Herb Wesson III, son of the council president, went more than five years without a rent increase even as many other tenants saw their rent go up, a Times analysis of city records found.
Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson’s son received preferential treatment on his rent for years at an L.A. apartment building while his father helped the building’s executives win approval of a controversial high-rise,Wesson helped shepherd the 27-story Koreatown residential tower through the city’s review process amid opposition from city staff and the planning commission. During the same period, his son was living in a building owned by Rosewood Corp.
Instead, an aide issued a statement saying Wesson “does not arrange rental agreements for his adult children.”“Every policy he supports or opposes, every council action or vote he takes is based 100% on what is in the best interest of his constituents and the people of Los Angeles,” Wesson spokesman Edward Johnson said in an email.
Rosewood Corp. has owned the building since 1997, according to a spokesman for the Los Angeles County assessor. Over the past decade, the company repeatedly listed Hakim as its chief financial officer on state business filings. Hakim also signed a declaration in 2017 identifying himself as the owner of the property, according to a permit application filed at the city’s Department of Building and Safety.
Hakim lodged an appeal in 2009, and his request for a zone change and other city approvals was forwarded to the council’s powerful planning committee. Herb Wesson III, son of Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson, with other staffers for Councilman Curren Price in 2018. Wesson III was registered to vote at Apartment 4 from 2012 to 2018, according to county election officials. He and his wife also listed Apartment 4 as their home when they married in 2014, county records show.
Landlords are not required to charge the same amount of rent to each tenant. But experts said preferential treatment for the son of a politician raises legal and ethical issues, especially if it involves someone with business before that politician. California’s Fair Political Practices Commission has advised officials in the past that rent discounts can count as gifts.While Wesson III was living in the Rosewood building, Hakim and his representatives worked with Wesson aides on getting the Koreatown project through the city’s lengthy review process, according to correspondence obtained by The Times.
Wesson staffer that an aide to the councilman should “always” be on hand at planning department meetings on his project. When the commission — this time made up of appointees of Mayor Eric Garcetti — took up the redesigned project, Wesson was firmly in favor. His planning deputy, Jordan Beroukhim, appeared before the planning commission and praised the developers as “pioneers” who would transform the neighborhood.
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