New Marathon Route Shows off Downtown, but at a Cost to the City
Ed Fuentes
Councilman Tom LaBonge gives his approval to the new marathon route as runners turn onto the 6th street bridge in Boyle Heights.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — The 2007 Los Angeles Marathon debuted a new point-to-point route designed to show off the city, but the popular changes look to have a negative impact on the city's wallet at a time when it can least afford it.
City salary costs for the 2007 race were up nearly $800,000, and yet a recent memo from the city's Chief Legislative Analyst suggests revised invoices that lower the city's combined reimbursement from the 2007 and 2008 races roughly in half, leaving the city paying a nearly $800,000 bill for the two marathons.
The contract between the city and Devine Racing provides that the race operator reimburse the city for direct incremental costs, that is, the costs the city incurs minus its normal non-marathon Sunday costs. That agreement was new for 2006, previously the marathon operator had paid a flat $100,000 fee for the city's services.
In 2007, though, the marathon rolled out a new point-to-point race that was designed to show off more of the city and reduce some elevation issues that had made the race less attractive. Previous races had been a loop, with both start and finish lines in Downtown. The new route brought increased costs, and the city's salary expenses went up $700,000 from 2006 to 2007.
A praised part of the new route is the final turn into Downtown, taking runners through Boyle Heights and across the historic 6th Street Viaduct.
While fans and runners seem to like the new route, Devine wasn't too pleased with the bigger invoice the firm received from the city. The firm said that the route changes were the city's idea, and therefore the city should shoulder the increased costs. In its memo, the Chief Legislative Analyst's office agreed, saying that the city should take salary costs from the route change along with additional expenses off the firm's invoice. The net result would be city costs of $800,000 per marathon, and reimbursement of only half that.
The matter goes to the city's Budget and Finance committee next, and any contract change would need the council's approval.
- CLA's 4/18 Report (PDF)
Metro Local on May 05, 2008, at 01:32PM – #1
When is the Sixth Street bridge scheduled to be closed for its slated repairs?
Juanito on May 05, 2008, at 02:15PM – #2
The Sixth Street Bridge has got all of the soul and spirit of a wet mop!
I say tear the thing down and put in a big new suspension high teched-up do-wop of a bridge to catch the visual eye of the rest of the nation/world. A big symbolic statement by LOS ANGELES.
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on May 05, 2008, at 02:58PM – #3
Metro: There is no set construction schedule (or construction plan, for that matter) yet.
Will Campbell on May 06, 2008, at 07:37AM – #4
Juanito wants to tear down the 6th Street Bridge because damn its historical context and landmark status, it's just not as soulful and spirited as some sort of newfanged whizbang span he envisions?
Indeed that would be a statement loaded with the kind of symbolism for which L.A.'s long been infamous.
Juanito on May 06, 2008, at 04:27PM – #5
Exactly. New soul, not rank infrastructure, that never had soul to begin with.
Metro Local on May 06, 2008, at 05:49PM – #6
You mean make it something Westsiders would want to drive over instead p[reserving it for the millions of Angelenos who have used it for decades to get from the other side of LA to Downtown?
That's not progress, that's living in cultural oblivion tucked inside the warm, fuzzy belief that unless Westsiders know about it, it doesn't exist.
John Crandell on May 06, 2008, at 09:34PM – #7
Well it has the look of a humpbacked erector set put up by the Corps of Engineers for Patton, so he could get his tanks across the river Meuse to the Battle of The Bulge. That's just what it looks like, instead of a breathtaking symbol to unite the east side of the city with Downtown. Such a structure would extend west from the Whittier Blvd. crossing of the Golden State Freeway all the way to Sixth and Mateo. It could stand for civic aspiration as well.
Metro Local on May 06, 2008, at 10:11PM – #8
All depends on where you look at it from:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eecue/407199210/