PNA
Loses Lawsuit Against
City & College
The
Pico Neighborhood Association lawsuit against the City of
Santa Monica and Santa Monica College was heard Feb. 4,
2002, at 9:30 am in Dept. J of Santa Monica's Superior Courthouse.
Judge Terry Freidman, after having listed the extensive
reading material on this matter which he had undertaken,
asked questions and listened to four hours of lawyer's arguments.
The judge's decision, sent by mail, ruled in favor of the
city and college.
Peter
Tigler, PNA's chairperson, had this to say, "When
you push the technical jargon, lawyering, and elliptical
reasoning aside, the fact remains, our neighborhood
streets were not in the study, period. Every resident
understands that. Street improvements and protections
for our neighbors would most certainly have stemmed
from an honest anaylsis. We were denied that which most
other residential areas have gotten from developments
such as this."
The
Gazette article
The
LookOut article
The
Mirror article
PNA lawyer Lee Grant (left) and PNA ViceChair Don Gray
stand in front of the Courthouse
The
suit, filed in November of 2000, charges the College
and City with the failure to meet the legal requirements
set by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
for a parking structure now under construction. The
Pico Neighborhood Association contends that the defendants
failed to make the necessary measurements and deliberately
understated the anticipated environmental impacts of
the project, expected to add over 4,300 cars a day to
the surrounding neighborhoods.
LookOut
article on the hearing
SM
Mirror article on the hearing
Background
on the Suit
