AEG, the sports and entertainment company controlled by Denver billionaire Philip An schutz, may benefit from affordable- housing bonds that California voters approved in November.
Lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday night allowing business-improvement districts to compete for some of the $2.8 billion in housing bonds. An schutz’s company, owner of the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team, is building a 4 million-square- foot retail and entertainment complex in downtown Los Angeles adjacent to the Staples Center arena.
To get the Anschutz- backed bill before lawmakers, an unrelated measure was gutted and new language inserted. There was no debate during its final floor hearing held after midnight Wednesday.
Housing advocates say lawmakers subverted the will of the voters.
“The voters did not vote to fix up business districts in the downtown area,” Rob Wiener, executive director of the California Coalition for Rural Housing, said in a telephone interview. “This group is a very influential, well-financed group, and when they speak up at the eleventh hour, people listen.”
Anschutz’s company isn’t seeking any of the bond funds, spokesman Mike Roth said. The company is paying for all public improvements such as lighting and walkways around the project, LA Live, he said. The improvement district where the project is located sought the money.
“Repairs and upgrades to the infrastructure around the LA Live development are being paid for entirely by the developer, AEG,” Roth said. “We are not seeking these funds in any way for our project.”
Anschutz donated $500,000 this year to a political committee seeking to extend term limits in the state, a measure sought by Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Núñez, a Los Angeles Democrat who wrote the bill, campaign-finance records show.
“This bill just makes them eligible for the money, so it guarantees that there will be affordable housing in that project,” said Steve Maviglio, Núñez’s chief of staff.
