For the feisty businessman Les Surfas, the fight with City Hall this morning is “98 per cent” over.
After three bitter years of aggressively, noisily contesting City Hall over whether it had a right to force him, via eminent domain, to relocate his warehouse at the southwest corner of National and Washington boulevards, Mr. Surfas has rested his case.
He was shoved out to clear room for the city to build a business and residential complex around the proposed light rail train terminal, accommodating the train from downtown Los Angeles.
Mr. Surfas has mixed feelings about the light rail prospects.
“Deep down,” he said, “sometimes I question whether the train will make it past La Cienega. Another side of my thinking says it will help my store, at least to increase its value. I am not sure, though, if that is true.”
Came Down to Pragmatism
The proprietor of Surfas Food Service Design, Equipment and Supply grudgingly came to terms with the city for a pragmatic reason.
“I finally settled,” Mr. Surfas said, “because I cannot win.
“All of the lawyers told me that.”
By mutual agreement, Mr. Surfas is to have his warehouse emptied and ready for immediate seizure by City Hall by Jan. 4, one week from Friday.
Almost Over
The “98 percent” he alluded to earlier describes how close the Surfas company is to completing the transfer of warehouse operations to Landmark Street, several hundred yards away.
Mr. Surfas’ reputation as a fighter is intact. He is just as steamed at City Hall as he was last spring when, in a Hill Street courtroom, he still entertained hopes of prevailing.
“What the city did to me was dead wrong,” Mr. Surfas said.
Out of Options
Nothing has changed with him.
“This is what attorneys told me,” he said. “They told me that even if I take this case to the United States Supreme Court, I will lose.
“Not only that, the city has a right to hold my money during that time. So I would have no money, and I am going to lose anyway. That is why I settled.”
The Culver City native is not sure his fate would have been equally doomed in another community. “Some cities in California have enacted laws to protect their businesses because they value those companies,” Mr. Surfas said.
