L.A. Out of Race for GOP Convention

WASHINGTON â€”  Los Angeles, President Reagan’s home town, was out of the running today to host the GOP’s 1988 convention as the Republican National Committee narrowed its possible selections from 10 cities to three--Kansas City, New Orleans and Atlanta.

The six other cities dropped from consideration were Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Seattle, St. Louis and Philadelphia.

RNC Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf said all of the cities dropped had failed to meet either space, hotel or access requirements.

Fahrenkopf said Atlanta initially failed to meet all of the technical specifications that the party required but remained in consideration based on a last-minute message from Mayor Andrew Young.

Atlanta Promises Expansion

Atlanta officials had promised to construct new facilities that would increase their convention hall’s seating capacity to the 17,000-seat space that the party requires.

Kansas City and New Orleans, he said, were the only two cities out of 10 that had submitted bids that met all of the party’s specifications for space, seating, media work areas, hotels, parking and transportation facilities.

(“We are obviously very disappointed,� said James Hurst, executive vice president of the Greater Los Angeles Visitors and Convention Bureau. “We spent a lot of time and effort to woo the Republicans and we felt we had written the book on security and transportation during the (1984) Olympics. We felt everything was in place.�

Move-In Time Short

(Al Dorskind, chairman of the visitors and convention bureau said, “Because of our previous commitments, we could not deliver the amount of move-in time they (Republican National Committee) required to set up. That is the main reason we didn’t get the convention.�)

The RNC’s site selection committee will continue its evaluation of the three remaining contestants and will make a recommendation on Jan. 20 which will be considered by the full 162-member Republican National Committee during its meeting that begins Jan. 23.

RNC convention adviser Dick Lukstat said Atlanta has offered to modify its fixed-seat hall to add 1,000 seats and that the site selection committee will be evaluating the new arrangement.