Family-Owned Mobilehome Park Sues Palo Alto to Stop Shakedown
PLF lawsuit challenges city’s unconstitutional demand
that Jisser family pay millions for the right to close their
business
Palo Alto, CA; November 19,
2015: Should retiring rental property owners be forced to pay
millions of dollars to solve a city’s affordable housing problem,
merely for the right to close their business?
That is the question confronted by a major constitutional case
filed today in federal court against the City of Palo Alto by the
Jisser family, owners of the Buena Vista Mobilehome Park.The
Jissers are represented by attorneys with Pacific Legal
Foundation (PLF), the nation’s leading legal watchdog
organization for property rights. Donor-supported PLF
represents the Jissers without charge, as with all its
clients.
Read an in-depth backgrounder about the case.
The Jisser family’s mobilehome park has provided the lowest cost
housing in Palo Alto for more than 30 years, but the family has
been mired in a dispute for years over their right to withdraw
the property from the rental market. Earlier this year, the
city determined that the Jissers may close their business, but
only on the condition that they pay millions of dollars to
tenants as “relocation” costs aimed at ameliorating the city’s
notorious affordable housing crisis. Presently that price
tag is about $8 million, but the cost to the Jissers may rise if
neighborhood rents or other costs go up between now and the date
of the park’s closure.
PLF’s lawsuit on the Jissers’ behalf charges that this staggering
financial demand violates the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth and
Fourteenth Amendment limitations on taking private property for
public use, and also violates a California state law prohibiting
conditions on the closure of mobilehome parks that “exceed the
reasonable costs of relocation” of a park’s tenants. The
U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that government may not
force individual property owners to bear the costs of public
benefits which, in fairness, should be paid for by the public as
a whole.
“No one should be forced to carry on a business that they want to
close,” said PLF Attorney Larry Salzman. “The city is
treating the Jissers as an ATM to solve a problem they didn’t
cause — the lack of affordable housing in Palo Alto. That’s
not just wrong, it’s unconstitutional.
“The way to make housing affordable in Palo Alto is to build more
housing,” Salzman noted. “The city has for decades refused
to permit enough housing to be built to meet the skyrocketing
demand, and it is now shamefully scapegoating the Jissers for its
own failure.”
Palo Alto is ground-zero for California’s affordable housing
crisis, where the median home price is a blistering $2.46 million
dollars (compared to $448,000 statewide and $180,000 in the
U.S.). A May, 2015, report by California’s Legislative
Analyst office blames the state’s high housing costs on overly
restrictive land use policies, particularly in coastal cities
like Palo Alto.
The Jissers immigrated from Israel in the 1970s and opened the
All American Market in a building adjacent to the Buena Vista
Mobilehome Park. Tim and Eva Jisser purchased both the
building and the park when the previous owner decided to sell the
property in 1986, and they have owned and operated it since
then. Their son, Joe Jisser, now manages the property.
“My parents came here as immigrants with nothing and built a
successful business,” said Joe Jisser. “They were pursuing
the American dream. But now the city is trampling on the
promise of freedom that drew them to this land.
“Our family has worked hard for 30 years to provide safe and
affordable housing here,” he continued. “Now we’re told by
the city that providing that service is not enough, that we have
to pay a staggering amount of money just to close our
business. It’s not fair for the city to force us to pay our
tenants millions of dollars as the price of my parents’
retirement.
“It is terrible that there is so little affordable housing in
Palo Alto, but we didn’t create that problem,” he noted.
“This fight isn’t really between us and our tenants; it’s with a
city that has failed everyone.
“We just want to close the business and use our property for
something new in the future,” he concluded. “We were
shocked when the city told us we have to pay $8 million to close
this business. It’s just not right. That’s why we
have joined with Pacific Legal Foundation to fight back.”
The Jissers’ case is Jisser v. City of Palo Alto. More
information, including the complaint, a video, blog post,
litigation backgrounder, and a podcast, may be found at PLF’s
website.
About Pacific Legal Foundation
Donor-supported Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) is the leading
watchdog organization that litigates for limited government,
property rights, individual rights, and free enterprise, in
courts nationwide. PLF represents all clients free of
charge.
Click here to watch Pacific Legal Foundation video.
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