Westminster : Mobile Home Plan’s Wording Draws Fire

Pre-election scuffling over a November vote on mobile home rental rates has picked up this week with a lawsuit over what the proposition should be called and an attempt to close down a polling place at Los Alisos Mobile Home Park.

Los Alisos owner Lee Miller notified the county registrar of voters that the park’s clubhouse, which is the traditional polling place, can no longer be used because of insurance liability. Miller could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Park residents, including more than 900 registered voters who constitute two precincts within the park’s borders, objected and argued that many of the voters are wheelchair-bound and will not be able to vote if the booths are located outside the park. “It’s just a way for them to try and stop us from voting for something they don’t like,” said Dick Johnson, president of the park residents’ association.

The park’s location, between freeways and next to a car dealership, makes it difficult to find a suitable polling place outside its borders, said Jim Tanzer, an election field representative for the registrar of voters. He said another polling place must be found by Sept. 5.

On Sept. 4, Superior Court Judge Tully H. Seymour will decide whether the proposition should be entitled “Rent Control” or “Rent Stabilization.” Ron Norman, an attorney representing the pro-proposition group, Senior Citizens of Westminster for Fair Government, said that calling it rent control would be detrimental to his clients because “voters are probably turned off by that term.”

It was the senior citizens group that collected enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot after the City Council declined to approve an ordinance. The same group now has sued to have the “Rent Control” label removed.

City Manager Chris Christiansen said the city clerk’s office forwarded the proposition to the registrar of voters for signature verification under the label of “Rent Stabilization” and the county agency returned it to the city entitled “Rent Control.”