CONTRA COSTA CONFIDENTIAL

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2006

There’s Something Fishy in Pittsburg

I couldn’t get Pittsburg City Manager Marc Grisham’s comment out of my head last night. When asked if he had ever taken any money from Lyon Homes his first comment was, “If you print that I will sue you for liable.”

Why the paranoia? All I did was ask a question and suddenly his voice raised, his back went up, and the cool, calm, somewhat collected City Manager, who once worked for an engineering firm in Southern California-William Lyon Homes is based in Southern California- went borderline ballistic.

I don’t know what’s going on. I just asked a question. I also wanted to know why the engineering report-the one possibly pointing blame and responsibility for the hillside collapse that devasted families-was being squashed, squished and sat on until after the election.

Good ol’ Marc said I could put in a request and get the report- in ten days or so if he got the O.K. to release it.

And while we’re on the subject of Good ol’, lets focus for a minute on one of the grandest Good ol’ Boys around, The General. The Grand Poo-Bah of builders. None other than General William Lyon. Head of William Lyon Homes.

For the record, I am not saying there is any funny stuff going on between some members of the Pittsburg City Council and William Lyon Homes. Hell, what does an Air Force General know about politics? Those guys aren’t political. Everyone knows you become a general because you win battles and wars and direct the country into conflicts that are for the good of the people. Conflicts are great for the people.

And, isn’t that what building homes is all about. Doing it for the good of the people? And, if you have to fight a battle along the way, because of a mistake here or a mistake there, so what? It’s all for the good of the people.

You have to admit, however, there are more fish stories coming out of Pittsburgh than there were when the fishing fleet was there. Those were fish stories.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2006

Uncover Pittsburg Landslide Report Now

Don’t think you have to look to Washington, D.C. to find people sitting on reports until after elections. Turn your eyes to Pittsburg, California.

That’s where City Manager Marc Grisham is sitting on the draft report for the San Marco Landslide, (referred to at the water coolers in City Hall as “I Feel the Earth Move Under my Feet” report), under presumable strict orders from Mayor Michael Kee and Council Member Nancy Parent to not divulge any of the data within the report until after November 7 for fear their re-election campaigns could crumble as rapidly as the hilltop slid down the Pittsburg canyon’s side.

When General William Lyon’s company, Lyon Homes moved the dirt below the San Marco Development possibly causing the landslide who thought it would be used to cover up the report that the people of Pittsburg paid for?

Parent and Kee are the duo that have the most to lose if the report is made public. Is the report that bad for William Lyon Homes? Does it find the general’s troops that negligent? Is someone going to walk away with more than a wrist slap for playing with their bulldozer’s too close to the cracking point of the slope?

All of these questions need to be answered but are being sat on by Grisham as though he were the only hen in the henhouse protecting all the eggs.

And, he might find he is the only one protecting the city. If William Lyon Homes gets any more than a hand slap for the haphazard job they performed as earth movers, Kee and Parent could have a lot of questions to answer. After all,in the last election there was more than a few who wondered if the duo had accepted more money than they actually should have from developers.

According to Kee he couldn’t recall if William Lyon had contributed to his current campaign or his last one. However, he did remember that the previous owner of the parcel that was purchased by the developer had contributed to the betterment of his career as a politician. Kee is also an Architect.

Did the special action committees over contribute to Kee and Parent? Is that why the report that points a finger at the one responsible for the devastation on the hill being kept under wraps?

Is William Lyon in bed with Pittsburg Mayor Michael Kee and City Council Person Nancy Parent? These are all questions that need to be answered by next week.

According to City Manager Marc Grisham, when asked if he had ever taken money from William Lyon Homes, he claimed “I have never taken money from any developer while in the public sector.”

Grisham was employed at engineering firms in Southern California and did work, according to him, with developers. William Lyon Homes is based in Newport, California but has substantial projects around the country.

The big question in Pittsburg is why the city council will not release the draft report on the condition of the houses that have been affected by the man-mad-landslide created beneath the San Marco development that once sat high on a hill overlooking as far away as the Sierra Foothills on a clear day?

Kee claims the report is not finalized. Grisham claims that it is in its final stages but cannot be released until the threat of litigation is over.

Kee, an architect, also claimed that the houses had sustained no damage. However, by all news reports the houses have experienced cracking, moving, and were, up until last week tagged as “uninhabitable.”

Today, looking out towards the East may be riskier than one thought when moving into the million dollar homes with billion dollar views.

At least “What, again?,” was not the response we got from General William Lyon’s office, at William Lyon Homes, when we called to ask a few questions in regards to the earth moving debacle in Pittsburg, California.

The man-made mudslide,(as though California needs any help in that department), that caused destruction, devastation and evacuation to a home filled hilltop that the General’s field troops decided to toy with while working their bulldozers one day, is still not completely resolved and as the rain blows in from the west this week, nobody at William Lyon Homes will give more than their name, rank and serial number.

The most talkative employee in the group was Estelle, (who refused to pony up her last name), Administrative Assistant to corporate President Ed Cable. She hadn’t heard of the slide and simply said that it was “ beside the point, and irrelevant” when asked if Mr. Cable had mentioned it to her at all.

William Lyon Homes is headed up by General William Lyon and by all accounts his reputation is stellar. However, nobody can totally control the people who work for them. And, in this case the philanthropic Grand Poo-Bah of California construction is being what many engineers claim to be hoodwinked by his engineers who are worried their jobs are on the line and may crumble like the foundations below the houses on the hill.

Lyon and his spokespeople have zipped it tighter than the original dirt that comprises the San Marco Mountaintop. Nancy Parent could not be reached for comment.

POSTED BY HARRISON MELBOURNE

MONDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2006

Uncover Pittsburg Landslide Report Now

Don’t think you have to look to Washington, D.C. to find people sitting on reports until after elections. Turn your eyes to Pittsburg, California.

That’s where City Manager Marc Grisham is sitting on the draft report for the San Marco Landslide, (referred to at the water coolers in City Hall as “I Feel the Earth Move Under my Feet” report), under presumable strict orders from Mayor Michael Kee and Council Member Nancy Parent to not divulge any of the data within the report until after November 7 for fear their re-election campaigns could crumble as rapidly as the hilltop slid down the Pittsburg canyon’s side.

When General William Lyon’s company, Lyon Homes moved the dirt below the San Marco Development possibly causing the landslide who thought it would be used to cover up the report that the people of Pittsburg paid for?

Parent and Kee are the duo that have the most to lose if the report is made public. Is the report that bad for William Lyon Homes? Does it find the general’s troops that negligent? Is someone going to walk away with more than a wrist slap for playing with their bulldozer’s too close to the cracking point of the slope?

All of these questions need to be answered but are being sat on by Grisham as though he were the only hen in the henhouse protecting all the eggs.

And, he might find he is the only one protecting the city. If William Lyon Homes gets any more than a hand slap for the haphazard job they performed as earth movers, Kee and Parent could have a lot of questions to answer. After all,in the last election there was more than a few who wondered if the duo had accepted more money than they actually should have from developers.

According to Kee he couldn’t recall if William Lyon had contributed to his current campaign or his last one. However, he did remember that the previous owner of the parcel that was purchased by the developer had contributed to the betterment of his career as a politician. Kee is also an Architect.

Did the special action committees over contribute to Kee and Parent? Is that why the report that points a finger at the one responsible for the devastation on the hill being kept under wraps?

Is William Lyon in bed with Pittsburg Mayor Michael Kee and City Council Person Nancy Parent? These are all questions that need to be answered by next week.

According to City Manager Marc Grisham, when asked if he had ever taken money from William Lyon Homes, he claimed “I have never taken money from any developer while in the public sector.”

Grisham was employed at engineering firms in Southern California and did work, according to him, with developers. William Lyon Homes is based in Newport, California but has substantial projects around the country.

The big question in Pittsburg is why the city council will not release the draft report on the condition of the houses that have been affected by the man-mad-landslide created beneath the San Marco development that once sat high on a hill overlooking as far away as the Sierra Foothills on a clear day?

Kee claims the report is not finalized. Grisham claims that it is in its final stages but cannot be released until the threat of litigation is over.

Kee, an architect, also claimed that the houses had sustained no damage. However, by all news reports the houses have experienced cracking, moving, and were, up until last week tagged as “uninhabitable.”

Today, looking out towards the East may be riskier than one thought when moving into the million dollar homes with billion dollar views.

At least “What, again?,” was not the response we got from General William Lyon’s office, at William Lyon Homes, when we called to ask a few questions in regards to the earth moving debacle in Pittsburg, California.

The man-made mudslide,(as though California needs any help in that department), that caused destruction, devastation and evacuation to a home filled hilltop that the General’s field troops decided to toy with while working their bulldozers one day, is still not completely resolved and as the rain blows in from the west this week, nobody at William Lyon Homes will give more than their name, rank and serial number.

The most talkative employee in the group was Estelle, (who refused to pony up her last name), Administrative Assistant to corporate President Ed Cable. She hadn’t heard of the slide and simply said that it was “ beside the point, and irrelevant” when asked if Mr. Cable had mentioned it to her at all.

William Lyon Homes is headed up by General William Lyon and by all accounts his reputation is stellar. However, nobody can totally control the people who work for them. And, in this case the philanthropic Grand Poo-Bah of California construction is being what many engineers claim to be hoodwinked by his engineers who are worried their jobs are on the line and may crumble like the foundations below the houses on the hill.

Lyon and his spokespeople have zipped it tighter than the original dirt that comprises the San Marco Mountaintop. Nancy Parent could not be reached for comment.

POSTED BY HARRISON MELBOURNE