Public Interest Briefs
Public Interest Briefs track CLIPI’s filings, funding, coalition wins, showing how each step drives policy change and nurtures advocates.
Fall/Winter 1990
Home of the Least Tern and Belding’s Savannah Sparrow as well as several other threatened species, the Ballona Wetlands is Los Angeles County’s last major coastal marsh. Thanks to a landmark settlement reached this fall between the Friends of Ballona Wetlands and Maguire Thomas Partners-Playa Vista, the wetlands will be restored to its proper role of habitat for an amazing array of animal, plant and marine species.
Concerted efforts to preserve the wetlands began in the 1970s with the formation of the Friends of the Ballona Wetlands. The marsh was part of a large piece of property used for aircraft manufacturing and owned by industrialist Howard Hughes, who had long left the wetlands portion of it undeveloped. After Hughes died, officials of his Summa Corporation proposed building a huge new development on the site, including high-rise office buildings, stores, hotels, residences and a marina. Through political maneuvering, Summa was able to gain approval of the plan by Los Angeles County and then the California Coastal Commission.
In 1984, several groups concerned about the plan’s impact on the wetlands asked the Center for Law in the Public Interest to represent them in bringing a suit against Summa, the County of Los Angeles and the Coastal Commission in an effort to stop the project. The plaintiffs to the suit were the Friends of the Ballona Wetlands, the League for Coastal Protection, the California League of Women Voters and Mary Thompson.
In 1987, the legal fight to preserve the wetlands gained an important political ally. Most of the site had been annexed by the City of Los Angeles, and city residents began organizing to fight then Councilwoman Pat Russell’s ongoing approval of the Summa project. Opposition to the Playa Vista plan and to Summa’s tactics and disregard of community wishes became so intense that Ruth Galanter was elected to the Council with the help of an ant-Summa platform.
In February 1989, Maguire Thomas Partners (MTP) became the lead developers of the project. MTP immediately began establishing good relations with the community by ascertaining local concerns and redesigning Playa Vista to do away with its most objectionable features. The result was the settlement of the Friends’ lawsuit and the preservation of the wetlands.
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Fall–Winter ’90 briefs cover Ballona Wetlands restoration deal, decade-old LAPD gender-equity gains, Chevron and Berkeley Farms discrimination settlements, Sundance jail reforms, Medicare fraud recovery, and Proposition 13 appeal.
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