Ethic Panel’s Low Rent Hit by Foes of Mall Expansion

The commission appointed by Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley to rewrite the city’s ethics law is renting an office from the owner of the Westside Pavilion shopping mall for $1,000 per month, well below the prevailing rate in the Westwood neighborhood.

The arrangement has irritated some local homeowners, who say it is improper for the panel to receive below-market accommodations from a developer with a project pending before the city.

In January, Westfield Inc. received preliminary approval from the City Council to expand the mall, but still needs final approval to build a controversial bridge over Westwood Boulevard to connect the mall and annex.

‘Dont’t Rent That One’

“Of all the buildings to rent, you don’t rent that one,” Sandy Brown, who heads a coalition of five homeowners groups near the mall that oppose the expansion, said in an interview Wednesday. “This is a developer that still needs city approvals....They should at least charge them market value.”

Spokesmen for the commission, Westfield and the mayor all denied that the commission has received special treatment.

“It is a tempest in a teapot,” said Xandra Kayden, director of the ethics commission. “Ideally, we would have found free space, but we felt an obligation to pay rent. We still haven’t raised enough money to cover all of our costs, but we didn’t want there to be a conflict of interest.”

Robert Murray, Westfield’s executive vice president, said the company has rented the former furniture store to various political campaigns at similar rates during the past year, including Los Angeles Councilman Nate Holden’s mayoral campaign and Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukasis’ presidential campaign. An aide to Holden said the councilman paid $3,000 to rent the building for six weeks.

Murray said Westfield plans to tear down the building at the corner of Westwood and Pico boulevards to make way for the mall’s 105,000-square-foot expansion next January. Although local brokers say commercial space in the area is worth at least two to three times the $1,000 monthly rental rate, Murray said the higher rates apply to longer leases on property that is kept in superior condition.

“Unlike a situation with tenants who (are in the mall), we are not out trying to get market rents that are demanded in the area because it is a short-term situation,” Murray said. “You have to recognize that this is a building that is going to be torn down. It is in ‘as-is condition.’ If something isn’t there, don’t complain to me. I am not going to put it in.”

Bradley spokesman Bill Chandler said the mayor had nothing to do with the commission’s decision to rent the office, and said there is no relationship between city approvals of the Westside Pavilion expansion and the work of the ethics panel. The ethics panel, appointed by Bradley in the wake of allegations involving his financial dealings, is funded entirely from private sources.