The city of San Diego’s fight with La Jollans who want independence is going to court. The city has decided to file a lawsuit against the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO.
What is LAFCO?
That’s the agency that would decide whether La Jolla can become its own city. The city is suing LAFCO for saying more than 200 petition signatures were valid. The registrar of voters had said those signatures did not match voter rolls.
But who’s on this LAFCO board anyway? It’s mostly elected officials from across the county.
Ironically, the chair is San Diego City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn. So he’s on the City Council and is the head of the agency the city is suing. Not every day you get to sue yourself.
Another lawsuit that matters
What’s really interesting is the LAFCO lawsuit mirrors another one the city is involved in. Except in that one, the city is on the defense. That one could set direct precedent for what is going to happen with the La Jolla signatures.
Here’s what happened: Two years ago, supporters of the city’s libraries and parks and a city employee union spent more than $1 million collecting signatures. They wanted to put a property tax measure on the ballot to support the city’s libraries and parks.
If voters passed it, the owner of a 5,000 square foot lot would be charged $100 per year.
First, supporters had to get it on the ballot, though. They turned in 111,000 signatures and only needed just more than 80,000.
The registrar of voters said too many signatures were invalid. So supporters sued. They said signatures were thrown out for petty reasons, like not abbreviating their street names the way the U.S. Postal Service does or for accidentally writing their own birthday down instead of the date they signed the petition.
A San Diego Superior Court disagreed but now it’s at the Court of Appeal, which could rule any day now.
If it sides on behalf of the library and parks supporters, it would put the tax on the ballot next year. It could also kill the city’s lawsuit against La Jolla immediately.
If the court upholds the decision to throw out signatures, it would hurt La Jolla’s bid for independence.
