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Always Forward, Never Straight
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Read the story behind Neil Stratton and Scott Mayer’s film of this Critical Mass Bike Ride in VenicePaper’s October 06 issue out on the streets, now.
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Also in this Issue
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NEWS
Court Sidesteps Lincoln Place Eviction Issue
"Rocky Delgadillo is a double-crosser," charges historic preservationist.
by Roger Templeton
December 6, 4:35 PM – Superior Court Judge Yaffe decided this morning that conditions the City attached to a redevelopment plan covering the Lincoln Place Apartments site in 2002 must be followed, but declined to rule on the question of whether the eviction of 52 households that were taking place as the hearing was underway were permissible.
Today's action pitted Lincoln Place owner Apartment Management and Investment Company against preservationists of the Architectural Alliance – with the City Attorney's office weighing in for the City – on the question of whether the 2003 demolition of 5 buildings on the site "triggered" conditions barring the eviction of the complex's remaining residents.
"The City Attorney did not do what he told us he was going to do," Amanda Seward of the Alliance charged. "When the judge asked them what [the City's position was] they said 'we want you to say the conditions haven't been involved yet.' They took AIMCO's position!"
Delgadillo spokesman Jonathan Diamond disputed Seward's characterization of the City's position.
"There was no conflict between the City Attorney and the preservationist's position when we went into court this morning," he said. "We were asking for a decision on whether the relocation provisions were triggered or not. The court declined to rule on whether the relocation conditions were prospective or retroactive."
"The City Attorney has a strong commitment to affordable housing in the City," Diamond maintained.
The issue was whether a "no evictions" provision among the conditions attached to the Vested Tentative Tract Map – the document approved by the City – must be enforced by the City now, or later, when (and if) AIMCO applies for permits under the plan. The agreed Tract Map provides for the relocation of existing residents to equivalent or better apartments within the complex, at the same rent, as buildings are demolished and new ones built. Today's hearing was the result of a Court of Appeals judgment last July that the City's conditions must be reviewed.
AIMCO spokesperson Jan Frambro declined to comment on this morning's hearing or eviction proceedings, saying "nothing's changed" from comments made by AIMCO Vice President Patti Shwayder in an interview last week. In that interview, Shwayder contended that the Tract Map was the plan of Lincoln Place's previous owner.
"We made no promises, that's not our map. It's the prior owner's map," Shwayder said last Tuesday. "If we were to take advantage of the map, then we'd have to abide by the conditions. And the court of appeals talked about which conditions were relevant for demolition. But, we're not there yet. We have not submitted any permits for demolition. And, we evicted residents not under the tract map, but under State law. To weave those together is simply apples and oranges."
Today's evictions were filed by AIMCO under California's Ellis Act, which provides for removing tenants when a landlord decides to go out of the apartment rental business.
"We have the total and unfettered right to take our property off the rental market which we've done under Ellis, and, we're looking at our options on how to proceed," Shwayder said.
Diamond claimed that today's hearing was over "only the buildings that were torn down." He was unable to say what avenues the City would have open to it if the judge determined that the "no evictions" provision for relocation of residents must be enforced.
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