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Good luck Will! Thanks for bringing your paper to town!
But Dang!
Happy trails, pal!
The last two DW editions seemed unusually anemic so hope you folks aren't losing your mojo due to iron-deficiency. Or is Ellen to blame? (LOL).
I hope not!
Doesn't surprise me that Mr. Swaim is leaving either. He is not Long Beach. He does not live here and is not vested in the city other than this newspaper that I know of. Ironically, this paper depends on controversy within the city and not actually making it great.
The only constructive topic I've seen this paper take on is the breakwater. Everything else seems to be one conspiracy theory after another. A few eat it up but to me It is annoying because the journalists are actually very good at uncovering new topics and stories never coverd in the PT, etc.. That is why I read it. I just wish they could be presented in a less slanted way. This paper actually could be very successful as an alternative to the PT with a bit more unbiased reporting. I get that it is a liberal alternative but for example writing a top 10 list of most hated people is not helpful particularly when much of the data is distorted.
Thanks for everything Will and good luck to you!
Congratulations to Swaim and Griley both.
Truth will spread like an insidious yet irresistable disease transmitted through intimate bodily fluids.
love
alex b-z
Some one to lean on.
some one to fol - low
some one to save us,
some great Apol- lo...
Did Dean have his way...or something??
Best Regards Sir.
Your suggestion that DeLong sponsored the loan for Legends isn't a big deal, but it probably isn't true. Ask ANY councilmember if they recommended much less knew about any business loans coming through the EDC. Or ask the Chairperson of the EDC, or the Chair of the Business Loan Committee, or Swayze the manager of Economic Development. Good reporting would at least have ONE reliable source that could be quoted before you make an innuendo that DeLong pushed the loan.
I may be wrong, but the way I heard it was that Legends worked directly with City Economic Development staff, same with John Morris and the guys at La Opera when they got loans.
Keep going after the good stuff, just try and keep the bias down a little. I think your stories will be even better if they are factual.
I think your pub makes the city better when you run stories on art, etc. AND when you write about issues nobody else dares take on. You hurt the city when you write those stories with a "point of view" but fail to provide the entire background or push the envelope on what is factual. For example, I think you should have included the perspective on why the council voted to approve the Best Buy subsidy. You positioned it as corporate "socialism" without explaining we would have had less net tax revenue without the subsidy. I don't want to argue the merits of the decision, I am just pointing out I think the story would have been better by at least including the other side. In the end, you wrote a piece that makes it seem like our council simply wants to give tax money away to businesses just for the sake of doing it. That is ridiculous and it hurts our city because it makes an already non-trusting community less trusting.
And to Coastal Advocate (our very own creative writing / conspiracy theorist), I've never contributed to DeLong's campaign much less participated on his campaign. I am not a member and have not been a member of the chamber either. Just because I have a different perspective than you doesn't mean I''m leading a charge against you. I know you think your enviro groups are accomplishing a lot, but if you would lose the chip, stop thinking everyone is out to destroy you and all things nature, and try to work with others and compromise maybe we can actually get some things done around here. LIKE RESTORING THE WETLANDS. How is that working for you? By my count, you've made zero progress.
We have heard your talking points for years, simple, and this is not about me, or you. Environment Law, and concerned coastal residents and their groups HAVE accomplished a lot, and this is not merely what 'I' think. Go on a driving trip along Route One since The Coastal Act was enacted.
But I wonder, exactly who do you feel we need to 'work ' with ? And describe the terms of this 'Compromise' you are refering to? And what 'things' do we need to get done around here ?
How do you propose we magically restore the wetlands under the contentious DeLong administration ? By doubling the density around the Estuary ? I can't wait to hear this one, by granting entitlements on a third of them or something ? Tell us, please?
As for zero progress, see any new structures out there ? No, but we hear about partners walking away ? How's Wetlands acquisition and restoration going ? The Hellman and Bryant acquisitions have us about 2/3rds of the way there ? And the birds chirped with glee.
As for Bixby 'A' ? Let's talk about City dumps 1 through 6 , and buried toxicants first. How much is in the budget for soil remediation is interesting.
Quoting two of the best lawfirms around here ; 'You'll never be able to return that soil to residential standards'', and, ' You'd have to be nuts to touch that land''. Tom Dean is a smart guy, no doubt, but are some of us entitled to think that he might have overpayed ? Might we just as soon wait and watch for now ? Are you here to arbitrate ?
What's your hurry res ? Anything to do with 'Leverage'?, or ' Lack of financing".and 'venture capital'' drying up?? What's with the go, go, go all of a sudden? Hummm.....Financial distress plagues America, as a Rescession is declared , GDP plunges, oil prices get cut in half on the operator out there, real estate value sinks, especially undeveloped land , and we suddenly need to LEAP forward ?
Interesting.
We recall the California Earthcorp asserting for many years that the remediation cost upon Bixby A and B far exceeded the surface rights alone. That was before the Benzene plume was discovered.
We are relatively certain that this 'Resident' guy, was on Gary's committee to elect and that he lead the charge at the 'Chamber' for a while. We could find out, but could care less, honestly ! If this is who it sounds like, he was part of 3 1/2 % of around 1,500 residents in his area, This fact and more came out, roughly, while we were having so many wonderful people signing petitions, door to door, regarding Home Depot, OUR Wetlands, the OFFICIAL Los Cerritos AWARD WINNING SEADIP Panel and more.
His team gathered merely around 500 signatures using well groomed, cute kids one Summer. They got yelled at, run off, chewed out, all around District 3. We, had over 8,000 petitioners. Dave , view some of the bluster accordingly.? All hat...no cattle types too?
And his team LIED about many things. For example, 'That if we did not place a Home Depot in the Wetlands, Seal Beach would steal the project !! '' We brought their head planner in, who testified , 'We don't have a parcel nearly big enough for this use'', and this was before the Pacific Gateways were built !! They actually caused Planning Commissioners to repeat this lie, on the record.
They also, convinced the PT, and some key people, that 'If we don't build Home Despot', it's zoned Industrial....we'll build a 24 hour truck center '' !! They actually were so DUMB, that they came in ..High and Hard with a meat axe? Brilliant !! The PT chose to ''support the advertiser at all costs'', we heard too. They had to, win, lose or draw, because they are dying.
Then Dean apparently told several neighbors...and others we quoted to have heard quips like' ; '' If those Motherfuckers don't let me build this Home Depot, I'll shove a 24 hour truck center up their ass''. and/or word's closely to that effect This gave the term, ''Love thy Neighbor an entirely new twist'' Not such nice Neighbors would you say? , Sorry, but at times, this is who the ''Resident '' types admire and advocate for.
Guess we'll finally play another card there, TRY TO GET A COASTAL DEVELOPMENT PERMIT FOR THAT ONE....ASSHOLES !! LOL...sorry ( Dean cussed first ladies) A few of this team warned them early on, prepare for at least 10 years of litigation. We are rested and ready to dance. And we can start a few clocks over....yippee !!
Also, any investor or developer with half a brain might have noticed the Economy, record recent vacancies in this town and elsewhere, record foreclosures, the Stock slide, lack of loan funding, bla bla bla, and the HUGE white elephant East of Island Village. That should have been Wetlands, but now that it is done, capacity elsewhere is gone. We planned to stall and stall into this Recession, and well, are 'Having fun yet ?''
And trying to 'go up' to 70 feet all around the most valuable homes in town, with Gary's WETLANDS Area DEVELOPMENT Plan, or WADIP , will be incendiary. We are lying in wait and laughing. And again the joke' ' Marina Del Ray DeLong '' returns'. And, some again lament that he wants a 'Playa Del Ray ?'' similar to where he grew up.
'
People are chuckling ''They are handing us 'critical mass' to recall their boy !! '' LOL
So friends, this thesis of his?/ theirs? , and these few friends of 'His Majesty' pathetically rushing to the role of apologist , well it sounds like yet another spin effort, more standard ''playbook" stuff. .
This take was unsuccessfully advanced during their losses on Lennar, Pumpkin Patch, on the killed 3 times Studebaker Extension, at Bryant, Home Depot , on the Kettering Illegal Offsite Mitigation Scheme, and more.
It is no wonder these guys stay stuck in Long Beach...
And finally, they go on and on, year after year whining about the need for 'High End' retail. Like 'Best Buy' ?? Home Depot ?
A few of us are seriously thinking about putting a 99 cent only right around Park Estates, to say thanks Gary. See how NIMBY you and your friends are now !! Don't need a Coastal Permit for that one......and the flow from all points West , to the conveniently located East End of Anaheim , makes good sense to several of us.... Happy Halloween .....!!!
So this ridiculous Frontal Attack on The District is fraught with more specious logic, and more evidence, that we are getting to them where they feel it, and in fairness, often deserve it ?
Wonderful job as always DW. More soon from Virginia CC including my friend on the finance Committee at Memorial who also thinks very highly or Mr Foster. I am certain that he has nothing but the best intentions out there. Let's dig on.
But I still assert if you at least tried to be a little more fair, your viewpoints would be credible, which would be additional value to your current value of bringing new topics into the spotlight.
The best buy example remains a valid criticism of your lack of fairness.
I think The District has done a great job of being an additional voice in Long Beach, and as long as you know there's an editorial bias, you know where to look for the side of the story that might not be covered. There's plenty of evidence to show that when The District is wrong on facts, they'll correct 'em.
I wouldn't tell the OC Register to change their "bias" and I hope the District doesn't change theirs either.
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Good luck @ City Beat, Will. BTW, did Dean retire or did you have him whacked?