Over the years, John Jaeger has kept an eye on the signs posted around central Orange County for units available at Arnel Management Co. properties as well as OC Weekly's voluminous coverage of Arnel's owner, Newport Beach self-made businessman, developer, GOP power broker and former ambassador to Spain George Argyros (right), who is currently ranked at No. 559 on Forbes' list of the world's billionaires with $1.3 billion.
To refresh our memory, Jaeger just email over a copy of this September 2007 nugget from the Weekly's R. Scott Moxley:
Corporate sneak gives back? George Argyros, whose Arnel Management Co. systematically ripped off
thousands of poor Vietnamese and Latino apartment tenants by
fabricating charges against security deposits, has given some of his
ill-gotten gains to charity. In recent days, he's promised to make a
$10 million gift to South Coast Repertory, a move no doubt pushed by
his lovely, crime-free wife Julianne. Not that Argyros would
acknowledge the connection between the apartment con and his own
fortune. You see, the Newport Beach billionaire says it was his
company–not him personally–that got caught in the scam. Arnel
Management Co. is 100 percent owned by Argyros.
Jaeger wants readers to know that more (albeit minor) lawlessness has been practiced over the years (allegedly) by Argyros– excuse me, it's his company's alleged lawlessness, not the man himself's. Argyros has obviously tweaked Harry Truman's famous line to read “the buck stops down the hall.”
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In any event, Jaeger provides the following photographic evidence of what he calls Arnel's “illegal advertising program”:
has been sued by the City of Orange and fined thousands of dollars,”
Jaeger writes in an email, “and yet they continue to litter Orange
County illegally.” Keep this and those shots in mind as we take a gander at the California Penal Code:
556. It is a misdemeanor for any person to place or maintain, or
cause to be placed or maintained without lawful permission upon any
property of the State, or of a city or of a county, any sign,
picture, transparency, advertisement, or mechanical device which is
used for the purpose of advertising or which advertises or brings to
notice any person, article of merchandise, business or profession, or
anything that is to be or has been sold, bartered, or given away.556.1. It is a misdemeanor for any person to place or maintain or
cause to be placed or maintained upon any property in which he has no
estate or right of possession any sign, picture, transparency,
advertisement, or mechanical device which is used for the purpose of
advertising, or which advertises or brings to notice any person,
article of merchandise, business or profession, or anything that is
to be or has been sold, bartered, or given away, without the consent
of the owner, lessee, or person in lawful possession of such property
before such sign, picture, transparency, advertisement, or
mechanical device is placed upon the property.556.2. Sections 556 and 556.1 do not prevent the posting of any
notice required by law or order of any court, to be posted, nor the
posting or placing of any notice, particularly pertaining to the
grounds or premises upon which the notice is so posted or placed, nor
the posting or placing of any notice, sign, or device used
exclusively for giving public notice of the name, direction or
condition of any highway, street, lane, road or alley.556.3. Any sign, picture, transparency, advertisement, or
mechanical device placed on any property contrary to the provisions
of Sections 556 and 556.1, is a public nuisance.556.4. For purposes of this article, information that appears on
any sign, picture, transparency, advertisement, or mechanical device
such as, but not limited to, the following, may be used as evidence
to establish the fact, and may create an inference, that a person or
entity is responsible for the posting of the sign, picture,
transparency, advertisement, or mechanical device: [EMPHASIS ADDED]
(a) The name, telephone number, address, or other identifying
information regarding the real estate broker, real estate brokerage
firm, real estate agent, or other person associated with the firm.
(b) The name, telephone number, address, or other identifying
information of the owner or lessee of property used for a commercial
activity or event.
(c) The name, telephone number, address, or other identifying
information of the sponsor or promoter of a sporting event, concert,
theatrical performance, or similar activity or event.
At least the guy whose company (and not him, of course) does these things–allegedly–gives to charity, right?
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.