Expo Park Museums Freaking About USC Taking Their Parking

Terms of the agreement between USC and the state for the university's lease of the LA Memorial Coliseum and Sports Arena have been announced, and of course everyone's freaking out about the parking. In a nutshell, the agreement requires "USC to install significant capital improvements to the Coliseum, which improvements are expected to cost between $70 and $100 million." One of the things USC gets in return is 70 percent of the California Science Center and African American Museum's parking spaces on 25 special event days each year. The fear is that losing parking on these days would hurt CSC's mojo; it's currently seeing record attendance thanks to the space shuttle Endeavour exhibit, according to the LA Times. Cullen Price, an outgoing member of the State Assembly who will soon succeed Jan Perry in representing the area on the City Council is among those unhappy about the plan (pdf). He says the potential lost revenue could cause layoffs at the museums and calls the move "a gift of almost $500,000 annually to USC" (the school would pay for the spaces, but at the regular day rate, not special event prices). Price and other critics argue the deal violates a state law that requires the parking garage to be operated in the best interests of the CSC and African American Museum.
· Opposition mounts to plan to give Science Center parking to USC [LAT]