SUIT CALLS CITY A TOOL OF COSTCO.Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer LANCASTER - The 99 Cents Only store has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to stop the Lancaster City Council from condemning the outlet so a neighboring neigh·bor n. 1. One who lives near or next to another. 2. A person, place, or thing adjacent to or located near another. 3. A fellow human. 4. Used as a form of familiar address. v. Costco can expand. Attorneys for the 99 Cents Only store claim the city is trying to illegally evict the business and that its actions violate the store's constitutional rights. ``They have no right to do it. I think the whole process has been predetermined pre·de·ter·mine v. pre·de·ter·mined, pre·de·ter·min·ing, pre·de·ter·mines v.tr. 1. To determine, decide, or establish in advance: . It's a kangaroo court kangaroo court moblike tribunal, usually disregarding principles of justice. [Pop. Culture: Misc.] See : Injustice ,'' said Russell Wolpert, attorney for the 99 Cents Only store. ``Eminent domain eminent domain, the right of a government to force the owner of private property sell it if it is needed for a public use. The right is based on the doctrine that a sovereign state has dominion over all lands and buildings within its borders, which has its origins in is supposed to be used for public purposes. I don't think having a bigger, richer Costco constitutes a public purpose.'' City officials declined to comment. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. . On June 27, the City Council approved condemnation proceedings to expand the Costco warehouse store, a decision expected to cost the city more than $3.8 million, despite the pleadings of more than 200 supporters of the 99 Cents Only store. Saying they must protect the city's biggest generator of sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. revenue, the council voted to start eminent domain proceedings against the Valley Central shopping center shopping center, a concentration of retail, service, and entertainment enterprises designed to serve the surrounding region. The modern shopping center differs from its antecedents—bazaars and marketplaces—in that the shops are usually amalgamated into building occupied by the 99 Cents Only store, which Costco executives say they need in order to expand. The $3.8 million is for the 99 Cents Only building and two vacant buildings it will turn over to Costco for $1, plus an undetermined amount for moving the 99 Cents Only store. Charging that Costco executives and City Manager Jim Gilley were lying in asserting that the expansion could occur only if the neighboring 99 Cents Only store is moved, executives said that forcing one business to move to help another was unfair and un-American. They said Costco, whose Lancaster store does about 10 times the taxable sales of the 99 Cents Only store, wants only to eliminate a competitor and that it hadn't proposed the expansion until after the smaller store leased the vacant building two years ago. ``We believe they violated our constitutional rights. The Constitution says you can't take private property except for public purpose, and only then with just compensation,'' Wolpert said. ``Costco is a fine company, and so are a lot of other companies, but these are private money-making businesses, not a public purpose.'' |
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