Comments by Steven Hyman

Pants on fire

Scott,

I was referring to the Mayor’s 5/6 letter to the CCC.  What I found most disingenious was the back-peddling that first the CCC would approve 19 homes and once AB1991 was submitted, they softened their position to maybe allow 30 homes.

I’m sure they view this bill as a wittling away of the grip they have on us.  All I can say is too little too late.

Let me first start out by saying that I think POST purchasing N Wavecrest was a good idea.  The City spent a lot of money on lawyers, reports, staff time over 10-15 years.  The endless foot dragging of this project softened up the buyer to where the offer from POST was better than more years of fighting.

What I was trying to say was what did the City get out of this multi-million expenditure on NW? No revenue, parks, Boys & Girls Club.  If I’m missing something, I would sincerely appreciate your comments.

To me this is a continuation of out of control spending on lawyers that is disproportionate to our income.  It is irresponsible, unacceptable and luckily, only because we are tapped out now, will stop.  Its too bad for us citizens that it comes million of dollars too late.

Pants on fire

I initially thought this bill was going to be easily defeated by the onslaught from all the environmental groups because they have historically been so creative/aggressive in pushing their agenda.

But it was really a stroke of genius by the City to take the tact they did with HIGH priced lobbyists.  Not only did they create a winning coalition but made sure everybody had to lay out their positions early so they couldn’t flip-flop later. 

This may set a new standard in how to do things here by aggressively throwing a lot of money and influence peddling at a problem.  This is a time tested method that works in Washington and it seems to be working in Sacramento too.

I do think that it will make it through the Senate but I its a long way off till the bulldozers start.  The lawyers will be happily busy and billing the City for a long time.  Lucky them to have latched on to the Beachwood gravy train. 

To think that both sides have spent now in excess of $10 million on just lawyers.  What a staggering waste of money.  And if you throw in the money we blew on lawyers on Pacific Ridge and N Wavecrest, there’s probably another $5-$10 million. Add to that City reports, time, G&A;and there’s $5 million more.

So if you want to know why people are getting fed-up, its because of this outrageous wasteful unproductive spending of our money with nothing to show except for the lawyers getting rich.

As to your other question about AB1991 Lite, it will be up to Keenan if he likes it.  Otherwise, he’ll take his $18 million plus interest and say a tearful goodbye to HMB.

Then we will have had the privilege of paying $25-$30 million for some worthless field of weeds that probably isn’t worth $3-5 million (depending on number of water connections).

Eventually someone will pick this up for cheap and bury HMB with more crushing legal fees and prevail. Just like the Oceano Hotel, it took 25-30 years but it got done.

Pants on fire

Don’t know how much the City is spending on its lobbying efforts but if it is successful, its well worth the investment.  And its much cheaper than writing an $18 million check too.

Time has a way of healing most wounds so hopefully our state agencies are staffed with mature adults and realize that this is business.

But I don’t hear any concern from you for our residents who are staring at this staggering debt.  Should this bill fail, we will be the ones holding the bag for the failures of our government.

Money versus hurt feelings, that’s an easy question to answer.

Pants on fire

Its always fun dealing with people who disagree with you.  And I realize my views are in a definite minority here but I do like the fact that I know whom I’m speaking to.

Most of the time things are civil.  There are a few who like to make disparaging comments and therefore the appropriate response.

Beachwood and 1991 are things we will never agree on.  So my guess is that we’ll be having these colorful conversations for years to come as this outrageously expensive comic opera or greek tragedy plays itself out.

HMB receives $5 million insurance settlement

Janet,

I can see a scenario if AB 1991 passes, it will be challenged in courts until the clock run out and then the City has to write the $18 million check.

That would be par for the course in doing business in HMB.  Very sad.  Its also starting to anger people with this fight everything mentality.

We want things done now, not blow millions on lawyers as project costs skyrocket.  Look we can’t even replace a old waterline without fighting for years.  What a joke.

I still believe that there is more local support for AB 1991, especially when you look at what we we are loosing, a weed filled lot by McDonads and our sewer plant.  I have pointed out this site to clients for over six months now, and almost all of them stare at it in total disbelief.  Most of the comments are not fit for writing here.  What a joke sums it up politely.

And the choice between the bill and writing a check, again most are in favor of getting out of this mess as cheaply as possible.  Common sense prevails, even if some cactus cooperative is unhappy. That’s too bad but they’ll get over it.

And as far as Lanny Davis goes, that was a stroke of genius.  He has shown how effective a savvy political lobbyist can be.  He knows how to work the corridors of power as is evident by the success we’ve seen with this bill so far.  And I’m still hoping to see Bill and Hillary here to.  Maybe we can get a great photo of Bill standing in front of Beachwood eating a Big Mac and fries.  Its the food that transcends party lines.

Pants on fire

Thanks for the idea.  But what’s wrong with 6%?  I don’t work cheap.

HMB releases financial analysis of Beachwood settlement

Appraisals are done for different reasons.

The most common is for purchases or refinances.  Its true that a house or anything for that matter is worth what someone is willing to pay and what someone is willing to sell.

Banks use appraisals to validate the value to protect their loan.

In divorces or deaths, different values are used for settlement or tax purposes. But appraisals will vary for even the same home because different comps can be used.

If there are 5 comps for a home and the bank wants only 3 comps, you can see how different homes will produce different results.

This is where a good realtor can work with an appraiser to get the best results for the client.  Hope that helps.

Local Government Committee passes AB1991—next stop: Appropriations Committee

The City was facing several ugly options.  I think the settlement was very creative and obviously favored Keenan, who was holding all the cards with a staggering size judgment.

I can understand the concern from many here about the law being tweeked to save HMB.  What I disagree with is this specific site.  It is an unimpressive infill lot.

What’s more important to me and many others is the over-riding interest in not paying $18 million.  That trumps the consequenses to other people elsewhere of this special bill.

I wish I could take a more macro view but I don’t have the time to worry about everybodys’ problems throughout the state. And with the real estate recession worse in other places, there must be plenty of problems.

Its obvious that we are just as divided now as ever before and aren’t willing to learn from our past mistakes.  That means more fighting with the area held hostage to endless appeals and nothing getting done. 

Looks like AB 1991 will get through the Senate.  What happens afterwards is probably more legal fighting.

There’s also taking place a big shift in the people’s attitudes here.  The anti-growth forces are loosing influence as the results of their actions are coming home to roost.

People aren’t going to tolerate the stalling tactics that have dominated politics in the past.  We want things done quickly.  Why am I saying that, we are talking about government and they don’t understand that concept.

HMB receives $5 million insurance settlement

A better solution would be to have AB 1991 passed and then maybe the City could actually spend this money on something useful for the residents.  And I don’t mean more lawyers.

We can always dream.

Pants on fire

Ken,

I’m really getting worried about you.  Either you are suffering from an acute case of LLD (liberal learning disability) or your prescription is off on your weed colored glasses.  In either case, it seems to interfere with your processing of simple statements from people who disagree with you.

Let me call Sylvan for you on Monday.  We’ll get you signed up for summer school.  Then we can play.

Pants on fire

Barry,

Let me try and say this as simply and clearly as I can.  When I made the remark about the CCC, I was referring to the quote made by the Mayor about false and misleading statements. PERIOD.

If that isn’t clear enough, I think we should get the group rate at Sylvan cause obviously there are several posters who had a difficult time reading.

I’ll contribute $100 for Ken

Pants on fire

Ken, we need to get you to the Sylvan Learning Center pronto.  Its actually embarrassing to think there are public officials here who have a hard time reading English.

I’ll put this in caps so it will be easier for you to read.  The Mayor said about the CCC “INTENTIONALLY MISLEADING AND SPREADING FALSE STATEMENTS TO MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE.”

Maybe the Bill Clinton dictionary has a different meaning for FALSE STATEMENT.

I realize complex or compound sentences are difficult for you to grasp.  You really only know one word and that’s NO.  Like can I have a permit for my home or traffic light or Boys & Girls Club.  You say NO so often that most of us think that’s the only word that comes out of your mouth.

These must be trying times for you because most of us are tuning you out.  We are tired of the Chicken Little whining.  The sky won’t fall when they bulldoze Beachwood.

You had your day in the sun and now you’re being relegated to the scrapheap of irrelevancy.  Get used to it.

Pants on fire

Look at what our Mayor and our high priced lawyers said.  If you can’t read or understand that, maybe I should help contribute to a Sylvan reading course for you.

Of course its hard seeing the truth when you only look at life through weed colored glasses.

Pants on fire

This is better than fiction.  It was actually a stroke of genius to get Lanny Davis.  He’s obviously proven his worth so far to the residents of HMB by putting together a winning coalition.

Maybe Bill will be walking the halls of Sacramento.  I can’t wait to see next week’s episode!

Another bill to exempt developer from the law submitted to Assembly

How about the fact that the City and their team of high priced lawyers took the time to dissect the CCC statements and compare them to previous ones.  Therefore the mis-statements. 

And if the CCC tries and flip-flop when this goes to the Senate, our lawyers will point out those John Kerry moments.

At least the City is trying to get out of the mess they inherited. All I read here is the same failed policies with no new ideas.  Just more of the same.  Blow money on lawyers, appeal, and file bankruptcy.

I’m sure its frustrating.  You keep yelling the sky is falling and nobody is listening.  But you’ve got it wrong, its you have no more creditability.

Another bill to exempt developer from the law submitted to Assembly

Growth is good.  Its the life blood of any community.  Look at some of the rust belt towns and you’ll see what negative growth does.

HMB will never look like Pacifica.  First, there really aren’t that many unbuilt and buildable lots left.  Many of the lots in N Wavecrest, for example, won’t get built in my life time.

And this growth myth here is really over played.  We can build around 100 homes a year on the Coast and we don’t even have the demand for that.  On an earlier post I checked how many lots sold in 1 1/2 years and it was way below the annual amount.

Building has become such an expensive and time consuming pain, that most people shy away from it.  And I can’t say I blame them.  But that’s too bad for the property owners, many of which have owned these properties for decades.

And to answer your question about the mis-statements from the CCC, I am using info from our Mayor.  The fact that she had to call out another state agency shows the lengths some people will go to sink this bill.

Like I said, most of you won’t agree with me but hopefully we can be civil.  But if not, I have thick skin and can dish it out too.  And more importantly, I’m having fun.

Another bill to exempt developer from the law submitted to Assembly

Growth is good.  More homes means more businesses prosper.  McDonalds sells more Big Macs, the cleaners have more customers, etc.  Who knows, we may even buy one of those million dollar traffic lights.

Actually,the only ones who really won’t immediately benefit from these new homes are the realtors.  Most big builders use in-house staff to sell directly to the public thereby cutting out most of the commissions.  They only use us when they get down to the last few homes.

So to blame all realtors as greedy people salavating over big fees from all these homes is incorrect.  If things go the way they usually do, we won’t see hardly anything from this project.

So my support for ending this long running nightmare isn’t cause I’m going to make a fortune on commissions, I just don’t see the logic in the endless arguing over this infill parcel within driving distance (and I mean golf) to my favorite restaurant.

Personally, I think you picked the wrong battle to make this your Custard’s Last Stand. 

It certainly has made this sleepy little town interesting.  And to think we have Lanny Davis too.  If it wasn’t for the staggering amount of money, this whole thing would be hilarious.

Another bill to exempt developer from the law submitted to Assembly

Janet,

How about a fourth option.  Keenan is a smart dude.  He was also helped by a $41+ million dollar judgment.

You have to admit that this was a very creative settlement with the plan a/b option.  Either way he wins big. And we do all the work.

I think I’ve been vocal about the City too.  We won’t win the Donald Trump award for paying $25+ million (land, legal, G&A;, etc) for something you can hopefully sell for $3-5 million.  That is if you can even find someone who would want ot buy this troubled property.

I have also been calling for the City to pay off the debt (should AB 1991 not pass) by selling off some of their many real estate holdings.  We residents shouldn’t have to pay for their failures in governance. 

And if the City has to pay for their mistakes out of their own pocket, they will be less likely to do this again.

And to Kevin, yes greed is good.  I like making money.  But I’m not rushing out to buy my new Mercedes tomorrow because of all the Beachwood homes I’m going to sell.  That isn’t going to happen for many, many years.  And I want my new car now.

Another bill to exempt developer from the law submitted to Assembly

Ken,

I’ve stated many facts over and over again.  The bottom line is that we don’t agree. And its likely we will never agree and that’s ok.

You see this land as something special, I don’t.

You wanted to appeal and I wanted to settle.

You don’t care if HMB files bankruptcy and I do.

I look at AB 1991 as a way to avoid paying $18+ million dollars for something worth a fraction of it.  You see the bill as a way to chip away at the environmental laws.

I could see that that is a remote possibility.  But to me and many other people, what’s more important is not paying $18+ million.  The other ramifications are secondary to paying $18+ million.

Whether we are civil or insulting (and I didn’t throw the first stone), it doesn’t change the fact that we view this very differently and most likely always will.

In some ways this has been kind of fun but frankly, its now going on 6-7 months and we just keep rehashing the same old views and its getting old.

Another bill to exempt developer from the law submitted to Assembly

Go read the City’s lengthy rebuttal of the CCC’s appearence.  And who better than Lanny Davis knows when people mis-speak.

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