Clippers identify the 100 parcels for “potential participation,” but Inglewood also owns large parcels around them – making residents and business owners fear that acquisition of their property would help Inglewood and the Clippers create a contiguous footprint for a project much larger than currently on paper.
Bobby Bhagat, who owns a Rodeway Inn and Suites in the zone, told the paper his 40-year-plus business is surrounded by large city parcels and would be a prime target for arena construction if negotiations are successful. It sits across Century Boulevard from the football stadium being built separately by the Los Angeles Rams.
AP Photo / Damian Dovarganes – Rams Stadium Site Inglewood
Preliminary work is under way at the future site of the NFL’s Rams stadium complex near The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., Feb. 3.
“We’ve got a gold mine now that the stadium is coming,” Bhagat told the Times. “This is what we worked for. We’ve been waiting for something like this to happen. Now with the Clippers project, it’s all up in the air.”
He’s joined a growing number of residents and business owners opposed to the proposal by Clippers owner Steve Ballmer to build a 20,000-seat “state of the art” arena, practice facility, team offices and parking near land already earmarked for the Chargers stadium and an entertainment district.
Some have suggested the Ballmer proposal could be a leverage ploy for more favorable terms from the Staples Center, owned by AEG, when the NBA team’s lease runs out in 2024. The speculation does nothing to ease any minds, however.
Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. wrote an email to the Times attempting to calm his constituency.
“In my opinion, there will not be any eminent domain proceedings of residential property or of church property,” Butts wrote. “As negotiations continue, there will be an opportunity for the City Council to make that clear at some point in the near future. That is not the intent of the project. I personally will not support the use of eminent domain proceedings to take any residential property.”
One community group sued Inglewood in July, saying the proposal required review under California’s Environmental Quality Act before the city council approved negotiations. Another group, Uplift Inglewood, is organizing community meetings and protests.
And, of course, Madison Square Garden Co. has already issued a statement along with a claim for damages, required as a precursor to filing a formal lawsuit, accusing the city of fraud. MSG has also filed suit to obtain public records about the proposed project.