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LA City Council OKs $10M for Skid Row Housing Trust receivership By City News Service
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OC registrar says he must carry on with recall of mayor pro tem By City News Service
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fter previously approving $2 million in early October to maintain and repair 22 dilapidated buildings in the Skid Row area under a receivership, the Los Angeles City Council Tuesday approved an additional $10 million to continue rehabilitation efforts on those properties. The council voted unanimously to approve a $10 million loan for the receivership with additional recommendations to ensure transparency and accountability in how the funds are spent. The Council approved the matter without prior discussion. On Oct. 25, the Budget, Finance and Innovation Committee unanimously approved the funding request. The five-member committee had an hour-long discussion on the matter with Ann Sewill, general manager of the city's Housing Department; Kevin Singer, CEO of
Receivership Specialists; and Rick Marquis, senior project manager for Singer. Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, who sits on the budget committee, asked several questions with the intent of understanding how the money would be used and forthcoming results that council members would see in the next few months of the receivership. "I already have a bad taste in my mouth with the way this began. And so, when you then follow that experience with a 'hurry up and give me $2 million, or give us $12 million. Trust us,'" Rodriguez said. "Sorry, that part was already done with the first receiver. That's unacceptable to me." She added, "But it does leave me with a number of these lingering concerns about the oversight — about making sure there isn't any misappropriate or misuse of these funds."
Earlier this year when the Skid Row Housing Trust — a nonprofit that formerly managed the 29 buildings, announced it was financially incapable of maintaining the properties — the city of Los Angeles stepped up and entered into a court-ordered receivership. Seven of those 29 buildings were removed from the receivership and placed with the National Equity Fund, a housing nonprofit, by a court order in June. According to the City Attorney's Office, a receivership is a legal process that allows a court-appointed person, a receiver, to take control of a property, address the issues, bring it into compliance and improve the quality of life for residents and the surrounding community. In June, Judge Mitchell Beckloff, who is overseeing
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the receivership, concurred with city leaders' call to remove Mark Adams, president of the California Receivership Group, as receiver. As part of those events, the council also authorized a $10 million loan to support "critical building repairs and operations" for those properties in the housing trust. Sewill assured the committee that Singer works for the court and costs-related to the receivership are verified by the city attorney's office, and the court has deemed them reasonable. Kevin Singer, who replaced Adams, emphasized "this is a health and safety case where the buildings were not being maintained." He added, "The city has hundreds of outstanding violation on these buildings, and our goal as courtappointed receivers is to come in, look out for the
See Skid Row Housing Trust Page 32
range County Register of Voters Bob Page said Tuesday that even though he has advised Santa Ana officials that not enough valid signatures have been collected for the recall election of Mayor Pro Tem Jessie Lopez he must continue going forward with the election because the City Council deadlocked on what to do in light of the legal dispute. "Absent any new direction from the city, we're moving forward with conducting the election with the current map," Page told City News Service. Page said it is up to Santa Ana's City Clerk Jennifer Hall to decide if the recall qualifies for the ballot. Lopez said she has not yet filed litigation to stop the recall effort, but most observers expect her to do so. In fact, City Councilman David Penaloza at Monday evening's special meeting invited Lopez to do so. "I feel it is the best course of action to take no action and at this point and let a judge decide the merits of this argument," Penaloza said. Orange County Supervisor Vince Sarmiento at Tuesday's board meeting praised Page for bringing the error to the attention of the city and added he was "very, very disappointed" the city council deadlocked 3-3 on competing motions to do nothing or dump the recall. "We shouldn't even be talking about the merits (of the recall) at this point," Sarmiento said. "The City Council had the opportunity to do the right thing. Whether you agree with the merits of the recall or not, you simply have to follow the rules." Sarmiento said the signature gatherers for the recall needed to use the old ward map boundaries because the voters who put Lopez into office have to decide whether to recall her, not the constituents she represents now. "Unfortunately, it creates a mistrust in election integrity, and that's something we all need to cherish and protect," Sarmiento said. "There's no way to remedy or cure this." City officials have been exchanging letters with Page asking if he will decertify the election now. Page has responded that it is not up to him and that Hall has to make that decision. But it is clear Hall is stuck between the divided factions of the city council because Lopez, who would be a tie-breaking vote, must recuse herself from the issue. Lopez told City News Service before the council's meeting Monday, "We're going to explore all of our options." Page sent a letter dated Thursday to Hall raising the issue of which ward map was used when petitioners were collecting signatures from voters. Lopez was elected in 2020, so Page said it appears that the petition drive should have used the map of voters who elected her, not the ones she is representSee Recall Page 18