Lincoln Place Q&A
By Sheila
Bernard
For those who believe that we
are a society of laws in which people who make promises keep them, and for those
who believe the opposite, here is a little quiz. Answers next
month.
1) If a developer proposes a project which
includes conditions to mitigate the negative impacts of the project, and if the
city grants a discretionary approval for that project which includes those
mitigating conditions, is the developer required to actually meet the mitigating
conditions in order to build the
project?
2) Is the developer required
to meet ALL the conditions of the project, or may the developer pick and choose
which mitigating conditions he wishes to
meet?
3) If a developer promises to
relocate tenants as a condition to mitigate the impacts on the population, is
the developer then able to turn around and evict the tenants using the Ellis
Act?
4) If a developer attempts to
evict tenants using the Ellis Act, and if the tenants file suit for declaratory
relief (asking the court whether the developer is actually entitled to use the
Ellis Act), are the tenants guilty of a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public
Participation (SLAPP)?
The brave
tenants of Lincoln Place (more than 160 households) seek answers to the above
questions. The courts have provided answers to some of them, but landlord AIMCO
does not interpret the court’s opinion the same as the tenants
do.
If a developer comes into a
neighborhood and proposes a project, and the neighbors fight the developer tooth
and nail, it is no wonder. Neighbors are apprehensive that if a project is
approved with conditions that are intended to mitigate the negative impacts of
the development, it does not matter. The conditions will not be met by the
developer or enforced by the City.
The
appellate court rendered a decision which says in clear language that mitigating
conditions are not “empty promises,” that they are not “mere
expressions of hope.” The court upheld the subdivision for Lincoln Place,
but said that the conditions must be complied with. The conditions include
relocation for Lincoln Place tenants within Lincoln Place, instead of evictions.
But the appellate ruling has had no effect on AIMCO’s pursuit of a
completely empty community.
In
addition, the recent designation of Lincoln Place as a California Historic
Resource has had no effect on AIMCO’s determination to destroy 45
buildings containing 668 units. It seems that AIMCO is impervious to the rulings
of courts and the determinations of public
agencies.
Now we will see what it will
take to get the City of Los Angeles to see to it that the mitigating conditions
on development projects are met. And we will see what it will take for the
tenants of the historic Lincoln Place apartments to prevail against a giant
corporation that has proven itself to be anything but a good corporate citizen.
Posted: Thu - September 1, 2005 at 11:44 AM