Oakland Officials' Dispute Over Parking Space Leads to Legal Opinion From City Attorney. Columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross of the San Francisco Chronicle report: "Two Oakland City Council members are heading into Month 3 of an epic battle over a parking space – and even a five-page legal opinion from the city attorney hasn't resolved it."
The dispute involves Councilwomen Desley Brooks and Jean Quan, both of whom want to inherit the parking spot previously used by Councilman Henry Chang, who left office at the end of 2008. Matier & Ross write that the spot is "coveted because it's a couple of spots closer to the side door of City Hall than everyone else's" and "cars parked there are less likely to get dinged by drivers racing around the corner."
Ms. Quan said she was willing to flip a coin for the spot, but Ms. Brooks insists that the spot is hers because she has more seniority. Council President Jane Brunner was asked to settle the issue, and she concluded that since both members were elected in 2002, they had equal seniority. Ms. Brunner asked the city attorney to weigh in.
The city attorney's legal opinion says:
"Based on the information we have, both Councilmembers have the same seniority in terms of the length of their continuous service in office. They both completed a full-four year term of office and were re-elected in 2006 to a second four-year term. They both were sworn into office at the same time and therefore were able to enter upon their duties at the same time.
"The City Council is free to base its parking assignments on any criteria that it chooses, including District numbers, drawing lots or straws, seniority defined as the length of a Councilmember's continuous service in the office (e.g. seniority based on terms in office or seniority based on the date and time that a Councilmember took the oath of office) or any other guidelines/rules that do not violate applicable laws."
For the time being, the spot goes to whoever arrives first in the morning.
(Cal-Tax: Does the city have so much time and money on its hands that it can afford to have highly paid attorneys researching and opining on who gets what parking space? Really? We suggest that the City Council president adopt a time-tested technique used by millions of parents: "If you two keep arguing over the parking spot, neither of you will get it!" Then assign the spot to the lowest-ranking employee on the city's payroll, just to prove the point. Alternatively, the city could use a market mechanism to solve the problem: auction the spot to the highest bidder.) (Sources: San Francisco Chronicle, March 9; Oakland Office of the City Attorney Legal Opinion, February 17.)
Cal-Taxletter, March 13, 2009
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