Property Owners

As a retired person and homeowner living on a modest pension I recently voted against all propositions (A-AA-BB) which when passed would result in raising my property taxes in the form of assessments. I realize that taxes are necessary to provide the community with a quality of life that we may enjoy, but why always target the property owners? I find an increase in the sales tax and state gasoline tax would be a fair way to increase revenue. This way, everyone in California would be taxed, including the millions of tourists that visit here.

Stephanie Nordlinger, who lives in a modest Baldwin Hills tract home, has been reading with interest the news stories about computer magnate Michael Dell and his low, low property taxes. Last week, the Times reported that Dell has saved more than a million dollars a year in taxes on a landmark Santa Monica hotel by exploiting a gaping legal loophole in the rules that govern how Proposition 13 is applied. By bringing his wife and two investment advisors into the 2006 deal for the Fairmont Miramar Hotel, my colleagues Jason Felch and Jack Dolan reported, Dell has so far been able to keep his taxes based on the hotel's 1999 assessed value of $86 million, rather than the $200 million he paid.

The Supreme Court strengthened the rights of property owners who are confronted by federal environmental regulators, ruling Wednesday that they are entitled to a hearing to challenge the government's threats to fine them for building on their own land. The 9-0 decision is a victory for an Idaho couple who were portrayed by critics of the Environmental Protection Agency as victims of heavy-handed regulators. Michael and Chantell Sackett were told they faced fines of up $75,000 a day if they failed to restore their residential lot to its natural state.

Some of the most extensive damage and loss of life from recent earthquakes in California have occurred in apartment houses where dwellings sit on top of a ground-level parking garage or a storefront. The shaking undermines the bottom floor, causing the buildings to collapse and in some cases to pancake. After years of study and debate, San Francisco on Thursday formally adopted a new law requiring owners to retrofit thousands of these so-called wood-frame “soft story” buildings, marking the most sweeping seismic regulations in California in years.

The district attorney's office has filed separate misdemeanor charges against two Covina property owners who allegedly cluttered their yards with vehicles, rubbish and animals. Gary Davis and Henry Cordova are scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 5 in Citrus Municipal Court in West Covina. Davis, owner of a single-family home in the 500 block of East Greenhaven Street, has been charged with four misdemeanor counts of failing to park inoperable cars and motorcycles in a garage or a paved area.

Re "A Line in the Paint," June 29. As a supporter of both the arts and property rights, I would have to say that Tony Touma was 180 degrees wrong in obliterating M.B. Hanrahan's mural. After all, the owner of the building, Ray Ramirez, is of the opinion that "it really was beneficial." I admired Mr. Ramirez's courage when he owned the business, as well. Mr. Touma had the right to buy a business elsewhere that didn't have a mural on the building, but he chose to buy that business.

As the MTA moves closer to starting construction on a subway tunnel in downtown Los Angeles, some property owners have dug in for a fight. The big landlords fear that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's plans to build a massive trench on Flower Street will disrupt their businesses for years, costing millions of dollars in lost revenue. The four-story-deep canyon planned by the MTA would travel through more than two busy city blocks of the financial district, which includes popular destinations such as the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, the Central Library and the City National Plaza office and retail complex.

Reacting to the Bell city salary scandal, Los Angeles County supervisors said Tuesday that they were seeking state legislation to return $2.9 million in property tax overcharges to Bell property owners. Bell city officials illegally raised its property taxes in 2007, imposing a "retirement tax" to cover rising pension costs for its employees, state controller John Chiang found last week. But Chiang said Bell residents wouldn't be getting a tax refund because state law says such tax overpayments must instead go to schools in Bell.

I disagree with the conclusions of your Nov. 7 editorial on Proposition 170, which would have lowered the vote needed to pass school bonds from a two-thirds majority to a simple majority. It was defeated in the Valley so badly because the tax money needed today for school bonds came from only one source, the property owner. Why? You will see this happen again and again when the attempt is made to tax only one group of citizens. I resent paying for education for people who never pay for education for their children.

The city of Simi Valley has adopted an ordinance requiring private property owners to promptly remove graffiti or allow city employees to do it at the property owner's expense. The measure, which officials said is aimed at curbing gang activity as well as vandalism, will require private property owners to cover graffiti within 10 days of official notification by the city. If they do not comply, city workers will do it and charge them for the labor.

Some of the most extensive damage and loss of life from recent earthquakes in California have occurred in apartment houses where dwellings sit on top of a ground-level parking garage or a storefront. The shaking undermines the bottom floor, causing the buildings to collapse and in some cases to pancake. After years of study and debate, San Francisco on Thursday formally adopted a new law requiring owners to retrofit thousands of these so-called wood-frame soft-story buildings, marking the most sweeping seismic regulations in California in years.

SACRAMENTO -- The tax man isn't coming, at least not yet. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has postponed sending bills for fire protection service to 825,000 property owners living in rural and suburban areas. Cal Fire asked tax collectors to not mail the 2012-13 bills -- $150 per habitable structure -- because the agency department is struggling to process almost 90,000 homeowner appeals of its bills sent last year. The bulk of the appeals argue that the tax, described by officials as a “fee,” is unconstitutional.

A majority of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors want to back away from a proposed ballot measure that would impose a controversial parcel fee on county property owners to clean up storm water pollution. The supervisors first considered the proposal in January but deferred a vote after a hearing at which nearly 200 people spoke, the vast majority in opposition to the fee, which would range from about $54 a year for most single family homes to tens of thousands of dollars for large, industrial properties.

Faced by widespread public opposition, the Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday sent a proposed parcel fee to combat storm water pollution back to the drawing board. The proposed fee would be levied on all property owners within the county's flood control district, raising an estimated $290 million a year to help cities and the county deal with widespread water quality issues stemming from polluted storm water and urban runoff and the need to comply with new state regulations.

Luci, an American Kennel Club-registered German Shepherd, is enjoying 15 minutes of fame in an eye-catching listing photo for a 112-acre spread in Decatur, Texas. The asking priced of $1.495 million does not include the golf-cart riding Luci or the P-15 Mustang sitting behind her in the hangar. Luci shares the multipurpose property with a rescued male shepherd named Ruger. In addition to providing plenty of romping room for the pair, the acreage includes a two-bedroom, 2,100-square-foot home, an airfield with a grass airstrip, two hangars (one of which has living quarters)

Facing overwhelming opposition to a proposed parcel fee to clean up storm water pollution, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors deferred a vote to place it on the ballot. The proposed fee would be levied on all property owners within the county's flood control district, raising an estimated $290 million a year to help cities and the county deal with widespread water quality issues stemming from polluted storm water and urban runoff - and the resulting threat of fines and litigation.

A bit of taxpayer relief is in sight for 737,000 property owners across the city of Los Angeles. The city will credit $15.7 million in taxes that were overpaid toward the purchase of a Fire Department safety and paramedic communications system. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council approved crediting the property owners on their upcoming tax bills. The tax dates back to November 1988, when voters approved a bond measure to finance $67 million in bonds to replace the system.

A boom floating at the mouth of the Los Angeles River in Long Beach collects trash by the ton. After each rainstorm, the debris washes downstream toward the ocean - plastic bags, tires, mattresses, spray cans, a mannequin head. Last year, the Los Angeles County contractor that operates the boom hauled more than 1,000 tons of garbage from the site. But many of the pollutants dumped into county waters by storm and urban runoff are invisible: pesticides, bacteria from animal waste, vehicle fluids and tiny pieces of metal and rubber washed off of roadways.

As the MTA moves closer to starting construction on a subway tunnel in downtown Los Angeles, some property owners have dug in for a fight. The big landlords fear that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's plans to build a massive trench on Flower Street will disrupt their businesses for years, costing millions of dollars in lost revenue. The four-story-deep canyon planned by the MTA would travel through more than two busy city blocks of the financial district, which includes popular destinations such as the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, the Central Library and the City National Plaza office and retail complex.