Councilman wants to shed light on interests

Eron Ben-Yehuda

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- As they have before, three City Council members may

walk out of next week’s meeting, giving little or no reason for their

departure.

“Don’t you think the public is asking, ‘Where are these three?’ ” City

Councilman Tom Harman asked.

At the Monday night meeting, the council is expected to take its final

vote on whether to reinstate eminent domain authority over Downtown

residential property.

But council members Dave Garofalo, Ralph Bauer and Pam Julien are

disqualified from voting because they own real estate within or near the

Downtown area, where the city might use its power to purchase dilapidated

homes by force.

Harman said he would prefer the three clearly announce their specific

conflicts of interest.

“Nobody’s done anything wrong, illegal or bad,” he said. “It’s just a

matter of informing the public.”

Any decision the council makes about the area may have a “material

financial effect” on their property, Deputy City Atty. Paul D’Alessandro

said.

The law considers “material” either an increase or decrease of $10,000 in

property value or $1,000 in rental value, he said. But a decrease seems

unlikely because the whole point of redevelopment is to boost the

surrounding economy.

According to public documents on file with the city clerk, both Garofalo

and Bauer own property Downtown, where plans call for building a

multimillion dollar hotel, restaurant and retail project along the 400

and 500 blocks of Pacific Coast Highway. Garofalo owns a home in the 600

block of Main Street, while Bauer, among his many other holdings

throughout the city, owns apartment units on the 200 block of 12th

Street.

Farther away from Downtown, Julien owns a home on the 1900 block of Pine

Street. Although her potential conflict of interest is remote, the city

didn’t want to take any risks by allowing her to vote.

“We’re trying to take a conservative approach,” D’Alessandro said.

Although how much detail council members have to disclose remains a “gray

area,” he believes their short disclosures at previous council meetings,

in addition to documents filed with the city, satisfy the law.