Law Commons^™

By most accounts, the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) — the union representing the players in the NBA — conceded a significant amount of money and other contractual terms in the new ten-year collective bargaining agreement (2011 Agreement) that ended the 2011 NBA lockout. Player concessions were predictable because the NBA’s economic structure desperately needed an overhaul. The magnitude of such concessions, however, was startling. The substantial changes in the division of basketball-related income, contract lengths and amounts, salary cap provisions, and revenue sharing rendered the NBA lockout — and the resulting 2011 Agreement — a near-complete victory for the …

Due to suburbanization and white flight, metropolitan regions suffer from great fiscal inequality. Wealthier, and oftentimes white, suburbs are able to keep their tax burdens low and receive high quality government services. In contrast, central cities, with many poorer and ethnic minority communities, face eroding tax bases and increased demand for social services. In response to this fiscal dilemma, central cities spend money to construct and operate assets, such as a sports stadium or music hall, in the hopes of spurring economic development that can create job opportunities for residents and increased tax revenues for the city. While such assets …

When the new City Charter took effect on July 1, 2000, Los Angeles cast aside a seventy-five year old governing structure in favor of a streamlined system more reflective of the political realities of a twenty-first century metropolis. It was in many ways a typical Los Angeles moment. Dissatisfied with a municipal institution designed for another age, voters looked to the future and embraced sweeping changes in the fundamental operations of the city. Fully sixty percent of voters rejected a venerable but outdated document and chose a new but unproven one. More importantly, voters opted for legislation that reflected the …