Wealthy Lab Mice at Playa Vista - Mickey Mouse Methane System
By John
Davis
As reported by the Beachhead in
December, the City of Los Angeles and Playa Vista lost a major lawsuit in the
California Appellate Court. Both Playa Vista and the city council begged the
California Supreme Court to overturn the judgment but to no avail.
Now the city council is frozen in its
tracks. It is in between a rock and a hard
place.
If it complies with the court
order, Playa Vista, which was developed by some of the most powerful financial
interests in the world, could lash out in a variety of ways at its city council
minions whom they have paid to do their bidding. While the money trail seems
legal, it is still descriptive of the way approvals of development occur at City
Hall.
Generally if politicians are
paid, they perform like trained poodles. Such has been the case in the Los
Angeles City Council since the mega project arose in the Ballona
Wetlands.
With one major exception.
There is a large German Shepard who was voted into the Council with a nose for
justice. This K-9 refused to eat the poisoned food offered by the
developers.
Since the court order
Councilman Bill Rosendahl of District 11 has stood fast on his principles and
truth, ignoring dark whispers from the
shadows.
He has advocated the
California Appellate Court Order be implemented precisely but the remaining
council overroad his just demand. At the January hearing he was escorted into a
closed session where the City Attorney apparently instructed the council to
ignore the court order which requires it to proceeded according to CEQA
(California Environmental Quality Act). The City Attorney has also received
political money from developers in a run for State Attorney
General.
Of course the council makes
the final decision on a motion in public, not private. It does not have to take
the advice of the City Attorney if it is not consistent with a court order. But
the Council seemingly did exactly that.
That
is why the winning plaintiffs on the lawsuit filed 26 court motions (refusal to
follow a court order) with Judge George Wu in the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Judge Wu whose decision was overturned
by the Appellant court has scheduled a public hearing on August 29. If you want
a seat you may want to arrive early.
At
a recent hearing when the contempt motions were introduced the deputy City
Attorney said she was afraid the city council could be thrown in jail. After
initially refusing to accept the motions, the Judge instructed the record to
show they had been accepted anyway.
The
separate contempt motions covered the overt refusal by the city council to
comply with the complete court order. Also, even though the city council did
order several permits to be vacated, the city Building Department then reissued
them prior to a court ordered public
hearing.
High noon is near and a
Hollywood style showdown clock is ticking ever closer to August 29 when the
judge will rule on the contempt
motions.
The city council still has
time to pass a motion to proceed according to
CEQA.
So either the city council will
vote to fully uphold the rule of law dictated by the California courts before
that date and face the potential wrath of their financial masters, or
not.
Conservationists filed the
lawsuit, myself included. I believed a Mickey Mouse Methane System was proven to
be not effective at a public hearing and is unable to protect the health and
safety of the occupants of Playa
Vista.
The wealthy residents are the
lucky “lab mice” compared to the subsidized low income families who
were placed on one of the larger concentrations of potentially explosive
methane. Playa Capital tried to convince the city to build a school over another
but the city refused.
The nightmare for
the city and Playa Capital may only get worse. Apparently the developers sold
land before the dark cloud of litigation had passed. It is unclear if the
sellers informed all or any of the buyers of the lawsuit or the final ruling.
Buyers should know if it is safe to live in their homes. Certificates of
Occupancy issued by the city depend on the legitimacy of the Methane Safety
Systems that have already been vacated.
Lives depend on the word of the city council
to ensure homes are safe. The courts found their word was
bad.
A citywide Methane Safety
Ordinance was also passed by the city council based upon the successful
implementation at Playa Vista Phase One before the lawsuit had been
decided.
Obviously, this ill-conceived
ordinance may fall since the justification no longer exists. It has already been
employed in the methane zones in Venice to allow for large new developments,
including some on Abbot Kinney
Blvd.
Every development based on the
ordinance in the City of Los Angeles could loose it certificate of
occupancy.
The irony of it all is the
City Attorney again advised the council to do to same thing that got it in
trouble in the first place and they did.
Posted: Tue - August 1, 2006 at 03:57 PM