Downtown Sacramento Partnership Sued for Brown Act Violations by Moskovitz Law Firm.

Lawsuit Says Secret Meetings Were Held to Build Support for Eminent Domain of K Street

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The Downtown Sacramento Partnership, a private non-profit corporation formed to improve and promote the economic well being of Downtown violated the open government laws according to accusations filed in lawsuit Tuesday.

The lawsuit was brought by Harvey Zall, a long-time Sacramento resident with a keen interest in the well-being and vitality of Downtown. The suit alleges that the Downtown Sacramento Partnership met in secret session with well-connected insiders for the purpose of using DSP to give City bureaucrats political cover for highly controversial proposals presented to the City Council. Zall said the DSP served as a secret mouthpiece for City officials and politicians, rather than as an independent entity.

Zall's attorney is Myron Moskovitz, the same lawyer that has been successfully representing Moe Mohanna in defeating the Agency's efforts to force Mohanna to take ruined 800 Block buildings in return for Mohanna's 700 Block properties. Moskovitz said, "Downtown Partnership seems to be a small group of good ol' boys who run Sacramento and want to keep it secret - even though the law requires open meetings with public access." Zall has also retained as a consultant Terry Franke, a leading authority on open government and author of a Guide to Open Meetings in California, an indispensable resource.

Several elected officials are Board members of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, including Mayor Heather Fargo, City Council member Ray Tretheway and County Supervisor Roger Dickinson. The City's representative is Assistant City Manager John Dangberg, also a member of the Executive Board. DSP is controlled by a 25-member Board of Directors, whose members represent the interests of City of Sacramento bureaucrats and politicians, major developers, a law firm that represents DSP, and a person with a strong pecuniary interest in having the City use eminent domain powers to obtain 700 Block properties for transfer to him: Joe Zeiden, through his representative, Board Member Wendy Hoyt (who has also worked as a consultant for the City of Sacramento).

In the complaint, Zall said the Downtown Sacramento Partnerships' "failure to comply with the Brown Act is part of a continuing pattern and practice of violations of the Brown Act that have gone on for several years, and will continue to go on unless this Court orders (them) to reform their procedures to conform to the requirements of the Brown Act."

More information on the lawsuit can be found at www.obsnews.com/brownact.html