Downtown Homeowners Unite, the grassroots homeowner group which opposes expansion of a city-collected, privately administered downtown “benefit assessment district” to include residential property owners, has sent a mass emailing urging the City Council not to include city-owned properties in the petition vote.

At this evening’s meeting, the City Council will decide whether to have the City of Long Beach—which owns multiple downtown properties and thus has heavily weighted votes—cast its votes in favor of the proposed expanded assessment … a tax that would for the first time include downtown residential property owners.

“If there is a true downtown property owner support for this petition, the commercial property owners will provide the required support, not the City,” says group leader Sandra Rendell in an April 28 mass emailing.

Downtown LB Associates and City Hall management are urging the Council to approve casting City Hall’s votes in favor of the assessment.

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