Thread: Groups ask judge to stop Escondido ordinance from going into

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/11 ... 1_8_06.txt

Groups ask judge to stop Escondido ordinance from going into effect
ESCONDIDO -- The same coalition of civil rights groups and private attorneys suing to strike down a controversial ordinance that prohibits Escondido landlords from renting to illegal immigrants also is asking a federal judge to put the brakes on the new law before it goes into effect on Nov. 18.

Court papers filed Tuesday afternoon by the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations question the constitutionality of the law, which the Escondido City Council passed 3-2 last month, and asks the judge to make the city put the law on at least a temporary hold.

"It is a necessary first step to placing a hold on this unconstitutional law so that it is not enforced and so that we can stop it in its tracks while we litigate the issue of whether it should be stricken down entirely," said David Blair-Loy, legal director for the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial counties.


City Attorney Jeffrey Epp could not be reached for comment, but has said he believes the ordinance will hold up in court and that the lawsuit and request for a temporary restraining order were expected.

The decision to stop the ordinance from taking effect in 10 days is in the hands of U.S. District Judge John Houston, who is also overseeing the larger suit.

Houston has given the city until Monday to respond to the ACLU's request and has scheduled a hearing on the restraining order for Nov. 16.

"We're hoping that it (Houston's decision) comes before the ordinance goes into effect," ACLU spokesman Rebecca Rauber said Wednesday afternoon.

Under the city's rental ban, landlords found to be "harboring" illegal immigrants would have 10 business days to remove the tenants, or face penalties ranging from suspension of their business licenses to fines of up to $1,000 a day and six months in jail.

The larger suit from the ACLU and others, which asks the federal court to declare the city's rental ban illegal and unconstitutional, had been expected since before the City Council passed the measure last month.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two Escondido landlords as well as two anonymous women who live in the country illegally, have children who are U.S. citizens and say their families would be displaced if the measure is enforced.

The request to keep the city from enforcing the ban for the time being includes many of the same basic arguments raised in the larger suit questioning the constitutionality of the case.

The Escondido ordinance is based on part on a broader law passed this summer in the city of Hazleton, Penn. That law also is under fire from the ACLU and other groups, who sued to stop it.

On Oct. 31, the day before the Hazleton law was to go into effect, a federal judge granted the request from opponents that the city hold off on putting the law into action. The temporary restraining order in the Hazleton case expires on Nov. 14.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/11 ... 1_8_06.txt

ESCONDIDO -- Illegal immigration may have dominated the election season discourse, but in many ways, the status quo won the day, with voters electing an Escondido council of pro-business conservatives, nearly identical to the current makeup of the dais.

After all of the votes from Tuesday's election were tallied, two incumbents, and a businessman well-versed in city policies and immersed in Escondido's business community, emerged as easy winners of two open council seats and the mayor's seat.

But between the unofficial winners of the council and mayor's races, the common ground among them is economic development, not support of a recently passed city housing ordinance that bars landlords from renting to illegal immigrants.


Councilwoman Marie Waldron was elected to a third term, as was Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler, who had also served previously as a council member. Waldron topped the field of seven council candidates, raking in 29 percent of the vote, with 11,122 votes. Pfeiler earned 59 percent, about 4,000 more votes than her competitor.

Dick Daniels, a public relations specialist who has ties with the business community and is close friends with many of the current council members, was the second top vote-getter with 9,013 votes, or 24 percent of the total.

Daniels has sided with Waldron, who proposed the ordinance, and two other council members who voted to approve it, in saying that it was the will of the community and needs to be enforced and defended. Human rights groups have already mounted a lawsuit aimed at blocking the measure, saying it is unconstitutional.

Pfeiler, on the other hand, voted against the ordinance, and her vote on the measure had become a focal point for her lone competitor, former Councilman Tom D'Agosta, who received 41 percent of the vote.

The mixed results -- two candidates in favor of the ordinance, one not -- shows that voters may well have had more on their minds when they headed to the polls Tuesday, Pfeiler said.

"Although there's an overall sense of frustration over illegal immigration, people are still saying, 'This is my community and we need to think about where the community's heading and vote for people who will continue to make progress for us,' " Pfeiler said.

She added that she believes Daniels will make a strong addition to the current direction of the council when it comes to attracting more businesses to Escondido.

Councilman Ed Gallo, who knows Daniels through the Escondido Chamber of Commerce and Escondido Rotary Club, said he welcomes his friend to the council, and believes Daniels and Waldron garnered so much of the vote because they understood the inner workings of the city, and didn't focus their campaigns on one thing.

"They said, 'Let's talk about economic issues, Police and Fire departments,'" Gallo said. "These are the issues of our community, as well. The other candidates tried to keep it to immigration, and you can't be a one issue candidate."

The other council candidates in the race and their percent of the vote were: Olga Diaz, 16 percent; Elizabeth Gabrych, 9 percent; Darol Caster, 8 percent; Erik Richard, 7 percent; and Carmen Miranda, 6 percent.

Throughout the tumultuous election season, candidates were frequently grilled over their stance on the housing ordinance and illegal immigration. Diaz and Miranda said they initially decided to run based primarily on Waldron's proposal, which was approved by a council majority last month.

Councilman Sam Abed said he believes the strong showing of Waldron and Daniels proves that illegal immigration was the top issue that city voters cared about.

"Lori's 14 years of service (on the dais) has led the city in a very positive way, so she was able to overcome that (her vote against the housing ordinance)," Abed said. "She didn't have a good opponent and had a strong track record."

While certainly a key campaign issue, there is no way to quantify what role illegal immigration played in the final results, said Councilman Ron Newman, who did not seek re-election and will step down next month to make way for Daniels.

Newman said he had received a considerable number of e-mails from people urging the council to address illegal immigration at the local level, but believes people took a larger view in their voting, especially in the mayor's race.

"When you start putting the actual personalities to it, I think you're going to get a much more conservative feel," Newman said of the differences between Pfeiler's and D'Agosta's campaigns. "Maybe people are pretty happy about the way things are getting done."