http://www.insidevc.com/vcs/ve/article/0,1375,VCS_251_2325043,00.html

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For example, San Francisco and San Diego chose to fight demands that they
divest themselves of their crosses and lost in court, Ventura City
Attorney Robert Boehm told council members. Those losses came after they
spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds fighting the
issue.

Siple contends that by agreeing to sell the cross without a court fight,
Ventura has endorsed the "secular humanism" view of those who allege the
city's ownership of the cross violates the U.S. and state constitutions.

Siple also argues the city has deprived those who want to keep the cross
from finding out in court if in fact the city's ownership is
unconstitutional.

But Mayor Ray Di Guilio said such a fight very likely would have cost
Ventura taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees,
something the city can ill afford, especially now as it faces what could
be its worst financial crisis in 30 years.

Moreover, Di Guilio said the courts already have decided the
constitutionality of a city's ownership and maintenance of a cross when
they ruled San Francisco and San Diego were violating the law by
maintaining similar crosses.

"We shouldn't have to fight over this again," Di Guilio said. "There's
already a legal precedent."