Disclosing Homeowner Memberships

An article about light rail on Sept. 10 quoted Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., and Gerald Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino. Many articles regarding growth issues quote representatives of homeowners groups. My difficulty is in understanding whom these various representatives represent.

For example, as a member of the Citizens Advisory Committee for the Ventura/Cahuenga Specific Plan, I served with Mr. Silver. While one must respect his strongly held convictions and his ability to obtain substantial press coverage in their furtherance, one must question whether his convictions are more his own than those of a community.

This is especially true in Encino, where more than one organization claims to represent homeowners.

Requiring homeowner associations to make public their paid memberships would allow the comments of an individual such as Mr. Silver to be given their proper weight. Logically, the only homeowner groups that should object to making this information public would be those that have limited membership. Imagine the difference in importance if Mr. Silver represented 25 households as opposed to 500 or 5,000.

I also believe that representatives of homeowner groups who actively lobby within the city of Los Angeles should be required to register as lobbyists. As chairman of the Business Property Council, our executive director, Tim Riley, is required to register as a lobbyist prior to speaking on behalf of our organization and its membership. This filing is a public disclosure as to our organization and its membership. Representatives of homeowner groups should be no less regulated when they are performing the same functions.

MICHAEL A. ZUGSMITH

Studio City