Ahmanson Foes Alter Tactics as a ‘Courtesy’

Opponents of the Ahmanson Ranch project said last week they will bow only partly to demands from the ranch developer’s lawyer to stop a letter-writing campaign aimed at blocking the massive housing development.

Attorney Steven J. Vining last week wrote a letter on behalf of the developers accusing members of the Friends of Ahmanson Ranch of “harassment and infringement of service marks” in its letter-writing campaign against the project.

The group has been “harassing the employees, officers and directors of H.F. Ahmanson & Co. and Home Savings of America at their homes” by mailing letters and postcards in opposition to the project, the letter says. The developers hope to build a 3,000-home mini-city, complete with commercial buildings and two golf courses, in the rolling Simi Hills of southern Ventura County, near the Los Angeles County line.

The letter accuses Friends of Ahmanson Ranch of illegally using logos of the Ahmanson Co. and the bank as return addresses in their mail campaign. That violates U.S. Postal Service laws, Vining’s letter alleges.

And the letter threatens legal action against Friends of Ahmanson Ranch unless the group complies.

Vincent Curtis, a spokesman for Friends of Ahmanson Ranch, said the group will recommend that its members stop sending mail to the developers’ homes.

“The only thing we are going to do is pull the names and addresses of the H.F. Ahmanson board of directors off our Internet site, kind of out of courtesy to them,” Curtis said Friday. “We don’t want any wackos doing anything they shouldn’t be doing. But I have to point out, we got all the addresses from the Internet in the first place.”

Curtis said that it is legal for members to use the developers’ names on return addresses to ensure that the letters get to them. As for logos, Curtis said that some members may have used them, but they were not preprinted on any of the protest postcards used by his group.

“We asked everyone to send in their feelings on this development, if they’re for it or against it,” Curtis said. “We’re going to continue to do everything we can within our rights of free speech.”