SAN BERNA(r)DINO - That wacky Attorney General of ours, Jerry Brown, has settled his lawsuit against San Bernardino County aimed to halt the adoption of a 25 year growth plan that he claimed failed to consider how growth and new development will impact climate change. The terms of the settlement agree to a 30-month public process aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions. [CurbedWire Inbox/LA Times]
LOS ANGELES - And all over, really. A reader sends us this article from MSNBC chronicling crummy construction, that may be further exacerbating the housing crisis: "Foreclosures are up 93% from last year, according to Irvine, Calif.-based Web site RealtyTrac. At the same time, questions are arising as to whether construction quality suffered as homebuilders worked at lightning-fast speed to keep up with demand during the housing boom. It has become increasingly common for homeowners across the U.S. to share personal stories about defective construction through Web sites and blogs." Oh, please do share. We're all ears. [CurbedWire Inbox/MSNBC]
HOLLYWOOD - Our friends over at blogging.la were quicker to post this (incredibly disturbing) story on the death of Mary Chagnon and the building management's at best callous, at worst illegal termination of her lease and removal of her belongings. Today we get an update and the story takes an even more disturbing turn. Details after the jump. [CurbedWire Inbox]
I wanted to let you know that I think this issue is really being ratcheted up throughout Degadillo's Office and Weiss' office. We had an inspector from the Dept of Building & Safety out here yesterday afternoon to check the heater in Mary's apt again. Saturday morning, 8/11, Mary woke up having difficulty breathing. Everyone felt the apt was like a sauna and NOBODY (not the other neighbors nor the paramedics could turn her heat off). In fact, at the suggestion of the responding paramedics, the heater in Mary's apt was inspected last Sunday by LAFD. She died Monday. This is, to us, obviously why they moved so quickly--to be able to get into her apt and FIX the heater, rather than being charged with a wrongful death. We cannot imagine that in the middle of an August heatwave, Mary would have even turned it on in the first place.
ALSO:
1) Ellen, Mary's niece, was told by the mgmt company yesterday that the storage unit, where they have ILLEGALLY HIDDEN HER AUNT'S THINGS, is being paid for by the money Mary put down 40 years ago as a security deposit. They will not tell her where the storage facility is, they will not provide an inventory list, they have only said that if it isn't cleared out by 9/20, everything inside will be put up for public auction, and she is being forced to pay for it. And I'm sure they plan on sticking her with the bill from the moving company too!2) Mgmt has requested that Ellen sign an affidavit stating Mary's things were worth less than $300. (Although she was 2 weeks shy of turning 90, Mary had just gotten a new $900 computer--in July--we know that obviously her things were worth much more than $300). We feel they are doing this to protect themselves from, I guess, a grand larceny charge. But--as a
neighbor pointed out--if they can recognize Ellen as the next of kin in regards to signing this bogus affidavit, how come they do not need to recognize her with regards to ALL of Mary's things and the apt which legallyis supposed to go to her for the remainder of the month following her aunt's death?
We'll post more as this story unfolds. To see KTLA's coverage of this story from 8/15, go to go to their website, click the "news" tab, and scroll down the right hand column to find the video labeled "8/15 - Landlord Clears Out Apartment Day After Tenant Dies".