Getting a new City Hall, the litigious way
I come from the Adam Probolsky school on the issue of self-promotion but regardless this little saga deserves some mention here.
In 2007, Newport Beach’s Bill Ficker, an architect and winner ofThe America’s Cup, the most prestigious regatta and match in the sport of sailing, teamed with local philanthropist Jack Croul and former State Senator Marion Bergeson, and their friend Ron Hendrickson, to advance a plan to place the new Newport Beach City Hall building in a very logical location: an empty lotnear Fashion Island right next to the Main City Library.
But the majority of the City Council didn’t like the idea. They seemed to want the City Hall at a nearby bus station. So Ficker and Company decided to go directly to the people with an initiative campaign. They hired Scott Taylor to do the campaign for them (whose office is nearby Ficker’s in Newport Beach) and Scott recommended me to do the lawyering.
So I wrote a prettystraightforward proposed charter amendment. It had a number of clauses to it, and it was carefully drafted, but its purpose was very clear: any new City… Read More