NFL stadium plan in Industry ignored large Asian community, suit says

The city of Walnut filed a lawsuit hoping to block a proposed NFL stadium in nearby Industry, arguing in part that the developer’s campaign failed to reach the city’s large Asian population.

Walnut is a predominantly Asian suburb about 30 miles east of downtown L.A., and city officials said in their lawsuit that many residents in the city don’t speak English. The suit claims that the city of Industry did not properly inform Walnut residents in their native language about the potential impact of the $800-million stadium.

“Although Industry knew that the stadium-entertainment complex would impact large Chinese-, Korean-, Tagalog- and Spanish-speaking populations in Walnut, it failed to provide notices for the project in any language other than English,” according to the suit.

Additionally, the suit claims that Industry failed to prepare an adequate environmental impact report on the stadium plan, which was presented by Majestic Realty, a company owned by billionaire Ed Roski.

“While the project proponent suggests economic growth in the region ... neighboring cities such as Walnut and Diamond Bar would realize significant traffic impacts, noise, air and light pollution, and other impacts that would jeopardize the health, safety and welfare of its residents,” according to a statement from Walnut.

A representative of the Walnut city manager’s office referred further questions to a lawyer representing the city in the lawsuit. She did not immediately return calls Thursday.

John Semcken, vice president of Majestic Realty, said he wasn’t surprised by the suit. “There’s nothing surprising about it other than for months, they have been saying their opposition to it, threatening to sue us. And not one time have they sat down with the developer and said we want to discuss mitigations for our city.”

Semcken, Roski, Majestic and two Industry business groups are also named in the suit.

Semcken vowed that the plan to bring an NFL team back to the Los Angeles area would move forward. “At the end of the day,” he said of the suit, “it’s a bump in the road.”

The NFL has yet to say if it supports the Industry plan.

-- Cara Mia DiMassa

Photo credit: City of Industry

Comments

[Ed C.]

I am Asian, and while I am not a Walnut resident, I do want the stadium built. Besides, the stadium's only going to be used for eight Sundays in a given NFL season anyway.

[I'm just sayin'...]

You to be kidding me...

Now I've heard it all..

[Pedro Sanchez]

The last time I checked, the official primary language is English. Enough said...

[America me]

This is America. Learn to speak and understand english. Its called Due Diligence

[Frank]

LA wants a football team and now I know why the NFL is not serious about it, because of these non-english speaking people who don't care about football, cause I know the majority of us want a staudim and football team. Also, the lawyer for the walnut people said that the developer didn't notify them in other ways other than english? Isn't this America

[Drew]

Exactly what sort of obligation does the City of Industry have to the residents of other cites? Exactly no oblication at all! If the City of Walnut was that concerned about it's own citizens receiving notices in languages other than English, it should have been proactive and coordinated whatever translating needed to be done. It is very obvious the City of Walnut is using a thinly veiled, unrelated excuse to sue against a project they don't want.

And wow, what a disservice the City of Walnut is doing to their citizens. In this bad of an economy, why would any city want to sue to stop a multi-million dollar stadium sure to bring jobs to their residents, sales to their businesses, and tax revenue to their city? How short-sighted!

[American]

Was this lawsuit written in their native Asian language?!?!

This is the USA and last I checked English is still the official language.

WHAT A JOKE!!!

[The Truth]

Using those asian, filipino and spanish subcultures as an excuse is just horsepucky. They should learn to speak, read and write English if they want to live in the USA.

[Ralph]

I don't really understand why notices need to go out in other languages than English--and I'm Chinese-American.

[David]

I dont think theres anything wrong with only publishing this notice in English whatsoever. You live in AMERICA, we speak ENGLISH, if you want to live, work, and be in this country long term, LEARN THE LANGUAGE. Its that simple. If I moved to Japan or China or any non-english speaking country, I wouldn't expect to have signs or notices posted in English for me, I would expect to learn the local language in order to live, work, and interact in that society. Why is it any different for people comming to America??? Now there is nothing wrong at all for people to continue speaking and enjoying their native language and passing it on to their children, but if your going to live in a country, you should also learn to speak its language, pure and simple.

[NP]

Give me a break! Any other languages we need to accommodate?? Here's some advice for all the English-impaired individuals living in the United States - "learn English". That's what our forefathers made a point to do when they arrived in America. This lawsuit should be an embarrassment to the English-speaking Asian community.

[Bambi Delore]

Im surprised that anything gets done in the Los Angeles area these days.

Doesnt matter anyway, the NFL could care less about having a franchise in L.A. again and most people in L.A. care even less.

[Radiomantodd]

WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE... Asians?

This is ridiculous.

[Whatever....]

What a terrible excuse to try to block a huge stadium project. I'm also Asian, don't live in Walnut and careless if an NFL team arrives in LA. But using language barriers as an excuse is so irrelevant. Like many said, this is America, live by the American rules and laws, learn the language. If not, there should be no right for anyone to object whats right or wrong.

[Citizen E.]

Nice to see the knuckle-draggers have had their shots...

But seriously, the language issue is a red-herring. The real issue, which I wish Ms. DiMassa would have focused on and researched, is the issue of the environmental imapact report. It is easy to say you want a stadium if you do not live near or know the area. Listen to the average traffic report during rush hour, and note how many times the 60 or 57 is involved. Now imagine a stadium near that merge (which is already a mess because of the trucks) and the impact is worse.

As for the "only a few weekends a year" argument, that shows a complete ignorance of the facts. Roski is proposing the stadium be used for two teams, which means just about every weekend from August to January. And then there are other events (do you really think a stadium owner will only use it for football) that will increase traffic in the area and bring drunken fans parking in residential streets in Diamond Bar and Walnut, all because they will not want to pay the outrageous parking fees that will no doubt come with the stadium. The jobs provided will be minimum wage jobs, mostly part time, with no benefits. Industry and Majestic have thumbed their nose at neighboring communities, have not been willing to do an environmental impact for a stadium, and have not been willing to sit down to do anything but say "live with it, we are going ahead no matter what." Not to mention, this whole issue smells of a switch-and-bait, because there was an environmental impact report done and zoning given for a business park, and then out of the blue, suddenly a stadium is going to be built. Finally, I have recieved plenty of fliers in the mail (this is a WELL financed campaign) touting that traffic will actually be lessened by a stadium. Right, except that is only true if you take 8-14 weeks of overloaded traffic from football games and average it out over 52 weeks, a dishonest representation at best.

This stadium is a loser, and I only hope Diamond Bar joins in the lawsuit.

[Avril]

Even when I just go on vacation to another country, I learn enough of that country's language to be able to function to a certain degree. How much more should someone who plans to work, live and breathe in a country that's not their native tongue do the same or more. This is truly unbelievable.

[Tess]

I'm Filipino but I find this absolutely ridiculous. It's only right that EVERYONE who wants to live in America should learn how to speak English! If I lived in Walnut, I'd be livid to know that the taxes I pay to the City of Walnut are used for such a frivolous lawsuit. I live in Rowland Heights, right next door to Walnut, and I would be ecstatic if we had an NFL stadium nearby. It will be good for the area.

[Rational]

American:

There is no offical language of the U.S.

America me:

Learn what "Due Diligence" means. Stop throwing terms that you think makes you sound smart, around.

That said, yes I agree with the sentiment that everyone should learn english. I'd enthusiastically support a bill for it and making it the official language. It won't pass while the Democrats are in power. Let call this lawsuit for what it is; it's a frivolous lawsuit.

[Brandon]

@American, Pedro Sanchez,

I agree that they didn't have to inform residents in their native language. However, I bet you didn't really check any official website when you said "Last time I checked, English is still the official language." US of A doesn't have official language.
English is just a preferred language by majority of the US citizen.

[Read, people.]

This article focuses on 1 paragraph of an 83-page Complaint. The main issue is that Industry failed to review the environmental impacts of the stadium (which will be huge), instead using old environmental documents from a business park plan. The documents are full of inaccuracies. For example, they claim that the stadium project will actually be smaller than the business park and that water usage, trash generation, and traffic will DECREASE...for a stadium, retail center, and commercial center...really? Contrary to Industry's press assertions, they drug their feet such that the citizens of walnut could not get information about the project and refused to meet with walnut and diamond bar citizens on several occasions. The press shouldn't be rewarding Industry for its shady practices. Focusing on that 1 paragraph is insulting.

[drl]

I agree with Citizen E. This stadium is a non-starter.

The stadium will only be used "8 Sundays a year"? What absolute and utter nonsense! The fact is that Roski only wanted to follow the path of least resistance, and that path led him directly to the City of Industry. No other city would ever consider such a costly project (which, regardless of what anyone says, will be subsidized by taxpayer dollars, and after the whole bailout debacles, I don't want another one of my tax pennies heading to any private entity), and the huge mess it will create in terms of traffic for neighboring communities.

Have you tried driving Downtown on Saturday when USC is playing a home game? Or even Pasadena when UCLA is at the Rose Bowl? It's a jacked up mess, and I wouldn't wish that traffic nightmare on anyone.

I am a huge football fan (with my astronomical DirecTV bill come fall as proof), but come on, "the majority of us want a stadium". I have an idea - why don't the folks who really want the NFL back in LA pony up matching funds for the stadium, and then get the signatures to have the stadium built in their neighborhood.

[Are you kidding?]

Is that all the better the best money in Walnut could buy? For Heavens sake hire a real lawyer.

The language situation has been said by many so I don't have to.

But Air and Light pollution give me a break.

Why doesn't Walnut do something about Global Warming like stop spewing a lot of hot air.

[DRE DAWG]

L.A. doesn't need an NFL team. There's plenty of other sports to chose from. Besides, our immigrant city only follows futbol (soccer for you gringos), baseball, and ping pong.

INSTEAD.....we need more green areas; more parks, more bike paths, more sports fields for the public, and more safe and pretty walk ways.

We definitely DO NOT need more COUCH POTATOES!!!!!

[Robert Builder]

Though English is not the official language of the US, I see Walnut's plan for what it is - a recent attempt to block something they feel is ugly and will reduce the quality of life in the region. Oh, and flyers were distributed in Mandarin.

However, why not build it in the slum areas of Los Angeles where overcrowding and trashy portions already exist - Inglewood, South Central, Century City...

[Harold]

I drive thru that city everyday and I get confused, I don't know whether I am in Asia or America. The only thing left for them to do is change the city signs with Asian signs.

[Cat]

Sounds to me like the City of Walnut is an elitist place and god forbid anyone else infringe on their non-english speaking residents. Sorry I don't live in Walnut nor do I live in the City of Industry and yet I know all about it the plans for a stadium. Hmmmm oh wait that's right I speak, read and write English imagine that.

[Neutral-Minded]

For those that read this article on its face and commented that Asian people need to learn English, I'll cut you guys a break because in all honesty and if you thought about it more, the insufficient notice lawsuit is not about purely JUST about notice, but rather SIMPLY because WALNUT DOES NOT WANT a huge football stadium next to them. I have to admit, the City of Walnut was kind of sneaky and albeit, didn't use full good faith, in filing this lawsuit. Walnut didn't have a lot of options to stop or block this stadium project, so they had to go to their "desparate" option -- which is this lawsuit. Trust me fellas/ladies, Asian people in Walnut DO KNOW ENGLISH (and pretty well too), Walnut is just trying to do something to preserve its peaceful-suburban type atmosphere. What can Walnut do? -- file a lawsuit saying It's wrong to build a stadium? Nope, they can't, because the stadium is being built within City of Industry boundary lines so Walnut is left with little option. Hope this clears up the smoke a little.

[Big Jim Slade]

This is the lowest of the low. So if you can't use an Environmental Impact Report (already approved), you play the race card?

I don't want the damn stadium built either, but if they've played by the rules to get it built then build it. Whomever is behind this latest scheme is a RACIST!

[Jennifer]

Once again, I nominate The Los Angeles Times as "The Worst Newspaper in the World"....with apologies to Keith Olbermann of MSNBC for stealing his line.

The article about the California Environment Quality Act lawsuit over the City of Industry stadium is typical of the vacuous, air headed reporting by the strange people the L.A. Times management has chosen to keep on its staff as reporters. An 83 page court complaint, filed under California's one and only and most important law which does anything to preserve the liveability of our communities, and all this TMZ wannabe reporter and her editor could write about is this foreign language claim?

If the L.A. Times was a serious newspaper, its story would have described the apparently seriously corrupt b.s. which the City of Industry's employees pulled in short tracking the Industry City Council's approval of this project. That's the trouble with the L.A. Times, its absolute refusal to seriously report on corruption in Southern California's city governments. If the L.A. Times were a real newspaper, it would have investigative reporters out looking for corruption in city governments, but of course, instead the L.A. Times is more interested in devoting 99% of its editorial space to fluff ball garbage.

For those who are outraged or upset about the City of Walnut's lawyers including an objection to the City of Industry's failure to give "effective notice" of the project to non-English speakers, I can tell you that in the "game" of trying to protect the public from corrupt city officials, the normal legal practice is to lob as many mud balls at the crooks as one can possibly imagine. The fact that the complaint has 83 page alone shows me that there are a whole lot of serious theories under which one can attack the project under the California Environmental Quality Act.

I applaud the City Council of the City of Walnut for doing the right thing for its residents and filing a CEQA case against those who approved the project by skirting or outright violating the law.

[Smack MacDougal]

I like Asians. I like Chinese and Koreans -- good folks.

Yet, think for a moment if the roles were reversed.

Suppose some Chinese wanted to build a stadium in Walnut. Further suppose, they had their plans and reports written in Mandarin or Cantonese.

Would this be acceptable to others? Would this be acceptable to you?

After all, if you wanted to read their proposals and reports, you would need a translator (assuming you cannot read Mandarin or Cantonese). And if you could not come up with the cash to pay for one, or if you chose not to pay for one, too bad for you.

And what about the planning department of Walnut? Should the workers there accept proposals written in some other language, say Cantonese or Mandarin?

Should our hypothetical stadium builders in Walnut get forced to conduct business in a language that the city bureaucrats of Walnut demand?

Do us Californians have laws that require others to conduct affairs in English or an approved set of languages?

If so, what is the moral basis for this? If not, why not? After all, having open standards lets our Open Society function as well as it does.

Imagine if plumbing or electric wires or car tire lug nuts or much more lacked standards. Our progress would never happen.

A designated language becomes a protocol for public affairs. It becomes a standard. For decades, French was the standard language for diplomacy.

Today, English is the standard language for global academia, scientific research, commercial air flight, commercial shipping.

[Citizen E.]

@Jim Slade,

This is not a last ditch effort. As "read, people" stated, the language issue is a small part of the lawsuit (but sensational enough for an ill-informed LAT "reporter" to run with as race-baiting material). You have your facts wrong. There has been NO EIR done for the STADIUM. Majestic Reality and their tools are trying a bait and switch. Hey, Ms.DiMassa, how about doing some REAL journalism. Go and look up the conditions under which the original EIR for a BUSINESS PARK was approved. I am guessing the stadium backers (like the mayor of Industry and the Majestic folks) were part of the deal from the beginning, and probably (my reasonable deduction) planned to build the stadium all along, but knew a "business park" would fly under the radar easier. Then, the "switch" (again, my assertion) to the stadium and the spurious claim, repeated by you (I do not believe, Jim, that you are truely opposed to the stadium, because you are spouting the Majestic line) that an EIR has "already been approved." Hey, how about having an EIR done for a burger joint, and then just plop in a toxic waste dump. Hey, its the same, right? WRONG. Watch and see, as soon as this gets to court, a new EIR will be called for. Take your stadium to somewhere were it makes sense.

[Amy]

This is such shoddy reporting. As has been noted, the failure to give notice in other languages is merely one minor claim; the complaint focuses on the lack of a proper environmental impact report. Choosing to highlight the language claim is a blatant effort to stir up the inevitable furor from the crowd that believes there's an official language in this country.

[Walnut Native]

I was born and raised in a house my family built in Walnut during the late 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, right across the street from Mt.SAC/CalPoly. The last year I was there we noticed Asian people rummaging in our trash cans on trash day. We'd never seen anything like that in previous 25 years. Ever. Then they started to flood into the community in mass, buying up everything near the good schools from San Marino to Torrence to Diamond Bar and REFUSING TO SPEAK OUR LANGUAGE and accept our customs. It is a bitter feeling to lose one's hometown like that. One few, if any, Americans have ever felt before my generation. We talked about building the NFL stadium for decades so screw these idiots and someone needs to slap a federal lawsuit on Walnut for what it's trying to create. That's not Little Siagon --we owe nothing to those immigrants. They MUST accept our culture or get the Hell out and take their American-born offsprings who want to go with them.

[Mark S]

I havent been to Walnut before, but i am tempted to drive through the area now. But before i do, can someone please tell me if all the signs in and around the area are in any Asian language ? I've only ever seen Spanish signs along with English, so I'm real confused.

[sk]

just telling people to learn english really isn't enough. that doesn't solve anything. if you cared enough about the community you were building the stadium in, you would take the time to inform them properly of what you are doing to their community and to win their approval. to properly inform people sometimes may be cumbersome, but it's what you should do if you want to have good communication and support.

if there are parent teacher conferences and i want to let the non-English speaking parents know how their child is doing, i'm not going to say, "learn english, it's america!" i learn to accommodate them because at the end of the day, i want them to be informed.

it's a horrible thing to say, "it's america, learn english." america is a land of immigrants, learn to work with that. and many of these people contribute in meaningful ways to our society. we live together and so we should do our best to accommodate each other and work with what we have.

besides, some people who "know english" actually have horrible reading comprehension and grammar skills... so maybe they should work on that instead of leaving comments on here telling people to learn english.

[Bobbie-Joe]

Not only has Roski (or is it "RISKY"?) and his croonies purposed the idiotic stadium (to accommodate 85,000 people for 45 weeks of EVENTS per year---get the facts BEFORE you yap) to border the beautiful, serene, and peaceful communities of Diamond Bar and Walnut, they have also created AND brought racism, hatred, and animosity into these two neighborhoods and their neighboring communities (yes, Roski-Risky has also "bought" out the local schools, activity centers, businesses, local youth sports teams, and SOME local politicians with their $$$---let the truth be known).

P.S. For all those who claim to speak "English," please learn HOW to write (properly) in "English" too.

[Bobbie-Joe]

Ed C.: EIGHT SUNDAYS during the NFL season??? You really think someone (even as idiotic as Roski-Risky) is going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars (maybe even a billion dollars---tax money included) to use the stadium for only "eight Sundays" during the season???!!! YOU REALLY NEED TO EDUCATE YOURSELF TO THE FACTS. FACTS, NOT TO THE RHETORIC OF THE IGNORANT.
By the way, if you really want the stadium so badly, WHY DON'T YOU PETITION ROSKI-RISKY TO HAVE THAT MONSTROSITY BUILT IN YOUR BACKYARD.

P.S. By the way, shame on you for jumping on the bandwagon and making this issue an ASIAN issue; it's a MONSTROSITY-in-the-wrong-place issue.

[LV]

Thank goodness its not Latinos getting attacked for not speaking English for once.

[walnut citizen]

To Walnut Native:

You seem to forget that you are an immigrant as well. We ALL are. So, because you've lived in Walnut since the 1960s, 70s, 80s, do you believe you should be given seniority over the city? Well, you won't. If Asians are "buying up" houses, it's their right to if they can afford it. Any person from any race can if they have the money to. So if you're bitter that others chose not to live there and Asians came in because they love what the city has to offer, you're going to be living a sad and angry life.

Walnut is trying to protect their community from hazardous conditions (same issues other commenters brought up) and the only thing this article has promoted is more racism (judging from all of the "stupid asians, speak english" comments). Personally, the language barrier excuse was weak because I know tons of Asians in Walnut that speak English well. I don't see Walnut as being Little Saigon, Chinatown or Little Tokyo. I think it's a beautiful, peaceful city with diverse cultures. If you click on the cnn link, Walnut's racial diversity index is actually higher than the national average:

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2008/snapshots/PL0683332.html

It's people like "Walnut Native" that are so ignorant and negative that affect the well-being of our city. I live in Walnut and I actually like being able to eat some of the Asian restaurants here. Who doesn't like sushi, pho or chinese food?? We should be encouraging open-mindedness and embracing the beauty of various ethnicities instead of dismissing them so quickly.

The stadium being built will definitely affect the city of Walnut more directly than the city of Industry. The city of Industry is actually two cities to west of us and around 15-20 min away. But, the stadium would be right down my street, which means less parking in our plazas (for people who actually want to eat, shop or workout) and more parked cars in our neighborhood (from NFL fans who refuse to pay for parking). An increase in visitors also means a higher risk of car accidents, more traffic and increased crime rates. It might sound like a small price to pay for people who aren't directly involved in this situation, but to the citizens in Walnut (that oppose to having a stadium built), we are not willing to pay that price and have a multi-million company corrupt our beautiful little city.

[lord_bongwater]

Posted by Bobbie-Joe: "...croonies purposed the idiotic stadium...P.S. For all those who claim to speak 'English,' please learn HOW to write (properly) in 'English' too."

Croonies? Purposed? Nice English, perfesser!