Complications Arise in Gold Line Deal With Monrovia

Complications mounted in the "heated dispute" between the city of Monrovia and the Gold Line Construction Authority when attorneys representing a local property owner announced yet another lawsuit against the GLCA this week while accusing the city of being deceptive in hiring a public relations firm to aid in Gold Line negotiations.

Lawyers Robert Silverstein and Christopher Sutton, who already represent local property owner George Brokate in , threw another lawsuit into the mix Tuesday when they gave notice that they will sue the GLCA and challenged the rights of its board members to represent the agency while also holding public offices in local towns.

Then on Wednesday Silverstein accused the city of surreptitiously hiring the public relations firm Cerrell Associates for $7,500 per month to lobby Gold Line officials under the guise of having it work on the city's Station Square development planned along the Gold Line Foothill Extension.

"I would respectfully submit that what Cerrell is doing has everything to do with your fight with the Gold Line and has very little or nothing to do with the stated notion that they're being hired for this amount of money--taxpayer dollars--for the Station Square Transit Village Project," Silverstein said during Wednesday's Monrovia City Council meeting.

Read GLCA Chairman and Glendora Mayor Doug Tessitor's and on GLCA negotiations with the city of Monrovia.