Hermosa Beach nightlife activist opposes own ballot initiative
Jim Lissner. Photo
In a striking about-face, activist Jim Lissner has repudiated his own tax-hike initiative, which will be decided by Hermosa voters in November.
Lissner turned heads on Tuesday when he approached the Hermosa Beach City Council in an attempt to remove his initiative from the ballot. The initiative would impose stiff increases on business license taxes for many alcohol-serving nightspots.
“I’m going to withdraw it tonight,” Lissner told the council.
City Attorney Michael Jenkins said Lissner cannot remove the initiative, which legally qualified for the ballot through the signatures of voters, which were gathered by Lissner.
Lissner said he wanted to kill his initiative because he determined that it is significantly flawed.
Outside the council chambers, Lissner said he became convinced that his initiative, if approved by voters, would draw legal challenges from businesspeople. He pointed out that the city would be the defendant in such a lawsuit.
“I don’t want the city to face any more litigation,” he said.
Lissner said his initiative would be vulnerable to a legal challenge because it could be seen as driving some nightspots out of business. The initiative could cause the highest business-license taxes for nightspots to soar from about $2,000 to as much as $640,000 a year, according to a study by city officials.
Lissner said he became convinced of the initiative’s vulnerability to a lawsuit after businesspeople threatened to sue, and after examining previous lawsuits in other communities. He declined to say when he made the decision to oppose his own initiative.
In response to a reporter’s question, during a break in the meeting, Jenkins said Lissner could write a ballot argument in favor of his initiative, but use the argument to make a case against the initiative, if he chooses.
In addition to Lissner’s initiative, voters will see a tax-increase measure that the City Council backed to compete with Lissner’s. The city measure would impose smaller business-license tax increases.
Hermosa Beach has not increased any of its business license taxes in 23 years.
In other matters, the council decided to hire a consultant to study the city’s unfunded pension liabilities, which were recently singled out for a cautionary review by aLos AngelesCountycivil grand jury.
“The City ofHermosa Beach pays among the highest retirement system employer contribution rates in the county and pays the highest employer contribution rate for its [California Public Employee Retirement System] police safety plan,” a grand jury report stated.
The report noted that the city has taken some cost-cutting measures, establishing a “two-tier” pension plan in which future employees will receive lower pensions, eliminating or freezing 25 vacant employee positions, and moving “aggressively” to “pre-fund” some of its pension liabilities. That move has “substantially” reduced some unfunded future liabilities since 2008, according to the report.
The council also got the ball rolling to allow outdoor dining on public sidewalks throughout most of the town for a six-month trial period. Outdoor dining will not be allowed on upper Pier Avenue, which was revamped with a promise to residents that there would be no al fresco dining.
The city recently mounted a campaign to clear the town of non-permitted dining tables in the public right-of-way, and now the council is seeking to establish a permitting program, on a trial basis, for the tables.