Beverly Hills Mayor Under Fire Over Slum

It was bad enough, officials in Arizona said, when they discovered that the mayor of Beverly Hills was a slumlord, an owner of one of Phoenix’s most squalid, crime-ridden apartment complexes.

But officials say the worst part came when Mayor Vicki Reynolds deeded over her share of Canyon Square Apartments to a charity as Phoenix authorities raided the place and demanded a cleanup.

About 75 police officers, health inspectors, fire officials and building-and-safety experts obtained search warrants last month before undertaking a daylong inspection of the apartment complex’s 156 units. The raid came six months after authorities had written citations for 35 code violations visible from the street.

But as officials at the scene were writing as many as 200 additional citations, Reynolds was issuing a statement through a Los Angeles political consultant that she had given her financial stake in the apartment complex “to a local charity.” Reynolds refused to identify the charity.

Now angry Phoenix officials are saying she reneged on a promise to see that the apartments would be cleaned and repaired.

“Attempting to transfer her obligation to an unsuspecting charity is outrageous. The mayor should be ashamed of herself for trying to get out of her responsibility,” fumed Phoenix City Councilman Phil Gordon.

“This property is so deteriorated that it needs millions of dollars in repairs, and she’s transferring it to a charity? It’s shameful that she’s attempting to saddle a local charity with this.”

Reynolds did not respond to repeated calls seeking comment.

On Tuesday, her lawyer, Beverly Hills Vice Mayor Mark Egerman, declined to identify the charity, which is now part owner of Phoenix’s most notorious slum property.

Egerman also represents Reynolds’ husband, businessman Murray Pepper. It was Pepper, Egerman said, who gave Reynolds a 2.89% interest in Canyon Square Apartments as a gift. Together, the couple owned less than 51% of the property, he said.

Phoenix authorities say an Arizona company manages the 14-building complex. But they contend that it was Reynolds who expressed dismay at its shabby condition and personally pledged to repair the place.

“Vicki came to my office with her husband March 3 and introduced herself and said she was [then] vice mayor of Beverly Hills,” Gordon said.

“She said they didn’t know the property when they invested, that they were outraged at it. She said it wouldn’t be allowed in her city, and it shouldn’t be allowed here. They said they’d work with the city team, that they had a list of everything wrong and they’d take action. I took them at their word.”

But things got worse, not better, at Canyon Square, Gordon said. So Phoenix authorities organized the Sept. 14 raid.

Last week, Phoenix officials were still tallying the number of violations cited during the raid. One police investigator predicted the total could be in the hundreds.

News accounts of the raid described the apartments as baking in 110-degree heat because of broken air conditioners and suffering from faulty electrical wiring, unsafe stairwells and broken windows. But as much was made of Canyon Square’s owner as of its onerous condition.

Arizona Republic columnist E.J. Montini wrote a “Beverly Hillbillies” theme song parody that included the lines:

The landlord says, ‘I’ve done give away the store.’

Says ‘Canyon Square ain’t my problem anymore’

Says ‘Arizona ain’t no place I gotta go,’

‘So I’m stayin’ right here in the land of Ro-day-oh.’

Drive, that is.

Arizona authorities are taking the case seriously, however.

“When you look at the buildings’ interior deterioration, it’s very alarming,” said Jo Ellen McBride, assistant city prosecutor for Phoenix.

McBride said Reynolds’ ownership handoff has complicated the investigation.

In a statement issued the afternoon of Sept. 14 by the office of Los Angeles political consultant Joe Cerrell, Reynolds identified the recipient as “a local charity.”

“I followed that up and they said, ‘Oh, it’s not in Phoenix, it’s in L.A., and it’s a children’s charity,’ ” McBride said. “I think eventually we will find out the name of the charity . . . the city can consider going after the charity” to help with repairs.

Depending on whether criminal or civil charges are filed, individual convictions over the condition of the apartment complex could result in up to $2,500 in fines and up to 180 days in jail for each violation, McBride said.

As Phoenix officials were seeking to build a case against Reynolds, authorities in Los Angeles were preparing to throw the book at another Beverly Hills couple accused of being slumlords in Los Angeles.

Criminal slum charges were filed last week against Iraj Nouriyalian and his wife, Farideh, alleging 13 violations of health and fire codes at a 30-unit apartment in the MacArthur Park district. The couple will be arraigned Oct. 26 in Los Angeles Superior Court, Michael R. Wilkinson, a deputy city attorney, said Tuesday.

Wilkinson said municipalities can pursue a charity that is an owner of a slum property.

Veteran housing attorney Nancy Mintie agreed. She is founding director of the Inner City Law Center and has fought Los Angeles slumlords for 20 years.

“We had a slumlord sell a property to a charity at a rock-bottom price. It was up to the charity to fix it up,” Mintie said Tuesday. “It’s a classic technique. As the inspectors start to catch up, slumlords toss the hot potato to another entity. Each time the building is transferred, the inspectors have to start over again building the record. It throws them off track.”

Canyon Square Apartments could be headed back to square one for Phoenix investigators if that’s the case.

Howard H. Sunkin, a consultant with Cerrell Associates Inc. who represents Reynolds, said a Phoenix realty group is in the process of buying the beleaguered apartment complex. On Tuesday, Sunkin also declined to identify the charity that received Reynolds’ share of the property.

But Sunkin disclosed one thing: After 16 years on the Beverly Hills City Council, Reynolds has decided not to seek reelection next spring when her term as mayor ends.