NII proponents say opposition fudged report for voter guide

Proponents of the anti-development Neighborhood Integrity Initiative, now known as Measure S, say the opposition submitted inaccurate information about the measure for a city voter guide, the Los Angeles Times reported.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, they accuse the Coalition to Protect L.A. Neighborhoods and Jobs, which opposes Measure S, of paying research firm Beacon Economics to produce an enormously critical report to include in the guide.

The report, they say, includes impact statements based on a 10-year moratorium on certain types of new projects, rather than the two-year moratorium that is actually being proposed. The moratorium would apply to development projects requiring exemptions to city planning and zoning rules.

The coalition’s spokesperson Josh Kamensky told the Times the restrictions could last longer than two years, according to the group’s own reading of the measure. He said the coalition had commissioned the study but that it was independently produced.

The report claimed that the initiative could deprive Los Angeles of an estimated $1.9 billion in economic output and diminish its budget by $140 million in sales and property tax over two years.

The voter guide is slated to go to print Jan. 6. [LAT] — Katherine Clarke