Dateline Inglewood — Faced with discussing the NFL stadium proposal with residents in the know, Inglewood Mayor James Butts backed out of an on-air debate broadcast Wednesday night on KCRW's “Which Way, L.A.?”
He was formally invited, but backed out a few hours before the show was recorded.
Mr. Butts vanished, which critics said was cowardly, when he learned that he would have to discuss the rushed stadium proposal with residents who have sought to research that which the mayor is attempting to hide: Taxpayer subsidies and the city's refusal to perform an Environmental Impact Review for the vastly different stadium proposal.
According to the show's host, “Inglewood mayor James Butts and Hollywood Park executive Gerard McCallum agreed to appear on our program tonight. But when they heard that stadium opponents would also be on the program, they both dropped out.”
Also of interest is the picture used in the program's on-line broadcast: Mr. Butts and disgraced former Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt F. Dorn.
As is widely known, Mr. Dorn was convicted of corruption for essentially embezzling funds. While he no longer is allowed to run for office, before the ban, he upset Wal-mart by preventing a store from being built on the same 60-acre property that Wal-mart heir's husband Stan Kroenke, owner of the Rams and husband of a Wal-mart heir, bought.
Could Wal-mart be setting up Inglewood for disappointment by leveraging the land to get St. Louis to build them a stadium?
Mr. Fleming, editor of the Morningside Park Chronicle, may be contacted at editor@mpchronicle.net
