Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract: Address Bait & Switch, **What Are They Trying To Hide?











Photo: Diane Edwardson, January 21, 2011.  Looks like this is 2055 El Moran, this week.

**UPDATE BELOW

Developers lie.  All the time.  While telling the public at a community meeting in September, they had filed for grading permits under 2400 Allesandro, it turns out they had submitted them using 2055 El Moran in March. 

Earlier this evening, I received this link to Building & Safety permit activity from City Council President Eric Garcetti's planning deputy, Marcel Porras (two weeks after we requested the information).  

Yet, this information is still not available to the public as of 8:30 PM, October 18, 2011.  I tried searching the Building & Safety website, https://www.permitla.org/ipars/The_index.cfm with 2055 El Moran.  No permit activity at all shows up on the public website.

2055 El Moran is an old address that was not listed on the City Council File for the controversial 16-lot subdivision approved in 2009.  The three addresses listed were 2400 Allesandro, 2005 El Moran and 2021 El Moran. When I checked ZIMAS prior to the Native Tree Removal Hearing on October 5, those 3 addresses were the only ones that came up for the site.

Why submit with a different address?  The controversial subdivision was approved in 2009. So what are they trying to hide?  Why does the City allow this subversion of public information?  The Soils Report Approval Letter (which is different than a Grading Permit approval from Building & Safety) was issued to 2400 Allesandro, not 2055 El Moran.

Lesson: It doesn't matter what you do, if the public information isn't available to the public.  This sounds an awful lot like what happened with the controversial demo permits issued in Sunset Junction last month.  (See story in The Eastsider.)

**UPDATE 10-19-11: What Are They Trying To Hide?  It really doesn't matter what you do if the City is not consistent in their addressing.  A search of the public B&S website this morning reveals the permit information for "2055 ELMORAN," not "2055 EL MORAN."  Mind you, other addresses with past activity come up on "EL MORAN." 

What are they trying to hide by applying for permits with an El Moran address rather than 2400 Allesandro?  Could those earlier grading files be a problem?