Comments by Steven Hyman
September 03, 2008
Barry, I know this is an opinion piece but it was more like one of NP's pitches outside and in the dirt, therefore my sarcastic and humorous response. But to the points at hand which I have stated here a zillion times. I want to get out of this mess as cheaply as possible and I really don't care what they do with that ugly worthless, except what is costing us, weed filled, tick infested piece of dirt by McDonalds and the sewer plant. I don't know keenhan and have never said 1 word to him. First time…
September 03, 2008
None of these make my list so let me add a few. P. Why didn't the CC settle Beachwood 5,10,15 or 20 years ago? Q. How much money has the CC squandered on lawyers over the past 5,10, 15 years? R. What benefits have the residents of HMB gotten from all this money spent on lawyers over same periods? S. Shouldn't City officials who are openly critical of CC be forced to immediately resign or be fired on the spot? T. Shouldn't the residents construct a solar powered Beachwood Debt Clock made of dried…
September 01, 2008
Mike, the fact I replaced "wetland" with "someone else's property" is factually correct and doesn't change the fact it wasn't City property. It was owned by another individual.
To many, this sad looking parcel will always be a field of ugly weeds near McDonalds, our sewer plant and sandwiched between 2 neighborhoods. Its unfortunately also a $25 million government folly that will be remembered for a very long time.
September 01, 2008
The basic issue is the City can't deface someone's property without permission. The City could have used eminent domain if they wanted to put drain pipes on Beachwood but they didn't. Instead they just did it. That's illegal. And the City seems to do it again and again as is evident by our newest lawsuits from the residents near the Pilarcitos Park. This repeated pattern of arrogance and lack of respect for people's property is not acceptable. When you combine this with the long list of stalled projects…
September 01, 2008
You just said that it "was unwise to put drain pipes on someone else's property because of foreseeable negative consequences".
That's liability. Case closed. That's why we lost and why are writing the check.
September 01, 2008
Since we both agree that the City illegally damaged someone's property, I don't see how a judge could come to any other conclusion. We were 100% wrong. The only question was going to be the monetary damages awarded. I also don't see what's there to appeal other than the size of the judgment. I know we are nice people here in HMB but that may not carry much weight with a bunch of federal judges. But the issue at hand today is getting out of this mess as cheaply as possible. HMB may have dodged the…
September 01, 2008
Its also too bad that subsequent councils didn't try to fix the problem they created then instead of letting it get this out of control costing $25 million. In hindsight, this should have been fixed back in the 80's The reason many people decide to settle is they don't want to put their fate in the hands of a judge or jury. When you settle, you know what its going to cost. I guess it boils down to your level of risk. And here, our council was gambling with our money, not theirs. That requires a more…
September 01, 2008
It would have been nice to have seen our past CC's spanning 20-25 years not squander $25 million on this worthless piece of dirt by making a series of really poor decisions. At least our current council is trying to get us out of the mess previous councils made as cheaply as possible. And if people's feeling got hurt in Sacramento or on the Coastal Commission, they'll get over it. And as you said, they can get counseling from Dr. Yee. But no matter how much counseling Dr. Yee does to the people of…
August 28, 2008
Glad to hear that the appraisal issue was anticipated. Everybody would sure hate to have this blow up in our faces after the ink is dry.
I'll hope for the best and wait with baited breath till the check comes.
August 28, 2008
I too am glad that this long running nightmare may be coming to an end. Although, as you all know, we see things very differently. Please lets not rehash the endless debate about which was better, settling or appealing, because we will never agree. While 1991 was the cheapest way out, it seems to placate the environmental groups, the State is throwing us a generous $10 million bone. So for only a mere few million bucks, we can put this to rest. I did notice in the Review that this money, which will…
August 05, 2008
Obviously numbers can be misleading. I try and be consistent and use the same method over the years to factor out any bias. I also try and look at many factors like sales volume by price category cause that shows the weighting. Tomorrow's piece also mentions the percent of sales price to list price for the first half for the County. The one weakness with this number is that the list price isn't necessarily the original list price which could overstate things. But you have to work with the data you…
August 05, 2008
I am referring to average home prices for both areas. Go check out my website at century21sunset.com for charts on prices, volume, interest rates and inventory over time.
Also the Review has charts. 1 came out 2 weeks ago and 1 is coming out tomorrow on SM County.
August 05, 2008
Most of the short sales I've seen were due to people buying homes with nothing down. When their mortgages adjusted out of the teaser rates, they walked. Having 0 down makes walking away easier cause of little equity. Then the lender gets stuck writing down the mortgage, paying prop taxes, hoa fees and real estate commission. The scenario of people taking out second mortgages and then exceeding the market's value is much smaller, at least here. Home prices in both the County and Coast were still up…
August 04, 2008
I saw that piece. It is hard being a forecaster and you live and die by your words. The longer the time period, the more questionable the results. At least here on the Coast, prices only dropped noticably twice in 20 years. The graph looks like stairs with rises followed by plateaus. Having seen all the speculative abuses and foreclosures, I only encourage people to buy homes if they need them. Trying to make a quick buck from flipping doesn't work here. While they say in real estate its location,…
August 03, 2008
Thanks for not including me and my column.
August 03, 2008
I haven't really heard any great realtor jokes. Of course, there is an unlimited supply about politicians. Realtors using hookers or getting caught in bathrooms isn't nearly as funny as when politicians do it. And on a local level, there's Beachwood and our lobbyist.
I guess we are just not as amusing as a group of politicians.
August 03, 2008
When most people find that their income doesn't cover expenses, they reduce spending. Why can't the government do the same. Raising taxes to compensate for mismanagement and wasteful spending is not the answer. With no disrespect to people with substance abuse but you won't get someone to stop drinking by saying have more to help you stop. Same with government. They won't get their house in order if they aren't forced to make the hard choices. Also, if the economy is going into an economic downturn,…
August 01, 2008
The question was why doesn't the City pay its share for this project. My answer is maybe they spent it on lawyers. Is this the best thing we can spend money on considering how many complaints there are here about the schools, police, parks, housing, etc? Go poll the residents and I don't think sewer is going to make the top 5 list. As far as Beachwood goes, we will never agree on this. I see it as a failure of government and if AB 1991 isn't implemented will also be a staggering cost that the community…
August 01, 2008
My comment on spending millions on lawsuits was referring to the City that Kevin mentioned. Instead of wasting all that money on lawyers for years, many projects could have been done for the residents like parks, Boys & Girls Club, etc.
Go ask the residents where they would like to spend money on. I don't know if the sewer department jumps to the top of the list. It certainly doesn't get me excited.
August 01, 2008
There is so much wastefulness in government (federal, state and local levels). I think you could easily cut 15% from every departments' budgets and tell them to make it work. From pork barrel spending to special projects to inflated salaries with annual raises and the endless list of benefits, its out of control. And then there are those things you can't talk about that also consume massive amounts of money. The whole thing is out of control. And with the "gottcha politics" you don't attract the…
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