Angel Law

With President Biden now in office, Angel Law attorney Frank Angel was interviewed by Luxembourgish broadcaster RTL about the climate policy directions of the new administration. https://www.rtl.lu/video/3231441 (interview in Luxembourgish)

Santa Monica-based Angel Law recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Santa Monica Bay Towers Homeowners Association (SMBT) challenging the controversial Miramar five-star hotel and luxury condo development project in Downtown Santa Monica. The lawsuit charges that the project violates both the coastal land use plan (LUP) the City and the California Coastal Commission approved for the area in the city that is part of the California coastal zone and the Downtown Community Plan (DCP). The lawsuit further charges that, in approving the project, the city’s officials violated the California Environmental Quality Act. Read more at http://www.angellaw.com/main/news_item/159.

Angel Law’s successful court challenge to Manhattan Beach’s short-term rental ban in the California coastal zone was reported in The Beach Reporter: ‘The Commission allows reasonable restrictions,’ said Frank Angel, the petitioner’s attorney, by phone Tuesday, ‘But they don’t allow what Manhattan Beach did: A categorical, absolute ban throughout every residential zone in the coastal zone.’

Santa Monica, CA -- On June 25, 2020, Angel Law won a decisive court ruling in a lawsuit it litigated against the City of Manhattan Beach, targeting a sweeping ban on short-term rentals. The court ordered the city to stop enforcing its ordinances prohibiting short-term rentals in the Manhattan Beach coastal zone without approval from the California Coastal Commission. Read more about the decision on our website.

https://www.justice.gov//los-angeles-city-councilman-jose- Another arrest, another milestone in the long process of lancing the boils of racketeering and bribery at L.A. City Hall. Do you wonder why the public doesn’t have a chance at no-votes on development projects that racialize impacts by evicting and displacing POC and low-income? Why litigation becomes the next step? The case pulled back the curtain on rampant corruption at [L.A.] City Hall. ... U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, Nick Hanna.

Dear clients, friends, and colleagues: We are reaching out, first and foremost, to express our best wishes for your health and the health of all close to us who are at increased risk of exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. We want to let you know that, during these difficult times, we remain fully available to serve our clients and environmental public interest causes. To comply with California stay-at-home orders and do our part to flatten the curve, we are working remotely. We... are monitoring deadlines as well as anticipated court rulings in matters under submission, and doing the legal work needed to protect the interests of our clients in pending court cases and administrative agency proceedings. The selfless and incomparably more challenging and difficult work of health care professionals and workers in essential services is an inspiration to us. Courts allow filings electronically. While the Court of Appeal in Los Angeles continues to hear oral argument and does so by phone, there are currently no civil court trials or trial court hearings except for certain emergency matters. If a trial court hearing previously set is postponed by court order, we will notify you. Court and public agency policies are in flux as the situation evolves. We are informed of these changes on a daily basis and conform our services to new requirements and restrictions. We believe it is as important as ever to continue our commitment to our clients, our communities, and the environment we all share. We are checking voicemails, but the fastest way to contact us during this time is by email. We will respond as soon as we can and will be available to communicate and consult by phone and video conferencing. As always, please reach out if you have questions or if we can be of service. Stay safe, Frank P. Angel Angel Law

More on the link between zoonotic viral diseases and wet markets and captive wildlife breeding : Huanan seafood market, a wet market in Wuhan where live animals including bamboo rats, civets, snakes and other wildlife were slaughtered and sold, is the suspected epicenter from which the novel coronavirus spread. The likely trajectory of the virus is from a horseshoe bat to an intermediary, possibly a pangolin, and then to a person. If they’re all put together in a close, clo...sed environment, those animals will be panicked, said Aili Kang, Asia Program director at the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society. Their immune system may not be in a good place. It allows the virus to jump from one body to another, to attack and develop, Kang said. It’s an incubator type of environment. Wet markets are a cruel aberration cruel to the wildlife, us and biodiversity. Many emerging infectious diseases are so obviously preventable, and preventing them is so obviously worth more than a cure (or a vaccine), especially when there is no cure (or vaccine) yet. Isn’t it a no brainer that world leaders ought to be able to agree on closing this sick trade for good, anywhere? https://enewspaper.latimes.com/infini/latimes/default.aspx

Preventing pandemics & the public health threats they pose can’t be dissociated from fighting the carbon-consumerist economy’s assaults on the environment & environmental justice: @IPBES #PandemicsReport: The same human activities that drive #ClimateChange and biodiversity loss also drive pandemic risk through their impacts on our #environment." https://twitter.com/unbiodivers/status/1322212090724175873

https://twitter.com/frankpangel1/status/1304331444701937665

More press coverage of Manhattan Beach’s controversial short-term rental ban in the California coastal zone: Superior Court Judge James Chalfant issued a final judgment [on August 25, 2020] that the City of Manhattan Beach’s short-term rental ban is in violation of the California Coastal Act and can no longer be enforced by the city. Last week, the city appealed. Sadly, the Manhattan Beach City Council has chosen to waste more taxpayer dollars into its divisive legal fight... to exclude overnight public access to the Manhattan Beach coastal zone, [attorney Frank P.] Angel said. The vast majority of coastal cities in California understand their responsibilities under the Coastal Act, Angel said. They have worked with the California Coastal Commission to enact reasonable regulations of short-term rentals regulations that serve to protect the interests of all stakeholders." The Court of Appeal will have before it the same evidence as the trial court of the city’s appalling failure to follow the law. https://easyreadernews.com/judge-rules-manhattan-beachs-sh/

Further coverage of Angel Law’s successful court challenge to Manhattan Beach’s short-term rental ban in the California coastal zone: ‘That 2019 ordinance, and the enforcement crackdown, has been extremely drastic, as seen through the lens of my client and many others in the city,’ [attorney Frank P.] Angel said. ‘The City Council enacted a really cruel, exclusionary policy.’

Time for environmental justice advocates, public health scientists AND the medical profession to join forces now more than ever before. https://twitter.com/frankpangel1/status/1292660284897685504