City required quid pro quo, Old Town partner says

Jim Drummond - Political Perspectives
Yorba Linda Star - October 12, 2006 - Viewpoints Section

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Finally, one of the key participants in the illfated Old Town redevelopment project is revealing some of the behindthe-scenes political maneuvers involved in the successful petition drive to overturn two City Council-approved Town Center zoning ordinances.

Greg Brown was a principal in the former Old Town Yorba Linda Partners, along with Michael Dieden and Walter Marks. His group had an exclusive negotiating agreement with the city to develop the downtown area with added commercial space and housing. The agreement was set to expire last January. According to Brown, a pre-requisite for a 90-day extension into April was a requirement that the partners "wholly and unilaterally fund an information and suppression campaign against the referendum efforts."

Brown says they were required to use Dennis DeSnoo "as the city-approved campaign coordinator." DeSnoo is a professional political consultant who at various times has worked for the election of all five council members as well as the Old Town partners. Brown and Dieden contributed $115,000 to oppose the petition drive, with $75,000 coming from Dieden's Creative Housing Associates and $40,000 from Brown's BH Urban Equities. Brown owns the Conroy's-El Pollo Loco center close to Old Town.

The campaign included a developer-paid, anti-petition letter sent to residents and signed by four council members, recorded telephone calls from well-known citizens, including current council candidate Doug Dickerson, and other actions to lower the signature count.

The Town Center Ad Hoc Committee communicated the funding condition in mid-December 2005, states Brown. Present were Councilmen Allen Castellano and Ken Ryan, City Manager Tammy Letourneau and city legal representatives, says Brown.

But Letourneau says the city didn't require the partners to fight the petitions, and "it was not ever a condition of any contract or extension." She states that city staff didn't ask Brown or anyone working with him to get involved in a campaign, adding, "DeSnoo was never a cityapproved consultant."

(Inquiries sent Sept. 28 to the city parties haven't been answered or acknowledged by the others.)

Despite the large expenditure, volunteer petitioners gathered 9,790 and 9,771 signatures on the two petitions in just 21 days, including the Christmas and New Year holidays. Only 4,061 names were required to force a public vote on the disputed zoning documents. Instead of setting an election date, council rescinded the ordinances and dismissed the developers Feb. 7. Brown says the partners were let go "when they had no further use for our services and had exhausted all of the funds possible from us during the campaign."

Brown now states, "The biggest mistake made by the [Old Town Yorba Linda Partner] team was that we did not resign and walk away from the project in mid-December 2005. For this, I sincerely apologize to the people of Yorba Linda."

Also, Brown notes, "I have been written up in your column several times on the amount of money OTYLP or I had put up during the campaign and this continues to paint me in a bad light. I do not feel that this is wholly fair, though I fully accept responsibility for my actions during that time period, which I fully regret, and I want to set the record straight." A FINAL NOTE

Brown adds, "I have not ever given any donations to any of the existing council members and am very glad that I have not done so. Additionally, I refused to pledge any money to the Building Industry Association or other organizations that were pressuring me to go against Measure B [the Right-to-Vote on Land-Use Amendments initiative]."

"As for what was said and discussed during the [council's Town Center] Ad Hoc Committee meetings, I have taken copious notes as to what was discussed.

If anyone in city government will go on the record and deny that such discussions took place, I would be willing to prove that they are not being honest and forthright," Brown concludes.

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