WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH STEVEN FINK'S "WYVENWOOD" PROPERTY? IS IT GONNA BE A RENTAL, OR DEMOLITION CM JOSE HUIZAR?
FIRST OF ALL, Y'ALL: Regarding Steven Fink's Fifteen Group (A Florida based developer with offices in Los Angeles);
Right now, it's an apartment; but Zuma Dogg has heard Los Angeles City Councilmember Jose Huizar has given the starting flag, to start preparing the plans to "demolish" the building and build a nice new luxury condos.
ONLY ONE PROBLEM Y'ALL...Those buildings are historic buildings, y'all...oh no! And there are way too many dozens and dozens of protected oak trees in the hood.
So first you would have to hire a "Historic Building Consultant" to look for a loophole to be able to demolish the building. And ZUMA DOGG's Bat Computer says...APPROVAL FOR SUCH CONSULTANT HAS BEEN GIVEN!
Secondly, you can try whatever shady tactics to try and find a loophole to cut down all them oak trees in the way of your high denisty, luxury condo demolition -- but you're gonna have to get THAT one past the SI-ERRA CLUB!!!
And if it's a demolition, then a "tenant relocation consultant" must be hired to assess the community impact. Oh no...ZUMA DOGG'S Bat Computer says one's been hired. (So if it's not a demolition, why was the consultant hired?)
And I heard there is person, living in the apartment building, who was AGAINST the secretive, potential demolition; who is now in cahoots with CM's office and is now FOR the demolition, and notifyed Huizar's office, to bow out of an NC meeting, where the pueblos were gonna show up and aks Huizar all about the secretive plan.
Of course, Mr. "Just Keep My Name Out Of It" Councilmember DID NOT show up at the meeting, so he can continue to say he knows nothing about the proposed apartment demolition that will kick many life long residents out into the streets, who sure as HELL won't be able to afford a Steven Fink "Fifteen" project near the Sears project.
So Huizar can continue to say he knows nothing about it. Well Zuma Dogg's Bat Computer is here to say he DOES know about it, because he told Fink to go ahead with the plans, hire the consultants, look for the loopholes, demolish the historic building, kick the people into the streets (that's not HIS problem), cut down the trees, and get the plan all ready...
THAT makes it easy to blow it past NC, local planning committes, public hearings, sierra club, and the City Attorney's office. SO LOOKS LIKE IN ABOUT A YEAR OR TWO, LOOK FOR THIS ONE TO COME BEFORE COUNCIL ON APPEAL FROM FIFTEEN GROUP, ASKING CURRENT CM (CAUSE HUIZAR WILL BE MOVING ON, BY THEN, ZD PREDICTS) TO OVER-RIDE CHARTER, AND THE PROCESS AND TEAR DOWN THESE WALLS, AND CHOP DOWN THESE TREES.
Better plant those million little tree buds (they look like weed clones), PLUS the hundred or so vintage oak trees you gotta cut down, so the cement trucks and campaign contributions can roll. (OOPS! They already have, and that's why this project is gonna ultimatley be steamrolled through. UNLESS ZUMA DOGG AND HIS ZAP (ACTIVIST NETWORK) CAN BE LIKE PUBLIC ENEMY AND -- SHUT 'EM DOWN...GOTTA SHUT 'EM, SHUT 'EM DOWN!
And watch out for Bill Rosendahl's Xenon condo-conversion appeal. (Has been rejected by local planning committee, Michael Zenon is filing an appeal and hoping CM Rosendahl and the other 14 cave in.) Xenon is the developer that a complaint was filed against, last week, with Department of Building and Safety for submitting for building permits on "Dirt" Burnell in Mt. Washington with substantial mis-statement of facts with intention to mislead City into avoiding EIR. (CEQA violation)
Plus, misrepresented the numbers and the kinds of trees that were in the area. PLUS, gave the illusion it was an existing street, not a dirt area. (To read full complaint, see ZD Mayor Sam story below: "Dirt Burnell".)
SO I GUESS WE'RE GONNA SEE WHO THE ELECTED OFFICIALS ARE REPRESENTING, NOW!
ZUMA DOGG FOR CITY CONTROLLER!
contact: zumadogg@gmail.com (cause I'm twice the g, you'll ever be. OTR,D!)
Posted by Zuma Dogg @ 5/12/2007 03:52:00 PM
5 Comments:
Sleazy Huizy is such a coward his easy way out is to always say I didn't know. Like he didn't know about the historic Jewish Center in Boyle Heights that was demolished. Wyvenwood is owned privately but you would never know because it looks like tons of projects. I heard wSEARS was stopped because of money. MJ Weinstein bought the property and was going to develop but bowed out and now word is Chinese will take over. Heard its costing $400 million. Any meeting Huizar goes to he will be confronted with this. Thanks Zuma for putting people on alert. There are 11,000 people in that complex.
SOMEONE SAID HUIZAR COULD NOT HAVE FLOWN TO FLORIDA TO SHOW FINK HOW TO USE THE PAY PAL DONATION BUTTON BECAUSE HE WAS AT A CD 14 SUPER BOWL PARTY...
BAT COMPUTER HAS TABULATED POSSIBLE TIMELINE:
CM went down on Friday; had meetings on Saturday evening and came home Saturday night, or early Sun.
Remember you make up three hours coming this way. Leave Miami at 11:00pm and get here at 2:30, 6:30 or 11:00 am.
Time to go home rest, and go to a party at home.
What was the address of party; La Calendra or Boyle Heights?
(Has digs in both locations so he can qualify for the ASSembly in 2009.)
Party at Boyle Heights...by the way, we have more information on the Wyvenwood property.
We'll post it later today. We have no reason to hold it all in.
FT, RM, and TR
Investors gain from 'affordable' housing
BY MICHAEL VASQUEZ AND MATTHEW HAGGMAN
A downtown Miami high-rise that received $1.3 million in public funds from Miami and Miami-Dade County for supplying affordable housing sold dozens of units to investors who made a quick profit in resales, a draft city audit has found.
The taxpayers' subsidies -- the city gave $1 million, the county $300,000 -- therefore may have benefited well-off investors more than working folks struggling to afford a first home.
The building, Loft One, developed by Jorge Perez's Related Group, had offered 102 moderately priced units. But of those, city auditors found only six units that had stayed in the same hands for more than a year and claimed a homestead exemption -- signaling that they were occupied by people who planned on living there for a significant amount of time.
On sales applications, some people listed purchase reasons like ''business/real estate opportunity, rental, resale and investment property,'' according to the draft audit by the city's auditor general, Victor Igwe.
Some buyers listed mailing addresses in Argentina, Ecuador and New York.
Igwe declined to comment on the report, saying it was ''unfortunate'' that an unfinished audit had been leaked to the media.
The draft audit says 33 of the 102 affordable units -- priced between $99,000 and $216,000 -- were resold within a year of closing.
The list of those who benefited includes Miami political strategist Al Lorenzo, who works as a lobbyist for City Hall and was the campaign manager for Mayor Manny Diaz.
Diaz did not return a phone message requesting comment.
Lorenzo bought his unit for $137,900, the draft audit states. He sold it for $230,000 -- a $92,100 markup.
City auditors wrote that Lorenzo flipped his condo unit within the same month of purchase. Lorenzo challenges that finding, saying that although he sold it quickly after closing, he had reserved the lower price through a deposit paid much earlier.
''I bought it before they even broke ground,'' Lorenzo said, estimating at least a year and a half passed before he sold the 620-square-foot unit. ``I took a risk like anybody else, and I paid my deposit and that was it. . . . It wasn't exactly a gift.''
Lorenzo said he initially envisioned using the downtown apartment as a place to entertain business guests but later decided against it.
Miami City Commissioner Tomás Regalado was furious at the city auditors' findings. ''The system was abused,'' Regalado said. ``At best, what is happening there was immoral, because we say affordable and we don't even check if workers are the ones that are getting those units.''
Asked why he, along with other commissioners, voted to award money to Loft One, Regalado said city staff had presented the item as if it were a typical affordable housing development with limits on who could buy.
Minutes from the 2003 city meetings where the million dollars was awarded show then-Economic Director Keith Carswell told commissioners that city money, not federal housing money, would go to Loft One. Carswell did not elaborate at the time, but federal dollars typically have more restrictions on apartment buyers' incomes.
More recently, in 2006, Miami-Dade County contributed $300,000 to Loft One. The money came from the county's general fund, with documents showing county staff had determined federal or county money earmarked for affordable housing couldn't be used because of ``the lack of a sufficient number of buyers within the affordable income limits.''
Why still give the money? County Commissioner Carlos Gimenez said he couldn't remember buyers' incomes being discussed before the vote.
Instead, he said, ``The argument was that the county had promised to give the Related Group this money.''
Oscar Rodriguez, vice president at Related Group, said Monday that he did not know anything about the draft audit. He insisted the project achieved its mission of providing workforce housing downtown.
''If you go to that building and do an assessment of the current tenant profile, whether renter or unit owner, they are the demographic, income level and employee that -- if not for Loft One -- would not have the opportunity to live in downtown Miami under any other circumstance,'' he said.
Rodriguez said Related sought to limit the number of investors by first marketing units to government employees through a series of private parties. Miami's auditors found seven buyers who appeared to match the names of city employees. Six still owned the apartments, but none listed them as their home address with the city.
The developer also struck a deal with the Miami Parking Authority, where it leased 250 spaces in a nearby garage for 60 years. The deal meant the developer could offer parking without building a garage.
But not all buyers were happy with the situation. Miami firefighter Adrian Plasencia said he planned on calling Loft One home, but it turned out to be a ''hassle'' carrying groceries from a city parking garage a block away. Nine months after closing on the apartment for $123,900, he sold it for $227,000.
''It was much smaller than I thought it would be; there was no closet space at all,'' said Plasencia, who made a pre-construction deposit.
He said he felt no guilt about making a roughly 83 percent return on the sale.
''The prices are still very reasonable,'' he said.
Miami Herald news partner WFOR-CBS 4 contributed to this report.
Only losers like Matt and Dogg complain about folks making money.
That's because they can't.
Hey guys, this is AMERICA, the land of opportunity, where everyone is entitled to chase their dream.
Making money is not a crime; selling tee shirts and incense without a City License is a crime.
Quit whining.
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