Woodland Park Management L.L.C. announced that a presiding judge for the San Mateo County Superior Court yesterday overturned a brief-lived temporary restraining order issued last week that prevented the company from enforcing rent adjustments noticed as of June 2008. At the same hearing yesterday, Judge Robert Foiles also denied the City of East Palo Alto's application for a new temporary restraining order that would have formalized the one issued by Superior Court Judge Joseph Bergeron on Friday, October 3, 2008.
"These decisions are the latest in a series of legal setbacks for the city," said David Taran, Woodland Park Management's chief executive officer. "We believe the city as a whole and our tenants in particular would be better served if city officials were to accept our repeated offers to negotiate instead of pursuing costly - and largely unsuccessful - legal remedies."
In February 2008, the San Mateo County Superior Court overturned a temporary ordinance enacted by the East Palo Alto City Council on the grounds that it unlawfully amended a long-standing rent control program. The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by Woodland Park Management, then known as Page Mill Properties LLC. In July, Woodland Park Management prevailed when the same court overturned an attempt by the city's Rent Control Board to increase apartment registration fees by 77 percent. Shortly thereafter, the San Mateo County Superior Court denied the city's request to temporarily prevent Woodland Park Management from implementing rent adjustments.
About Woodland Park Management
Woodland Park Management manages approximately 1,700 apartment units in the Woodland Park neighborhood of East Palo Alto, Calif. As the city's largest housing provider, Woodland Park Management is investing more than $11 million into its properties to provide residents with cleaner and safer homes.