The City of Los Angeles will be releasing requests for proposals for companies to take over the Los Angeles Convention Center, as a new plan for operating the city-run facility is explored. The move is the first major facility in Los Angeles to be approved for privatization.
The proposed outsourcing was approved in conjunction with a new governance structure for the Convention Center, where an advisory panel will disappear and a second committee will be empowered to handle costs and booking large scale events.
The decision to potentially outsource was not unanimous, and at least one member of the Council said that changes at the facility should occur incrementally to discover what steps could be the most beneficial. The argument is that changing the governance structure and outsourcing could result in cost savings, but identifying the source of the savings would be more difficult.
Unions also objected to the plan, saying that the Center already runs efficiently and wins awards, making outsourcing unnecessary.
Read the full story at the LA Daily News.