Bill revising city land-sale
rules vetoedThe measure would require property
sales have Council approval
Acting Mayor Ben Lee has vetoed a bill that would have required the city administration to seek City Council approval before it puts city property valued at $1 million or more on the market.
But the Council is expected to override the veto because the bill was approved unanimously.
Managing Director Lee, filling in for Mayor Jeremy Harris, who is on vacation, wrote in his veto message that the bill would be "infeasible to implement due to its vague language and convoluted provisions and requirements."
Councilman Gary Okino, who introduced the measure, said the reasons given by the administration for the veto are "weak excuses."
"I think they should focus on the real intent of this, that we need to look at this before they offer this thing for sale so we can see the conditions," Okino said.
Okino said the original reason he introduced the measure was out of frustration because the Council could not get information on projects initiated by the administration, including wanting to get a list of property the administration wanted to sell.
"Even when we got the list, it wasn't the right list," Okino said.
Then the administration's rent-to-own plan, which would have put affordable rentals on the market, "really showed the necessity to do this," he said.
Lee's veto message said a prime example of the bill's defects was a requirement that the administration inform the Council of the intended use of the property that is to be sold.
"This provision is impossible to comply, as the administration would generally not know who the buyer is and thus will not be able to inform the Council of its intended use until the property is sold," Lee wrote.
