The announced alleged the city had been vindicated of allegations made about its involvement in Section 8 inspections that rooted out fraud and criminals using the program in Antelope Valley.
"Palmdale has always condemned discrimination and continues to condemn discrimination in any form," said Mayor Jim Ledford. "The City of Palmdale welcomes people from diverse backgrounds, including people who participate in the Section 8 program."
City Attorney Matthew Ditzhazy said the city never belonged in the lawsuit and settling with NAACP and TCAL proved it.
"The city will not pay plaintiffs or their 21 attorneys a dime and the city did not agree to do anything of substance that it wasn't already doing or that had not already been surrendered by the politically correct crowd at the County of Los Angeles," Ditshazy said.
Although Assistant City Attorney Noel Doran called the lawsuit an unfounded conspiracy theory and the “most create cause of action I have ever seen conjured up against the city.”
However, the city decided to give in to the two groups, which have targeted Antelope Valley’s efforts to make sure Section 8 participants play by the rules of the program.
"While the city council continues to believe that this is a frivolous lawsuit and that the city of Palmdale has acted at all times in a lawful manner, it also understands that in certain cases, like this, discretion is the better part of valor," said Ledford. "We decided it was better to agree to the status quo than waste further taxpayer dollars to achieve the same result in a couple of years."
Ledford then blamed Lancaster leaders for the city of Palmdale being included in the lawsuit.
"It is most unfortunate that the plaintiffs' attorneys realized that Palmdale is not the same as Lancaster until after this lawsuit was filed. The inflammatory rhetoric advanced by the plaintiffs and the leaders in Lancaster has divided our community, inaccurately depicted our city in the national media, and undermined 20 years of effort on the part of myself and past and current Palmdale City Councils to promote and advance an inclusive community. Now, more than ever, we need the real leaders of our community to step forward and help heal our City, " Ledford added.
"While the Housing Authority has decided to eliminate dedicated investigators, it remains obligated under the terms of the Section 8 program to investigate and root out fraud within the program," said Palmdale Councilmember Steve Hofbauer.
"The City of Palmdale expects the County to dedicate adequate staff and resources to meet this obligation, although I personally don't believe that they will do it. As always, we expect these investigations to be race neutral and in a manner that protects the rights of all our citizens," Hofbauer added.
The Los Angeles County Housing Authority has only three inspectors to cover the entire county.
Prior to the LA County Board of Supervisors settling with the NAACP and TCAL, the cities of Palmdale and Lancaster paid for three more inspectors to investigate fraud and criminal activity in the program in AV.
According to the Supervisor’s agreement, there will be no more inspectors to serve the AV and less chance of investigations of complaints for at least three years.
In the meantime, Santa Clarita officials have said they would like to solve their Section 8 problems by sending residents enrolled in the program to Palmdale.
