Union urges against Home Ranch project

Lolita Harper

COSTA MESA -- The seats in the City Council Chambers were filled

Monday night with the usual Home Ranch players -- except for two rows of

people in bright purple shirts.

About 20 people from the Service Employees International Union Local

1877 came to the special meeting to express their concerns about an

imbalance between jobs and housing that they believe would occur with

C.J. Segerstrom & Sons’ Home Ranch project.

Michael Wall, an environmental attorney hired by the labor union,

outlined issues of housing and quality of life -- issues he said the

environmental report for the proposed development largely ignored.

“It cannot be the best [environmental report] if it doesn’t give all

the tools to allow the council to decide if the project is good for the

community,” Wall said.

“Costa Mesa deserves a project it can be proud of, not one that it

feels obligated to approve,” Wall added.

Average house prices and monthly rent rates in the city are far too

expensive for the low-wage workers who would be employed by the tenants

on the Home Ranch site, Wall said. Even a person earning the starting

wage at the proposed retail furniture store, Ikea -- still about $2 more

than minimum wage -- would not be able to afford a one-bedroom apartment

within the city.

During the question-and-answer portion of the presentation, Mayor

Libby Cowan questioned the motives of the labor union and asked if their

plight was at all related to a push to unionize janitorial workers at

South Coast Plaza -- another Segerstrom-owned property. If the union was

concerned with environmental effects of Orange County developments, why

were they absent in past debates over development, she asked.

“I’ve never seen [the Service Employees International Union] come

before us on any other development before,” Cowan said.

Anastasia Christman, a research analyst for the union, said the union

was new to the development scene in Orange County but was starting to

expand its sphere of influence.

Paul Freeman, spokesman for developer C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, said the

union’s opposition was an 11th-hour attempt to stall the proposed

development. The developers originally proposed higher density apartment

buildings that would be more affordable but were met with considerable

opposition by residents, he said.

The union’s real agenda for opposing the Home Ranch project was to try

to coerce the janitorial contractor for South Coast Plaza to unionize, he

said.

“It’s a transparent way to advance their agenda,” Freeman said.

In September, the labor union organized a protest at Fashion Island in

an effort to encourage businesses to use only unionized janitorial

companies. Christman said she could not confirm nor deny whether the

union had organized the same pressure for South Coast Plaza.

“That’s really a question for the organizers,” Christman said.

Union organizers were not available for comment at press time.

Christman insisted the two issues were completely separate.

* Lolita Harper covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4275 or by e-mail at o7 lolita.harper@latimes.comf7 .