Armen Yousoufian's Blog

After 30 years in business/investment real estate, I added "citizen activist" to my resume in 1997 when I requested sports stadium documents of King County Executive Ron Sims. After being "stonewalled", I sued, winning more at every stage, up to the state Supreme Court. Documents disgorged by Sims (after 4 years denying they existed!) revealed rigged studies. Sims misled the public on the stadiums. Other issues found me (e.g. Critical Areas Ordinance). Google “Armen Yousoufian” for more.

About Me

Name:
Location: Vashon, Washington, United States

I was born and raised in New York City. I took classical violin lessons for 10 years and studied astronomy. I built telescopes, grinding the mirrors from scratch. I was a nerd! I considered a career in classical violin but chose astrophysics. I majored in Physics at Rutgers University for 2 years, then switched and graduated in mechanical engineering. I moved to Seattle in 1969 to work on missiles for Boeing, got an MBA from Seattle University, and became a business and real estate entrepreneur for over 30 years. In 1997 I became involved in open government activism when I asked King County Executive Ron Sims for sports stadium documents. I was stonewalled. I sued under the Open Records, or Public Disclosure, Act. I won the case in King County Superior Court, but still didn’t get all the documents, nor recovered my legal fees, which the law said I was entitled to be reimbursed. I appealed and won more in the Court of Appeals and the court of public opinion. But I still didn’t get all the documents! I appealed again and won yet more in the Washington State Supreme Court. But I still don’t have all the documents! While that fight goes on I have become involved in new issues.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Seattle Times' article on Aug 19 court hearing

Re: yesterday, Friday morning's, court hearing:

Short article in this morning's Seattle Times:

Use the link below to go to the Seattle Times' "Local News Digest", where it appears as the fourth item down, or read on past the link to see what was said:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002446678_dige20m.html

And check back from time to time for an announcment on the decision, when it is released.

Local News: Saturday, August 20, 2005

Local Digest

Seattle

Stadium dispute likely in final lap

A King County Superior Court judge yesterday heard what are likely to be final arguments in a six-year legal battle that went to the state Supreme Court and pitted the county against a dogged hotelier who sued for his right to see public documents.

Armen Yousoufian, who in 1997 began requesting the county's studies on the benefits of the then-proposed Seahawks Stadium, won a $100,000 lawsuit in 2001 after a Superior Court judge found the county didn't give him, in a timely fashion, 116 documents he'd requested.

The court found that it had taken the county four years to provide some of the documents, a fact the judge said was a clear violation of the state's Public Disclosure Act. The act allows assessment of penalties ranging from $5 to $100 per day.

The state Supreme Court ruled last year that government agencies should face stiff penalties for violations of the public-records law, but that the penalties need not be based on the specific number of records withheld.

At yesterday's hearing, Yousoufian's attorneys argued that the county should be assessed penalties at $90 a day per bundle of documents, for a total of more than $742,000, and should have to pay all of Yousoufian's attorneys' fees. The county argued that it should have to pay penalties of only $10 a day and less than half the attorneys' fees.

Judge Michael Hayden is expected to issue a written ruling by the end of the month.

posted by Armen Yousoufian | 8:17 AM

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