Long Beach Aquarium plan comes under fire.

LONG BEACH - A former member of the city's harbor commission has begun legal action that could upset the financing of the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific, now under construction.

Joel Friedland, the former commissioner, said he filed the suit earlier this month on behalf of all taxpayers in the city. He said he is not opposed to construction of the aquarium.

Rather, he said, there are serious legal questions about the funding plan for the $117 million public project.

"The way it's (the financing) being done is clearly against the state constitution. The money to build the project is being guaranteed in ways that are illegal," he said.

Specifically, the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court in downtown Los Angeles, asks for an injunction to stop the current method of financing the project. If the injunction were to be granted, the current financing package would be put in jeopardy.

Steven Kalik, the Woodland Hills attorney that represents Friedland, said he could not comment on what effect an injunction would have on construction of the project.

"If you're a lender and there are problems with the guarantees," he said, "then I would think there are questions, but you'll have to draw your own conclusions. Financing for projects like this is complicated and beyond my expertise."

The lawsuit, which does not ask for monetary damages, contends that actions by the Long Beach Harbor Commission to guarantee financing for the project are illegal and violate the state constitution, which outlines how public funds can be used.

Debt allegedly misused

Friedland said using $30 million of debt owed to the commission by the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency as a guarantee, or collateral, for the aquarium violates state law.

In addition, he said, commission action that permits using 10 percent of harbor revenues to cover any losses from the aquarium is not allowed under the state constitution. That 10 percent, said Friedland, is supposed to be dedicated to maintaining the city's waterfront and beach properties.

Named as defendants in the suit are the City of Long Beach, the harbor commission, the redevelopment agency and the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific Foundation, the non-profit organization formed to manage the aquarium.

Officials at the harbor commission, which oversees the operations of the Port of Long Beach, and the redevelopment agency, said they had no comment on the suit.

The redevelopment agency, a department of the city, funds real estate projects in Long Beach.

Officials at the foundation did not return a phone call for comment.

Heather Mahood, a Long Beach deputy city attorney, said the issues raised in the lawsuit have already been resolved by the court. "When we were doing the financing, these issues were raised and addressed by the Superior Court. We're confident we'll prevail in this," she said.

The aquarium is being built along the waterfront in downtown Long Beach and is part of the city's Queensway Bay project to further develop the area as a visitor attraction. The aquarium is planned as the anchor attraction of the area that already includes a park, the Queen Mary, Long Beach Convention Center and Shoreline Village, a waterside retail complex.

Friedland, who is retired from the manufacturing industry, said excusing the $30 million of debt and using it as collateral, and setting aside funds that are supposed to be used to maintain beaches, hurts the city's taxpayers.

"What could happen here is that things may not get done because we're paying for the aquarium. What I'm trying to do is call people's attention to the fact that this is going on and hold people responsible....

"I'm looking for a court ruling on this. I don't want to have happen here what happened in Orange County (the bankruptcy of the county government)," said Friedland.

Friedland was a member of the harbor commission until December 1994. He is suing city officials, who appoint members of the commission, for what he asserts was his forced resignation from the panel. Friedland said last week he was forced off the board because members feared he would raise questions about financing for the aquarium.

The financing package was put together after Friedland left the board.