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Monday, April 30, 2007

Mayor Sam's Blogbits for Monday

Bloated west end myopia once again rears its ugly head at the Westside White Guy's "blog." Citing an article in Variety about new movie theaters across the city, nary a mention of any of the theaters mentioned in the story outside WWG's home base.

More bits of blogs if you click read more!

A Santa Monica based development firm has put in a bid to lease and re-furbish the Queen Mary in Long Beach. Do they want to turn it into condos? No - the plan is to turn it into a retail-entertainment center.

Curbed LA has a few examples of "affordable" housing served up by the market. Good demonstration of letting the system work.

More of the drama with regards to the "departure" of Pomona City Manager Doug Dunlap. Foothill Cities Blog posts Dunlap's response to this post. He also states an alleged relationship with a female staffer was "plutonic." I don't know if that's Dunlap's mistake or Foothill Citites, but someone might want to use a term relating to an existing planet.

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said:

ARE YOU SELLING A DOWNTOWN CONDO?

If you're a Seller of a Downtown Los Angeles condo, or thinking of being a Seller (or Buyer for that matter), you probably want to know what Downtown condos have sold for recently.

I need to know what Downtown condos have sold for recently (I recently sold two and bought one myself), so I can properly inform and advise my clients. As I mentioned in a previous article, accurate information is hard to put together, as Brokers who represent developers, though members of CLAW MLS, are apparently exempt from the rule (whether stated or understood) that the rest of us abide by, to "PUBLISH ALL LISTINGS." In the absence of this rule being applied equally, the best I can do is report what's published on the MLS. You can interpret, extrapolate, or set to music.

I sent this "23 Listings" email to myself and to Downtown Condo Teammate Wayne A. Willbur of Deasy/Penner&Partners. Request a copy of it from either of us and we will forward the email to you. I am downtownlofts@gmail.com, Wayne is wwillbur@deasypenner.com.

Here is a summary of the data, acknowledging that my observations are not statistically valid, as some unknown percentage of condos for sale and completed sales transactions are NOT reported on the MLS.

At the low end, the 23 reported SOLDS range in SOLD PRICE from $299,000 for a 650 square foot one-bedroom at the Vista Montoya Condominiums in the Pico-Union neighborhood. This housing was built by the Community Redevelopment Agency and is restricted to "moderate-income Buyers." It is NOT market-rate housing. At the high end, a 1735 square foot 10th floor loft-style unit at the Eastern Columbia Building, 9th and Broadway, SOLD for $936,000.

In between, there were sales on Bunker Hill (Bunker Hill Tower, The Promenade, Promenade West), City West (Vero), the Historic Core (Bartlett Building), Little Tokyo (Savoy), Financial District (Library Court), South Park (The Skyline), and the Industrial District (Toy Factory).

Again, to have the "23 Listings" (last 30 days MLS SOLDS) emailed to you, contact Stephen May, downtownlofts@gmail.com, or Wayne A. Willbur, wwillbur@deasypenner.com. And if you would like to be represented in a sale or purchase by the Downtown Condo Team, you can discuss that with either of us, too. Or is that two?

Stephen May, Broker
Downtown Residential Real Estate
213-221-4514

April 30, 2007 8:49 AM  

Blogger Mayor Sam said:

May -

Since I am also a member of the May family, I'll let this one slide. :)

However in the future commercials on Mayor Sam must be paid for. Please contact us at mayorsamyorty@aol.com. Thank you.

April 30, 2007 11:57 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Since that "plutonic" story was removed, here it is from cache for posterity:

Mayor Sam's blog noted recently that Pomona City Manager Doug Dunlap's response to our questions about his retirement included an ambiguous phrase concerning a "plutonic and mentoring relationship."

According to one online dictionary, plutonic means "Of deep igneous or magmatic origin," so you be the judge. We still welcome email and information on the this whole Pomona thang, by the way.


Here’s a clear summary:

First, we posted the rumor that retiring Pomona City Manager Doug Dunlap was actually being forced out.

Second, we posted the rumored reasons why he was being forced out.

Third, we asked why no one was responding to these rumors.

Fourth, we give you Doug’s response:

I wouldn’t ordinarily respond to rumors, lies and insults to my reputation; however, since there is another person involved, I feel compelled to completely disavow such slander. First, I had been considering retirement for at least six (6) months prior to my announcement on Monday, April 16. The City Council was quite surprised; however, I first began examining the financial aspect of such a separation in November 2006, and contacted my attorney to draft an agreement soon after the beginning of the year. Both my attorney and me discussed the contents of such an agreement with the City Attorney beginning in February of this year, so the allegation that the Pomona City Council forced me to retire is false.
Pomona City Manager Doug Dunlap
Other than a plutonic and mentoring relationship, I further deny involvement with this female employee. I first met her at some professional Conference and we had a few dinners over the next year. Personnel records are confidential; however, I will say that all employees hired by the City of Pomona undergo a rigorous selection process administered by the Human Relations Department. I encouraged her to apply for the position in the Redevelopment Agency and I recommended her for the position, but I was not the “appointing authority.” She is a well-qualified, Hispanic woman (one of two in the department) that speaks fluent Spanish, has a Bachelor degree and will be evaluated by her supervisors. She has worked in governmental relations and is experienced with organizing public meetings and campaigns, which is what her position called for in the job description. I am not her supervisor, but her supervisor has advised me that she has been an outstanding addition to the staff of the Agency.

You should reconsider posting these anonymous, slanderous emails. It is a disservice to the woman in question, the City organization and the entire Pomona community. Doug Dunlap

Thus far, I see much less of a case for the rumor-mongers—they don’t seem to be able to produce any evidence of wrong-doing. Obviously, even if everyone knows about a relationship between so-and-so and so-and-so, this isn’t newsworthy in itself.

I did think it strange that no one would even give me the courtesy of an email from the pro-Doug Dunlap side, as I didn’t see why the city’s HR department or the bosses of the employee in question couldn’t drop me a line, even if it was anonymously. But now that things have changed, all I see in the comments from the anti-Dunlap side is innuendo. Where is the evidence that he did anything wrong? Is this just a case of some disgruntled city bureaucrats trying to push a man on his way out? Or is there something more I don’t know?

Of course, it is also true that I haven’t seen evidence he didn’t do anything wrong, but after all we are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. I’d like to hear some of the anonymous staffers make their case. And I hope that some journalists out there somewheres have at least done some fact-checking behind the scenes.

May 12, 2007 12:29 AM  

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