Tuesday PLUM Committee Meeting 6-12-07

A parade of Lawyers and concerned residents testified to the PLUM Committee Tuesday the 12th of June in opposition to the proposed 24 unit housing project in Elephant Hills aka The Pueblo Avenue Sub-Division or Tract 35022. Once again the community rallied and spoke out against the stale dated Environmental Impact Report (EIR 172-84). The EIR # says it all: the -84 represents the date of the EIR , that's '1984' as in twenty three years ago.
The developers were represented by the unofficial project manager Paul Feilberg and a few Lawyers of their own, namely Ben Reznic and Kevin McDonnell who both claim that sufficient environmental review has been performed for the site despite overwhelming new evidence of sub-terranian water systems and an expanding job site footprint which includes no less than two thousand feet of public thoroughfare which developers claim isn't part of the project.
Resident Michael Carreon asked the question: "What contractor or City Department is going to build a road to nowhere?" A perfectly logical question when we look at the plan and listen to what our City Planning Department and Bureau of Engineering are telling us, one does not jive with the other, It's a 'which came first, the chicken or the egg' question they're having trouble answering. Without the streets the houses could not be and without the houses there is no need for the streets, so the question: is the street a part of the housing project? Answer: Of course it is.
Councilman Jose Huizar deserves our praise for standing up [sort of] in the face of contributors to his election campaign, we can't forget the fundraisers thrown by none other than Ben Resnic to support the 'Elect Jose Huizar' campaign during the last election after we lost our 14th district rep to the Mayorship. On that note, apparently when one becomes Mayor all bets are off when it comes to promises made to his constituents, as Antonio Villaraigosa hasn't even thought of Save Elephant Hills much less utter a word about the efforts to preserve the largest remaining openspace in the City of Los Angeles since becoming Mayor. In a related story, perhaps the ICO and other hillside development issues will get more attention now that Mr. Villaraigosa will be residing in Mt Washington again.
Councilmember Jack Weiss while sugarcoating it rather nicely told attendees of the PLUM meeting on Tuesday that the motion filed but not seconded won't hold water when it comes before the full City Council next Wednesday the 20th of June because it MIGHT open the city up to lawsuits brought by the developers. DOLT!! What about lawsuits brought by residents who are being victimized by the City and it's one-sided views. It was disclosed in open session on the record by the City Attorney that no case citations exist for the 'b' permit issue, so why the long face Mr Weiss?
As recently as last night Mr. Weiss made the news by having a formal recall action taken against him for improprieties concerning development approvals and suspicion of financial improprieties. And this is the guy throwing cold water on our 21 year effort to get our fair shake. Whats wrong with this picture!!!
I've got more than a paragraph on our illustrious City Attorney but you'll have to check back in a few days for that. CJ Reagan