Coalition Sues City Over Documents

By Jorge Casuso

June 2 -- Charging the City with stonewalling and withholding information concerning the redevelopment of Santa Monica Place, a coalition of civic leaders last week filed a lawsuit to obtain documents that City officials contend are being located or are not in their possession.

The Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City (SMCLC) said they are still waiting for documents requested two months ago under the California Public Records Act, which included all written communication since January 2000 between the City and Macerich Company, which owns the indoor mall.

Specifically, the coalition -- which has called the ongoing public process to forge a plan “seriously flawed” -- is seeking information about "at least one prior proposal to redevelop Santa Monica Place that would not have dramatically increased building density on the site."

The group also is seeking "documents sufficient to show the valuation of the land and the parking structures owned by the City's Redevelopment Agency as reflected on the City's books," according to a statement on the group's Web site.

SMCLC also is seeking documents concerning the recent “City facilitated” telephone surveys of residents about the potential redevelopment.

"After taking the maximum additional time permitted under the law, which the City claimed it needed to search and gather all information from the various City departments, the City produced very few documents and none, or virtually none, concerning these categories," the group wrote.

"The City's response was woefully inadequate," the group wrote. "It not only ignored the requests for the key documents (i.e., Macerich/City communications over the proposals for Santa Monica Place) but it also misrepresented whether documents existed and it limited its search for documents in a way that would ensure that requested documents would not be located."

City officials said they were surprised by the lawsuit and flatly denied any insinuation that the City has something to hide.

“Any group is entitled to public records, but the City isn’t hiding anything,” said Assistant City Attorney Joe Lawrence. “What’s happening with the project will be presumably under the highest-powered microscope anybody can have.

"This is a routine matter that never should have ended up in court," Lawrence said. "It's not something most people would go to court over. It’s not a big issue…. The lawsuit came as a complete surprise.”

The City, Lawrence said, has turned over a large number of documents dating back to 2000, as requested by the coalition.

“We showed them several hundreds and perhaps several thousand pages of documents," Lawrence said. “They asked for some other stuff. Some of it has to be tracked down…. The stuff they filed the lawsuit over is in comparison a very, very small amount of stuff.”

The City can only turn over documents in its possession, Lawrence said.

“The Public Records Act covers documents the City has,” Lawrence said. “If Macerich makes a presentation to the City and doesn’t give them a copy, then it’s not a public document.”

The requests for documents showing the valuation of the land and parking structures owned by the City’s Redevelopment Agency don’t exist because “the City doesn’t actually value the parking structures,” Lawrence said.

According to a consultant’s report released by the City last week, a financial expert will study the alternative plans resulting from four public workshops for “economic feasibility and financial requirements,” a study officials have said will take into account the City-owned property on the site.

The “Community Input Update” report also notes that the results of the telephone survey will be “summarized in a separate report,” according to the update.

“There are so many miles to travel before anything gets close to being a final project,” Lawrence said.

But the coalition -- which retained counsel to negotiate its access to “these critical documents” -- argues that the information it is seeking should be released immediately.

“The City has agreed to expedite its consideration of Macerich's proposals for Santa Monica Place and these documents are an important part of the public's understanding of the issues and the City/Macerich partnership,” said the statement on the group’s Web site.

“The City has claimed the redevelopment of Santa Monica Place will be a public process,” the coalition said. “We believe that in not allowing the public to review documents relating to the contacts between the City and Macerich, the public is effectively being shut out of that process.”