Arguments Labeled ‘False and Misleading’ : Westminster Sues Over Rent Initiative

Westminster filed suit Thursday to block the printing of June 7 election ballots that the city contends would contain “false and misleading” statements made in the official arguments submitted by advocates of an initiative to control rents in mobile-home parks.

The city contended that rent control advocates are wrong in telling city voters that the initiative “will not cost taxpayers one penny” because landlords have already threatened to sue Westminster if the measure passes.

Sponsors of the measure could not be reached for comment.

The Westminster City Council adopted a rent control law for mobile home parks in 1981, but it was later repealed when rent control foes were elected to the council. The suit says a similar rent control initiative was defeated by city voters in 1986.

The lawsuit, filed by the Westminster city clerk, also seeks to strike the statement that the ordinance will “benefit landlords who act fairly by guaranteeing good profits and rent increases based on inflation.”

The clerk argued that the statement is false because “the proposed rent control measure, with its convoluted procedural steps, would hardly benefit any property owner. On the contrary, as soon as the original rent control ordinance was adopted, the city . . . was inundated with litigation from park owners and others, demonstrating overwhelmingly that rent control is viewed as detrimental” by landlords.

Finally, the suit asked that initiative sponsors be barred from stating that the City Council has “turned a deaf ear to elderly citizens,” many of whom live in mobile-home parks.

Westminster “has a large population of elderly citizens who are not residents of mobile home parks,” the suit says.

“Simply because the City Council is philosophically opposed to rent control is not proof or any indication that the council ‘turned a deaf ear to elderly citizens,’ ” the suit says.

“The true facts are that the city provides a luxurious senior citizens center and serves hot meals to hundreds of elderly people from all areas, not just Westminster,” the suit says.

A hearing in the suit was scheduled for March 31.