(From the Alameda Journal)
By Diane Lichtenstein, HOMES
The city of Alameda selected SunCal as its master developer for Alameda Point, and the parties entered into an Exclusive Negotiating Agreement (ENA). SunCal has spent more than $12 million for expert geotechnical, historical and other professionals, as well as for one of today's most renowned planners, to prepare a design reflecting the desires of Alamedans as expressed at dozens of community meetings over 16 years.
Now, here comes the Peanuts version of the football swipe: SunCal has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars (per their ENA) to support city staff and consultants to work on plans, including financial forecasts to make them financially feasible. The city of course knows that the plan includes a variety of housing types not compliant with Measure A. It wasn't a surprise that the developer wrote an initiative and gathered signatures for a ballot. There was no outcry from the city.
So now we have a Charlie Brown situation: Lucy has the football (completion of negotiations with SunCal), and Charlie (SunCal) starts to give it a mighty kick (submitting the signatures to qualify the initiative). Not only does Lucy whip the ball out of reach, but she calls her friends (the Chamber of Commerce) to kick Charlie a few times while he's lying there.
Yet he keeps trying (months of good-faith negotiations with the interim city manager). I doubt that Charlie Brown will start over with "something creative," as the chamber's Lorre Zupan opines in last Friday's Alameda Journal. And unlike Blake Brydon's comment in the same article, I haven't heard of any other developers waiting in line to repeat this football debacle.
Come on city and Chamber, I know you want the best for Alameda. Find some experienced negotiators to assist you, sit down with SunCal and don't just kick that football — score a touchdown.
