Kroenke's LA stadium plan again comes under fire
By Jim Thomas
Less than a week after a report warned that Stan Kroenke's proposed stadium in Inglewood, Calif., would be vulnerable to terrorists due to its proximity to Los Angeles International Airport, another report was made public Tuesday regarding overall safety concerns of having the stadium built so close to flight paths into LAX.
The reports have one thing in common: they were both commissioned by AEG, the sports and entertainment firm trying to get an NFL stadium built in downtown Los Angeles, and thus a rival of the Inglewood plan put together by Rams owner Kroenke.
Unlike
the earlier terrorism report which was authored by Tom Ridge, the former Secretary of Homeland Security, the latest report was done by Mark Rosenker, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.
According to the Rosenker report, approaching aircraft could be as little as 300 feet above the Inglewood stadium, potentially dangerously close for the safety of the plane as well as fans in the stadium on game day.
Two east-west runaways are about 2½ miles from the proposed stadium site, both on flight paths that would head over the stadium or near the stadium.
As many as 68 flights per hour could fly over the stadium at LAX, one of the nation's busiest airports. Safety concerns aside, Rosenker said the noise of distractions from a plane flying over the Inglewood site every 2 minutes could greatly diminish fan enjoyment of the game.
In addition, having pregame flyovers, or a blimp above the stadium during the game would be difficult given the flight paths and congestion at LAX.
"So you're in the area where you're going be in the last phase of flight before you're gonna be touching down," Rosenker said.
"To put an NFL stadium which will house as many as 80,000 people in a concentrated area — there are better places, much better places to put a stadium than in the flight path of a major airport."
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