Sale of State Properties On Hold

Katy Grimes: Finally someone is listening — the sale of the 11 state properties appears to be finally off, at least until Governor Schwarzenegger is out of office.

The sale of the 11 state properties was going to be a very good deal for someone, as most of the properties were about to be paid off, and were being sold in a down-market. Many criticized the sale as a sweetheart deal for some politically connected supporters of Schwarzenegger.

Last April, after the Department of General Services Director Ron Diedrich removed several of the oversight appointees from building authorities in San Francisco and Los Angeles  for making waves about the 11 state properties for sale, and questioning the long term cost to the state. They were replaced with people who supported the sale.

Oversight appointees are required to sign off on the sale of the state office buildings.

When it looked as if the sale of the 11 properties was going to go through, a lawsuit was brought by the three former state building authority members. Jerry Epstein, Don Casper and A. Redmond Doms have said that not only are the sales a waste of taxpayer money, the sale of the properties is unconstitutional.

A California Appeals Court halted the sale two weeks ago after a Superior Court Judge had approved the sale.

And now the 6th District Court of Appeal in San Jose scheduled oral arguments in the case for late January, delaying the matter until after Schwarzenegger’s departure unless the state Supreme Court intervenes this week, reported the Sacramento Bee.

Brown has apparently declined to say how he will act on the sale, but had previously called it “not prudent” and asked Schwarzenegger to delay the transaction until after he takes office.

Read all of the CalWatchdog stories about the state property sales:

Critics slam state property sale
Fired official slams state ‘fire sale’
LAO report: Evaluating the Sale-Leaseback Proposal
Chris Thornberg, founding principal of Beacon Economics and chief forecaster for the state controller prepared a report on the sales: Chris Thornberg’s report on the property sales: A Bad Deal

DEC. 28, 2010