NEWS
Councilman Wins Reprieve for Lincoln Place Seniors
Rosendahl loses council vote but leads sharp questioning of city attorney.
by Roger Templeton
JUNE 1 – Late yesterday afternoon, District 11 Councilman Bill Rosendahl announced he'd gotten a commitment from AIMCO, owner of Venice's Lincoln Place Apartments, that any move to evict tenants still residing on the property will be delayed until after August 31. An earlier agreement that delayed evictions was set to expire at midnight.
AIMCO agreed to the 3-month grace period "to allow remaining tenants to consider 'enhanced relocation' packages," according to Rosendahl's office.
There are approximately 50 households still living in the nearly 700-apartment complex. They are all elderly or disabled residents that were protected from last December's evictions.
“I am thrilled by this news,” Rosendahl said in a press statement. “It gives everyone involved a little time to take a deep breath and assess their options. This was the fair and right thing for AIMCO to do for the seniors and the disabled tenants.”
On Tuesday, Rosendahl failed in a 5-8 vote to win the city council's backing for a measure to officially record conditions of redevelopment that would have provided tenants an additional legal basis to fight their eviction. The vote followed an opinion from the City Attorney's office that not only would the developer very likely win a lawsuit against the city to set aside the conditions settled with the city council in 2002, but if they acted to make the conditions official, council members could be sued as individuals as well.
Rosendahl strongly questioned the City Attorney's position in regards to the city recording the conditions of redevelopment.
"For months the city attorney has been saying the conditions are meaningless – 'it's a tentative map, it hasn't been recorded, AIMCO has rights' – so I wanted to know, 'why go through this charade to negotiate them?'" Rosendahl said later.
District 15 Councilperson Janice Hahn joined in the open session questioning of the city attorney's appraisal of the options open to the council.
"We've gotten bad advice in the past on this project – some of it from the City Attorney," Hahn said in an interview after the vote.
Hahn voted with Rosendahl, Tony Cardenas, José Huizar and Tom LaBonge in favor of the measure.
"We had every right to say we should record these conditions. We all signed off on them. The developer knew about them when they came into the project," Hahn said.
The measure received more 'aye' votes than council observers and Lincoln Place supporters had predicted, given the somber caution of City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's office.
"I still question the city attorney's opinion that the recording of the conditions would be meaningless. Jose Huizar – who is a lawyer – gave us his support, and Tony Cardenas is very careful on the details, and he gave his support," Rosendahl observed.
Ed Reyes, chairman of the council's Planning and Land Use Management committee – and original co-sponsor of Rosendahl's resolution – voted against its passing, as did three other former supporters.
"I'm sure it did have a chilling effect," Hahn said of the warning of possible personal liability. "That didn't bother me. We're here for a reason. We're given these powerful positions in order to do things [for our constituents]," she said.
Lincoln Place tenants have prepared a lawsuit to challenge the legality of previous and future evictions based upon a finding last summer by the State Court of Appeals. (
See related story.) The tenants' understanding of that decision is that the protective conditions Rosendahl was seeking to impose on the developer – conditions that assured them of rent controlled apartments for life -- already apply. The Tenants Association has held off filing their suit until they are notified of AIMCO's intention to proceed with their last batch of Ellis Act evictions.
AIMCO contends that their Ellis Act evictions are not connected to any agreed-upon redevelopment plan, and that the matter of tenant eviction has already been litigated.
"I have said time and time again that I will never give up hope," Rosendahl said in his statement. "Until the sheriffs show up at the door, there is still a chance for a fair resolution and for a happy ending."
AIMCO has had a local relocation firm assisting tenants to find housing and offering cash incentives and moving expense packages for many months, now. Several tenants have accepted payment to move, but many have found the apartments offered to be too far from the friends, family and services they rely upon, and others have objected to inadequate compensation for voluntarily giving up their rent controlled apartments and any future claims.
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