On Friday Judge Peter Polos of the Orange County Superior Court rejected claims that the "City Hall in the Park" initiative adopted by voters in Newport Beach last February violated the law. Polos rejected resident Alan Beek’s request for a preliminary injunction and found that his case had little likelihood to succeed on the merits.
The City Hall in the Park initiative, also known as "Measure B," amends the City Charter to require the city to place any new City Hall at Newport Center next to the Central Library. I wrote the measure for proponents Marian Bergeson, William Ficker, and Jack Croul, and am representing them as Intervenors in the case, to help defend the measure in court. Opponent Beek and his allies, who lost the argument with the voters of Newport Beach when they approved "Measure B, " have now resorted to the courts to overturn the vote of the people and the measure, and have filed two lawsuits expressing the usual litany of overblown environmental and traffic arguments, overlooking the taxpayers savings and need for a new facility in a central location.
The city is ably represented in court by Brad Hertz of the law firm of Reed and Davidson. Beek has a skilled environment lawyer in Everett De Lano of Escondido.