INGLEWOOD (2UrbanGirls) – The City of Inglewood Finance Department is requesting an adjustment be made to how much Inglewood taxpayers will contribute to the ongoing maintenance and operations costs of the Inglewood Transit Connector (ITC) during the June 20 city council meeting.
The City has assembled roughly $765 million towards the construction costs of the ITC project, but in order to get the additional $1 billion in federal funding, they have to demonstrate they have the financial wherewithal to finance the project.
Taking into consideration the City has created Transportation Impact Fees, to be assessed on new developments, those fees were created AFTER negotiations closed with the owners of SoFi Stadium and the Intuit Dome. Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. was disturbed when this author, and resident Marvin McCoy, asked repeatedly if the owners from the Kia Forum, SoFi Stadium, and Intuit Dome would be chipping in on the costs.
“It’s typical of these same two people and their comment was: is the TIF going to be applied retroactively to SoFi Stadium and the Intuit Dome,” said Butts. “No, it’s not. It’s not going to be applied retroactively to the Forum from 1967 or Hollywood Race Track for 70 years.”
“In this country, you can’t pass ex post facto laws,” said Butts. “These people do this to generate animus to entities that have invested billions of dollars to be here.”
Mayor Butts claims sole credit for negotiating the deals with the developers on these projects and why would he allow them to not contribute towards a project that is solely being built for the purpose of moving THEIR customers from the Metro K-Line to their venues? A close review of the mayor’s campaign finance reports is where you’ll find those answers.
Mayor Butts has long alleged “no taxpayers money” would be used to construct ANY of these projects, however, the June 20 staff report on the matter makes it crystal clear Inglewood taxpayers are on the hook for some construction and ongoing costs of this project.
The Finance Department originally estimated annual costs to be at $7.6 million during the May 23 city council meeting and that number has now swelled to $9.1 million.
According to the staff report, “it is recommended the mayor and council members direct the mayor to amend the funding agreement with the Inglewood Transit Connector Joint Powers Authority to contribute an additional $1.5 million annually, for a total of $9.1 million (FY23), as adjusted for inflation, during the operations period to support the ongoing operating and maintaining of the ITC and $3.75 million annually in each of the two years prior, as adjusted for inflation, to planned construction completion (estimated in 2028) to establish a project reserve for unexpected operating period obligations”.
“Given that a regular share of the ITC’s ridership will occur on non-event days, it’s appropriate that the City contribute a share of the cost of operations.”
“The City continues to engage the owners of the venues within the Inglewood Sports and Entertainment District on contributions to support maintenance and operations costs. Given that those negotiations are still underway, it is prudent for the City to demonstrate this additional commitment to support the project rating.”
According to documents prepared by Trifiletti Consulting, the lead consultant on the project, ridership on non-event days is dismal.
“The project’s 2021 Draft Environmental Impact Report estimated that just 414 people per hour would ride the line at peak times on a “normal” day, compared to 11,450 per hour after an NFL Game. The intense traffic and car pollution the ITC is intended to mitigate were created by the privately owned stadiums.”
2 Comments
This mayor is a scumbag. I don’t know any residents who want this damn connector. This is being built for the venues and it benefits the venues. So they should be the one paying. Not residents. This whole thing has cost the city and small business owners who were forced out of their places and now you want them to PAY? oh don’t be so smug Mr mayor I don’t see u continuing on with this city
He who is beholden to the Billionaires for
He who is beholden to the billionaires for financing his election should not be the negotiator! At $390,000.00 plus benefits in 2021 that job should hav been the City Managers job !!
A man can not serve two masters and Butts has shown us who he is loyal to ….NOT RESIDENTS!!
The Traffic NIGHTMARE created by the new Sports Venues should be mitigated by the owners of the Sports Venues who thus far have shown residents they think we residents are here to be trampled, run out of town or treated like scum on their shoes.
We should not be expected to pay for the privilege of being disregarded and disrespected !!
Pay to play and backroom deals are should not be Inglewood’s calling card and yet between Butts and Morales the make all the corrupt elected of Los Angeles look like new trainees.!!
Ballmer and Kroenke should as we were told finance the protect with their own dollars rather than our tax dollars!
Let’s see if the new woman on the council are as willing as the bobble head predecessors to give away their voice and abdicate their responsibility.