Wednesday, Feb 22, 2012
4:06 p.m. PDT
4:06 p.m. PDT
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City To Sue Itself Over Two Hour Parking
Updated Nov. 27, 2010 — 11:25 a.m.
By Adam Popescu, Beverly Hills Courier
The City of Beverly Hills filed suit Wednesday against itself in the person of City Clerk Byron Pope.
Pope didn't do anything wrong—just his job as clerk. On Sept. 15, he accepted and filed a petition from G & L Properties, the derisive initiative to bring two hour free parking to City lots.
An initiative the City now claims is illegal.
Pope did his duty as required by law, but the City Council, stumped by the two-hour "free parking" initiative and faced with what appears to be overwhelming public support for two-hour free parking, decided to sue itself.
After the mid-term elections, staff began exploring whether or not newly passed propositions made the proposal illegal. “The City is in fact challenging the legality of this initiative," Deputy City Manager Cheryl Friedling confirmed Tuesday.
“The City believes that the initiative is invalid on several grounds,” City Attorney Larry Wiener wrote to The Courier in an e-mail. “The lawsuit asks the court to order the elections official to remove the initiative from the ballot because it is invalid. Byron Pope, as City Clerk, is the elections official. So, in that capacity, he must be named in the lawsuit. This has nothing to do with Byron Pope personally.”
Wiener said this situation is not unique, and that there have been many similar lawsuits in other communities over the years.
The controversial measure has dominated City Council sessions for months.
Last Tuesday's meeting saw the Council authorize Wiener to file the lawsuit challenging the ballot measure.
“This is the standard procedure for challenging an invalid measure that has been placed on the ballot through the initiative process,” Wiener said.
City concern over the measure stemmed from a projected budget shortfall of approximately $2 million in the Parking Enterprise Fund.
If the measure passes, the total deficit is estimated at $3.5 million, according to Director of Parking Operations Chad Lynn.
The council wants flexibility to raise parking rates whenever it chooses and the initiative would block that discretion.
The City, which collects well over $140 million from businesses, allocates which income and expenses go into the "parking fund," leaving open the question of whether there is truly an inherent "deficit" or if the shortfall is manipulated by accounting allocations.
Four years ago, restoration of the tradition of two hour free parking was a major issue in the city council election that saw current Mayor Jimmy Delshad and Councilwoman Nancy Krasne defeat incumbent Steve Webb. Delshad and Krasne favored restoration of the two hour free parking; Webb opposed.
The proposed 7.5 percent commercial parking operators tax would not generate enough revenue to cover increased cost of the measure and if passed, the measure's fiscal impact on the City's budget would not cover the increased deficit, City Treasurer Eliot Finkel said in September.
The initiative to bring free two hour parking to the City of Beverly Hills is spearheaded by G & L Properties, who submitted the petition Sept. 15.
The measure seeks to make two hour free parking mandatory at most City-owned parking lots.
Private parking lot operators appeared before the council last week to object to a new tax, arguing that they have already complied with city requirements, they pay large business taxes already, and that parking prices are embedded in the overall terms of their leases with tenants.
Unless blocked by court action, the initiative will appear on the March city ballot.
By Adam Popescu, Beverly Hills Courier
The City of Beverly Hills filed suit Wednesday against itself in the person of City Clerk Byron Pope.
Pope didn't do anything wrong—just his job as clerk. On Sept. 15, he accepted and filed a petition from G & L Properties, the derisive initiative to bring two hour free parking to City lots.
An initiative the City now claims is illegal.
Pope did his duty as required by law, but the City Council, stumped by the two-hour "free parking" initiative and faced with what appears to be overwhelming public support for two-hour free parking, decided to sue itself.
After the mid-term elections, staff began exploring whether or not newly passed propositions made the proposal illegal. “The City is in fact challenging the legality of this initiative," Deputy City Manager Cheryl Friedling confirmed Tuesday.
“The City believes that the initiative is invalid on several grounds,” City Attorney Larry Wiener wrote to The Courier in an e-mail. “The lawsuit asks the court to order the elections official to remove the initiative from the ballot because it is invalid. Byron Pope, as City Clerk, is the elections official. So, in that capacity, he must be named in the lawsuit. This has nothing to do with Byron Pope personally.”
Wiener said this situation is not unique, and that there have been many similar lawsuits in other communities over the years.
The controversial measure has dominated City Council sessions for months.
Last Tuesday's meeting saw the Council authorize Wiener to file the lawsuit challenging the ballot measure.
“This is the standard procedure for challenging an invalid measure that has been placed on the ballot through the initiative process,” Wiener said.
City concern over the measure stemmed from a projected budget shortfall of approximately $2 million in the Parking Enterprise Fund.
If the measure passes, the total deficit is estimated at $3.5 million, according to Director of Parking Operations Chad Lynn.
The council wants flexibility to raise parking rates whenever it chooses and the initiative would block that discretion.
The City, which collects well over $140 million from businesses, allocates which income and expenses go into the "parking fund," leaving open the question of whether there is truly an inherent "deficit" or if the shortfall is manipulated by accounting allocations.
Four years ago, restoration of the tradition of two hour free parking was a major issue in the city council election that saw current Mayor Jimmy Delshad and Councilwoman Nancy Krasne defeat incumbent Steve Webb. Delshad and Krasne favored restoration of the two hour free parking; Webb opposed.
The proposed 7.5 percent commercial parking operators tax would not generate enough revenue to cover increased cost of the measure and if passed, the measure's fiscal impact on the City's budget would not cover the increased deficit, City Treasurer Eliot Finkel said in September.
The initiative to bring free two hour parking to the City of Beverly Hills is spearheaded by G & L Properties, who submitted the petition Sept. 15.
The measure seeks to make two hour free parking mandatory at most City-owned parking lots.
Private parking lot operators appeared before the council last week to object to a new tax, arguing that they have already complied with city requirements, they pay large business taxes already, and that parking prices are embedded in the overall terms of their leases with tenants.
Unless blocked by court action, the initiative will appear on the March city ballot.
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