California.

CALIFORNIA

Community leaders in Sacramento are reacting positively to Mayor Joe Serna Jr.'s recent pitch for a regional effort that could involve issuing municipal bonds to help finance a new outdoor sports stadium, but the plan is still in the discussion stage.

"Right now, people are talking about it and thinking about it," said Sacramento Treasurer Thomas Friery. "Will this little seed wind up as a tree? I don't know."

The debate started this month at a breakfast meeting of local business leaders. Serna said he would like to see a multi-county bond issue to finance a sports complex.

Serna challenged business, city, and county leaders to push for a world-class stadium that could attract a new professional sports team or help to keep the current Canadian Football League team, the Sacramento Gold Miners, from moving to Oakland.

The mayor said other metropolitan areas have engineered similar regional financing programs. He referred to Denver's multijurisdictional sales tax to fund a downtown stadium for the Colorado Rockies, a new airport, and other public improvements.

"A sports complex is something we'd like to look at," said Rusty Hammer, chief executive officer of the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. "We would certainly encourage, our political leaders to look at developing a regional approach."

But after last Tuesday's statewide election, Hammer questioned whether the voters are in a mood to subsidize a sports stadium. California voters rejected seven local school bond issues, and, on the statewide ballot, a $1 billion public transit measure.

-- Michael Utley, Los Angeles

Angeles could save almost $120 million a year by hiring private companies to provide such services as building maintenance, parking enforcement, and trash collection, according to a study released this month by the Reason Foundation.

The conservative group said privatizing these and other city services would free up enough money to hire 1,600 police officers. Because of budget shortfalls this year, Mayor Richard Riordan has so far fallen short on his promise to put 3,000 new officers on the streets.

The study, "Competitive Contracting in Los Angeles," noted that some of the greatest cost savings could come from a public-private partnership to handle the city's emergency medical services.

Los Angeles' emergency medical costs are among the highest in the nation, according to the Southern California-based foundation. Total cost per transported patient is $476, compared with an average of $160 in other cities, the report said.

Eggers said that the majority of the nation's cities have privatized at least a portion of their emergency medical services, which helps to reduce costs. The foundation's study estimates that privatization could trim Los Angeles' emergency medical costs by 53%.

"The potential savings from opening up city government to competition are dramatic," said William Eggers, director of the foundation's Privatization Center and editor of the study.

"The success in cities such as Chicago, Indianapolis, and Philadelphia ... are indications.that privatization is a trend that will continue," Eggers said.

-- Michael Utley, Los Angeles

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