City squeezes
family in court for $8M to close business, Lawsuit challenges demand as unconstitutional taking of private
property, by Bob Unruh, 1/16/16
The city of Palo Alto,
California, wants a court to dismiss a lawsuit opposing its demand that the
family owners of a mobile home park pay some $8 million for permission to close
it down.
Lawyers for the park
owners say they are just asking for the “courthouse doors [to] remain open for
people, like the Jissers, to make their case when the government wrongfully
takes their property.”
As
WND reported, the Pacific Legal Foundation filed the case on behalf of the owners of the
Buena Vista mobile home park. The owners want to close their business, but with
a local median housing price of $2.46 million, the city demands that the
tenants be compensated so they can find another place to live.
“No one should be forced
to carry on a business that they want to close,” said PLF Attorney Larry
Salzman in a statement. “The city is treating the Jissers as an ATM to solve a
problem they didn’t cause – the lack of affordable housing in Palo Alto. That’s
not just wrong, it’s unconstitutional.”
See an explanation of
the case: Salzman, in a blog
post, explained the family's patriarch, Tim Jisser, is retiring and so the
family wants out of the business.
"The city says the
money is needed so that the tenants can get expensive alternative housing in
the area; in effect, the city is holding the Jissers uniquely responsible for
solving the city's severe housing affordability problem. That's not just wrong,
it's unconstitutional."
He said that instead of
answering the Jissers' complaint, the city "has done what governments
typically do: it's trying to avoid judgment by asking the court to toss out the
case."
"The city's motion
to dismiss doesn't deny that the city is commanding a payment of $8 million, or
that it won't grant the Jissers a permit unless they pay it," he said. 'It
just says the case shouldn't be heard by a judge yet; or that it's too late to
hear it; or that it should be heard by a state judge instead of a federal
judge. In short, the city has said anything and everything it can say in an attempted
retreat from actually defending what it is in fact doing to the Jissers."
When
the case was filed, it alleged violations
of the U.S. Constitution's Fifth and
Fourteenth Amendment limitations on taking private property for public use. It
also alleges violation of a California law prohibiting conditions on the
closure of mobile home parks that "exceed the reasonable costs of
relocation" of a park’s tenants, the claim said.
The family moved to the
U.S. from Israel in the 1970s and purchased the site in 1986.
Their son, Joe, who
manages the site, said in a statement released by PLF: "My parents came
here as immigrants with nothing and built a successful business. They were
pursuing the American dream. But now the city is trampling on the promise of
freedom that drew them to this land."
He said his family
"has worked hard for 30 years to provide safe and affordable housing
here."
"Now we're told by
the city that providing that service is not enough, that we have to pay a
staggering amount of money just to close our business," he said.
"It's not fair for the city to force us to pay our tenants millions of
dollars as the price of my parents' retirement."
A
statement emailed to WND from the city was attributed to Palo Alto Attorney Molly Stump. "We
are confident that the city followed both state law and the process that is set
out in our own municipal ordinance related to the closing of the Buena Vista
Mobile Home Park," she said. "There is no merit to these
claims."
http://www.wnd.com/2016/01/city-squeezes-family-in-court-for-8m-to-close-business/
Comments
Since
when does a city require a permit to close a business ? If Palo Alto is successful and is allowed to
extort any money from these retirees, it should send a message to all business
owners in Palo Alto and cities who have similar unconstitutional, predatory laws.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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