June 26, 2006

Contact:
Sheila Bernard (LPTA President) - (310) 871-6368
Jan Book (LPTA - legal support) - (310) 392-1426
David Ewing (Venice community) - (310) 392-5079

LINCOLN PLACE TENANTS PROTEST DIRTY MONEY AND DEMAND MORATORIUM ON CONDO DEVELOPMENT

Monday Town Hall Meeting on Clean Money Triggers Protest by Local Renters Decrying Loss of Rental Housing Caused by Developers' Influence on City Government

When: Monday, June 26 at 6:00 PM

Where: Walgrove Elementary School, 1630 Walgrove Ave., Mar Vista

Why: Campaign contributions from attorneys representing developers have too much influence in local government and cause thousands of renters to be displaced in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES ­ On Monday, June 26, L.A. City Councilmembers Bill Rosendahl, Wendy Greuel, and Eric Garcetti are hosting a forum on "Clean Money" at Walgrove Elementary School in Venice, California. The purpose is to raise awareness and understanding of how Clean Money programs work and to give the public an opportunity to participate in the discussion.

Also, on Tuesday, June 27, at 2 p.m., at the City Council Planning and Land Use Management Committee (PLUM), L.A. City Councilmembers Ed Reyes and Herb Wesson will be presenting an Interim Control Ordinance (ICO) to adopt a moratorium on condo conversion and on demolition for condo construction in their council districts.

These events demonstrate why Lincoln Place Apartments in Venice is the poster child for the plight of every renter throughout Los Angeles.

Since 1995, the tenants at Lincoln Place have been fighting to save their home and community from destruction. Their current landlord, AIMCO, is a Denver-based REIT, and one of the largest owners of apartments in the nation, with a bad reputation for buying up older HUD properties and destroying communities by evicting the tenants.  

While the L.A. City Council in 2002 approved the redevelopment plan that AIMCO wanted, AIMCO has refused to comply with the mitigating measures required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Instead, AIMCO has used the Ellis Act, a state statute permitting landlords to evict tenants by claiming they are going out of the rental business, to "piecemeal" the redevelopment project, which is in violation of CEQA.

Dirty Money is at play here. L.A. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo received more than $25,000 for his campaign for California Attorney General from attorneys at Latham & Watkins, the law firm that represents AIMCO. Delgadillo and his staff refuse to enforce the mitigation measures required by CEQA and stop the illegal evictions at Lincoln Place. And when the City Council wanted to enforce these tenant-protecting conditions, Latham & Watkins threatened the City Councilmembers with personal liability.

In the past 18 months, in the middle of a housing crisis, over 7,000 rental units have been removed from the rental market in the City of Los Angeles to make way for luxury condos. The developers don't care where these renters are to live, and our City has not enacted any disincentives to stop this massive destruction of rental units.

Lincoln Place tenants refuse to be silenced. The City of Los Angeles needs a citywide moratorium on condo development and to take responsibility for protecting the supply of rental housing. We all need Clean Money to stop the influence Dirty Money is having on our local government.

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© Lincoln Place Tenants Association
Email: info@lincolnplace.net