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.

A former Los Angeles County property appraiser accused of improperly slashing the value on more than 100 Westside homes and businesses was taken into custody in Oregon on Monday, marking the first arrest in the wide-ranging corruption probe into the assessor's office. Prosecutors say Scott Schenter, 49, falsified department documents and unlawfully lowered property values by $172 million for multimillion-dollar homes and businesses. Schenter allegedly secured campaign contributions from the owners for Assessor John Noguez, authorities said.

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.

Re "Private landscaping on public sand," May 7 The law on oceanfront land is clear. Whether by intent or by error (doubtful), some beachfront property owners have encroached on public property. Issue fines to these owners and give them notice to rectify the situation within 30 days. If the land is not cleared and returned to public-usable condition within that period, add additional and significant fines. Then bring in state contractors to do the job. Charge the offending property owners for every cent spent repairing their misguided efforts to commandeer our mutually owned resources.

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.

Linda Aquaro, a longtime investigator for the Los Angeles County Assessor's Office, has been appointed the county's first property owners advocate. The post was established in June to help homeowners and small business owners resolve problems with their property tax bills and other property-related issues.

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.

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.

A corruption probe into Los Angeles County Assessor John Noguez widened as investigators in two states served search warrants on a dozen locations, and new details emerged about Noguez's personal attention to the tax concerns of generous campaign contributors. As helicopters circled overhead, officials from the district attorney's office combed Noguez's Huntington Park home for several hours Wednesday, eventually carting away boxes of potential evidence. Noguez could not be reached for comment because he was in Mexico, said spokesman Louis Reyes.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court rejected a constitutional challenge to New York City's famed rent-control ordinance, a post-World War II housing measure that limits the rents of more than a million apartments. The court's refusal Monday to hear the case is a setback for property rights activists, who had hoped a more conservative court would protect landlords and a free market in rentals. For decades, critics have said rent-control laws deny property owners the right to fully profit from their investments.

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.

The Supreme Court strengthened the rights of property owners who are confronted by federal environmental regulators, ruling Wednesday that landowners are entitled to a hearing to challenge the government's threats to fine them for alleged Clean Water Act violations. The 9-0 decision revolved around procedural matters and did not resolve questions about the reach of the act, which has been the subject of different legal interpretations. But it is a victory for an Idaho couple, Mike and Chantell Sackett, who faced fines of up to $75,000 a day if they didn't restore a small wetland the Environmental Protection Agency said they had filled on a Bonner County lot where they planned to build their home.

A property owner in rural eastern San Diego County can continue allowing a private contractor to use pigs for "live tissue" training to help teach Marines and Navy corpsmen how to treat combat wounds, county land use officials have ruled. As part of the training, the pigs are anesthetized before military personnel work on them. The pigs are later euthanized and the carcasses sent to a rendering plant. The Marine Corps has used contractors for several years to provide such training for troops deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dozens of wealthy homeowners who got large, improper tax breaks from a rogue county employee in recent years had one thing in common: They had hired a consultant at the center of an influence-peddling investigation roiling the Los Angeles County assessor's office. Clients of the tax agent, Ramin Salari, dominate a list of 125 property owners in Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Pacific Palisades and other Westside communities who benefited from the actions of a former property appraiser who without approval wiped more than $56 million in taxable value from the county tax roll.

Efforts to form two more business improvement districts in the San Fernando Valley got a push forward Tuesday from the Los Angeles City Council, which approved petitions supporting the Canoga Park and Studio City zones and called for a vote of the affected property owners. If approved, these districts would join commercial corridors in Tarzana and Van Nuys in a trend toward pedestrian-friendly shopping villages maintained by fees paid by area property owners.

Los Angeles County Assessor John Noguez, responding to a district attorney's inquiry of his office, has denied any wrongdoing and revealed that he had taken steps to revalue more than 100 properties that improperly received tax reductions. Earlier this month, prosecutors publicly confirmed that investigators with the district attorney's Public Integrity Unit were looking into the relationship between Noguez — the elected official responsible for setting the tax values of all real estate in the county — and Ramin Salari, a tax agent who has made a fortune winning huge property tax reductions for millionaire property owners.