SFWeekly says HMB bonds would be ‘Vampire Bonds’
The SF Weekly says that if Half Moon Bay does issue bonds to pay off Chop Keenan, they might be pioneering a new style of investing.
Into the the promising field of anti-social investment offerings steps the city of Half Moon Bay, a municipality 30 miles south of here. The city’s manager recently told the publication Bond Buyer that it has obtained approval to sell $18 million worth of municipal debt—which we term vampire bonds—designed to pay off an apparently bloodsucking Woodside land speculator who has crippled a small town by simply purchasing land nearby, then going to court. ...
For anti-social investors, such an issue would create a golden opportunity—by allowing them to send money in the direction of a speculator whose machinations have threatened to bleed a small town to death.
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Mon, May 11, 2009 7:42pm
Kevin J. Lansing
All my comments
I would say that is a pretty good description of the reality of the situation. Ever since the give-away-settlement was announced on April Fool’s Day 2008, the Old Guard City Council has been doing the bidding of their master Keenan.
Tue, May 12, 2009 3:34pm
Kevin Barron
All my comments
A classic case of environmentalism setting up so many “trip wires” they eventually back into one of their own. Kaboom!
While Sand Hill capitalists are underwriting the life insurance policies.
Tue, May 12, 2009 6:42pm
Carl May
All my comments
How was “environmentalism” involved in the ongoing disputes, in the actual speculative investing by the developer, the governmental decisions and actions, and the legal wangling that make up Half Moon Bay’s Beachwood mire? Or is the “environmentalism” term just lobbed out there as a handful of wet cement, hoping it will find a wall to stick to?
Wed, May 13, 2009 5:03pm
Kevin Barron
All my comments
Mr May, I’d need approval from 3 commissions, 2 permits, months of public hearings, $50K in impact reports, $25K in legal fees to combat NIMBYism, and personal time to counter the typical posturing by old bitter coastal armchair blowhards in order to just be able “sling cerebral cement” against any wall in these parts.
Wed, May 13, 2009 5:15pm
Carl May
All my comments
Okay, Mr. Barron, then confine yourself to the question asked about your reference to the term “environmentalism” with regard to this particular issue. Or is slinging cement randomly all you have?