Anti-T
Warchest Swells to $730,000 |
By Jorge Casuso
October 24 – Opponents of Prop T have raised nearly
$300,000 this month, bringing the total raised to fight the measure
backed by the city’s neighborhood groups to some $730,000,
according to campaign finance disclosure statements filed this
week.
By contrast, supporters of Prop T raised a total of $2,500 this month, all
of it in the form of a contribution from Victor Fresco, a neighborhood activist
who is a television writer for 20th Century Fox.
As with previous conributions, most of the money raised to oppose Prop T came
from major out-of-town developers who own prime real estate in the city and
fear future projects could be jeopardized by the measure, which would cap most
commercial development at 75,000 square feet annually for 15 years.
By far the opposition’s biggest conributor to date has been Equity Office,
one of the largest commercial landlords in the city. The Chicago-based company,
which owns the industrial park on Ocean Park Boulevard near the Santa Monica
Airport, contributed $140,222 this month, bringing its total contributions to
$185,222.
Belle Vue Plaza, which owns a large parcel on the 100 block of Santa Monica
Boulevard a block from Palisades Park, donated $51,000, bringing the company’s
total contributions to $100,500.
Another $49,500 was given by Hines, one of the world’s largest private
real estate developers and owner of the former Papermate site on Olympic Boulevard
in Santa Monica’s industrial corridor. The Houston-based company, which
has given a total of $99,000 to fight the measure, plans to build 300,000 square
feet of office space on the seven-acre site.
The Fairmont Miramar Hotel, which is owned by New York-based MSD Capital, contributed
$24,027, bringing its total contributions to $49,000. The hotel’s owners
have floated a plan to add a tower, but have withdrawn the proposal.
Ocean Avenue Partners, LLC, a San Francisco-based company that owns property
on Ocean Avenue, gave $49,500, bringing its total contributions to $54,000.
Among the first-time contributors were Multination LLC, a business investment
firm, which gave $10,000, and Sixteenth Street Medical Center LLC, which gae
$5,000.
The Sisters of Charity of Levenworth Health Systems, which owns Saint John’s
Medical Center, gave $10,000. Although hospitals are exempt from the Prop T
cap, medical facilities are not, and Santa John’s has long planned to
increase its facilities.
The Anti-T campaign had spent a total of $33,499 to pay for mailers and advertising,
according to the latest campaign finance statement filed Thursday.
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