As Predicted, AB 212 Never Made It...Fuentes Pulled It!

Oh man, not only did I blog last week (or a couple weeks ago) that Fuentes' AB 212 would never end up making it through (Fuentes pulled the plug today after LA Times did a follow-up on Zuma Times), but I even repeated the prediction on a post earlier today (based on a phone conversation with Ron Kaye a couple weeks ago, who helped me figure out a few questions/concerns I was having).

I posted the follow up today, in response to today's LA Times article that I link to on today's blog post (http://ladailyblog.com/).

The thing that puzzled me and kept me awake at night was, "Why would alarCON and Cardenas put Fuentes up to this Assembly Bill if it would allow developers to circumvent Councilmembers, which means it would also allow them to circumvent their coffers.

I was told that AB 212 was a "one issue" Bill created to allow developers to build a big development on the Verdugo Hills golf course. CM Wendy Greuel was against this development because she had he own plans. (Sell it is what I think the Times said today.)

But I said to some CMs, "Well Gee, it may have been created to address the Verdugo Hills issue, but the fact that it cuts council out of the loop will be for EVERY ISSUE!" The people I spoke with agreed. So why would the two CMs have their homie Fuentes create this Bill that would cut off a big chunk of their power for the long-term?

THE COUNCILMEMBERS KNEW IT WAS NEVER GONNA PASS!

So they basically work/milk/string along the developer for some cashola along the way. For example, "Hey bro, donate/contribute to (this or that) and I'll have my boy in the ASSembly put a motion through."

Then it's, "O.K., kick in some more money and it'll become an Assembly Bill." I'm sure they were hoping to string it along a little more to some "next levels", but like the shell game people at Times Square...sometimes you see the heat coming, so you have to bug-out and squash the operation...take your profits...and move on to the next client.

And the developer is on to the next project, too...and it's all just the cost of doing business in Los Diablo, California.

http://zumatimes.com/