Sunday, August 11, 2013

About that Highway 1 widening lawsuit


Pacifica Tribune Letters to the Editor, 8/6/13.  "Highway lawsuit" by Deborah Lynn 

"I do not normally write letters, but I'm really bothered by a recent article I read in your paper. The article stated that Peter Loeb is suing the city of Pacifica with regard to the highway widening.  The suit states that Mr. Loeb is seeking attorney fees for his attorney, Hal Bohner, who is also a Pacifica resident. 

Our ecology lawsuit is our highway to government money
My understanding is that both Mr. Loeb and Mr. Bohner are opponents of the Highway 1 safety improvements. Mr. Loeb served as Mayor of our city at one point. It is my understanding that Mr. Bohner also has done work for the city. Now, Mr. Loeb and Mr. Bohner would like to be compensated for their personal crusade and to put pressure on City Council. There are many people in this city who are passionate and work hard for the community, but do not get to be compensated for their contribution toward making Pacifica a better place. 

I find it absolutely appalling that these two, who claim to care about Pacifica, would "throw another wrench" into the mix to cost the city and, therefore, Pacifica taxpayers, legal costs when Pacifica is already in financial straits -- seems selfish to me. City Council has not even taken any action with regard to Highway 1 as the final Environmental Impact Report has not been released. How about let's let the residents of Pacifica decide? Why does it have to be all these games? Just saying..."

Note:  The above Letter to the Editor was one paragraph, sectioned into three paragraphs here for easy reading.  Photo from  Virtually love.com/philosophy/compromise.

Related Fix Pacifica reprint articles - Highway 1 widening lawsuit.  Highway 1 widening project Final EIR.  Also use the search on this blog for related articles.

Update - Although the above Letter-to-the-Editor was published in the Tribune, we believe "Deborah Lynn" is a fake name.  Nevertheless, a point is made in the Letter, and the related information is worth viewing again. 

Posted by Kathy Meeh

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

These people have zero shame. They saw that the golf course attorney got paid for his trouble of losing a suit. Which I will never understand. Pay the loser attorney fees, that must be only in California??

I love it how all the tree huggers, noobees, nimbys, and hippies, know more about building highways then Caltrans, the engineers and traffic planners.

Why didn't these chicken scratchers sue the San Mateo County Transportation Agency and Caltrans.

Cause they would have been crushed.

Steve Sinai said...

There is no record of a "Deborah Lynn" in Pacifica.

I suspect another phony letter got into the Tribune.

Anonymous said...

How do you find the time to look up every name that sends in a letter to the editor.

Sounds like someone needs a hobby?

Steve Sinai said...

I go to one of those white pages websites and type in names. It doesn't take that long.

I looked the name up because I suspected the letter was from the buffoon who moved to Texas four years ago. It's the same person who used to post as Keri Santos.

He doesn't realize it, but he keeps using the same phrases over and over, which betray his identity.

The guy is pathologically dishonest.

Anonymous said...

Steve, if that's the case why not remove the letter from Fix?

Steve Sinai said...

If "Deborah Lynn" would have submitted this directly to the blog, it wouldn't have been posted. (The author has unsuccessfully tried to do that several times previously.) Otherwise, people are allowed to voice opinions here anonymously or using a pseudonym.

Since Kathy posted it, it's up to her as to whether it gets taken down. As long as people realize it's a phony letter, I'd be just as inclined to keep it up.

Hutch said...

Steve I understand you trying to keep things on the up & up but a good portion of Pacificans aren't listed in the white pages. I'm not. The Tribune requires an address and phone number. Not sure if they ever verify though.

Anyway I thought it was a good letter. Any person against Loeb and Bohner can't be all bad.

Hutch said...

And BTW a few times when I posted anonymously you have accused me of being that guy from Texas. Just saying that every person you think is that guy is not.

Anonymous said...

Ever hear of an unlisted phone number?

Kathy Meeh said...

Steve, I posted a disclaimer on the article as follows:

"Update - Although the above Letter-to-the-Editor was published in the Tribune, we believe "Deborah Lynn" is a fake name. Nevertheless, a point is made in the Letter, and the related information is worth viewing again."

Whether the article reprint stays or goes to spam, personally I don't care, particularly since the persona is a fake, perpetuating a hoax.

Steve Sinai said...

If anyone wants to offer proof that Deborah Lynn in Pacifica actually exists, please feel free to do so.

All the other letter writers showed up in the white pages.

Steve Sinai said...

"And BTW a few times when I posted anonymously you have accused me of being that guy from Texas. Just saying that every person you think is that guy is not."

If anyone's anonymous comments accidentally get mistaken as coming out of Texas, consider it the downside of posting anonymously.

Steve Sinai said...

"Steve I understand you trying to keep things on the up & up but a good portion of Pacificans aren't listed in the white pages. I'm not."

I ran a white pages search and got something back that said Robert R. Hutchinson lived on Buckingham Road. Is that correct?

I'm talking about the white pages on the web, not in the phone book.

Hutch said...

Touche Steve

Anonymous said...

She may not have used her last name, just a first and middle. Just because we live in a batshit crazy town, some people like to keep their ID's private.

Anonymous said...

If the net police say she does not exist, she does not exist.

Anonymous said...

There's an interesting letter in today's Trib that's a reply to the "Deborah Lynn" letter. It's from Bill Heilman in Park Pacifica. He does exist.

Anonymous said...

Highway 1 lawsuit
Editor:

In her Aug. 7 letter to the editor, Deborah Lynn decries the fact that Peter Loeb and Hal Bohner are asking to be compensated for "their personal crusade and to put pressure on the City Council." She also finds it absolutely appalling that they would do something that would cost the city legal fees.

I think Ms. Lynn is missing the point. Theoretically, if, while I am researching information to support my cause, I find what I believe is a legal conflict between a government body and what I believe are current legal requirements, and I have asked that government body to eliminate the conflict, and they have not done so, why should I not sue for injunctive relief? Then, if the government body is found not to be following the legal requirements, why should I have to pay my own money to make them do what they were supposed to do in first place?

If the suit wins and an injunction is granted, it is not the person(s) who brought the suit that cost the taxpayers money, it is the government entity that did not follow the rules.

Bill Heilman

Park Pacifica

http://www.mercurynews.com/pacifica/ci_23855514/letters-editor

Anonymous said...

Yeah, nice argument Bill, except these two are going to go after more than they deserve as "fair reimbursement" like the frog people did against SF.

Anonymous said...

Never the less sometimes even though you say you want to fix Pacifica Steve, you are on the wrong side of the argument. So what if you THINK she is a fake. She's on the right side and you have no real proof.

Anonymous said...

That's what judges are for. It's not make it up as you go along and judges like their rulings to withstand appeal. The documents for the case are all available to show whether the city has made an error in process that needs to be corrected. Also available are legal bills from each side. If it proceeds to trial, it might get interesting.

Hutch said...

So when Loeb and Bohner lose they need to be made to pay back taxpayers for the money they cost us?

Anonymous said...

Hutch

That is a question for our city attorney. Too bad she doesn't respond to the taxpayers who pay her salary.

Steve Sinai said...

3:41, it's impossible to prove someone or something doesn't exist. It's not hard to prove someone does exist though, and nobody's done it yet.

I don't have a problem with the content of the letter. I just hate seeing a guy who left four years ago blatantly lying about who he is and where he lives.

Tom Clifford said...

Anonymous 8:55 She is the City of Pacifica's Attorney not the citizens of Pacifica's Attorney. She works for the governing body not the taxpayers. It is important for the people of Pacifica to understand that very important difference.

Anonymous said...

Tom

And that was the very reason why Cecilia got canned.

Steve Sinai said...

The first time I ever talked to Cecilia I had the impression she felt her job was to protect city council from the citizens of Pacifica.

I couldn't get answers to the simplest questions from her. I once asked her what something she wrote meant, and her answer was, "It means what I wrote."

Anonymous said...

1050 Yes, and who can forget the fanfare? Legal services were then outsourced. So far, I think we're saving money, but the job of the city attorney hasn't changed one iota. It is to advise, protect, and facilitate council in the legal aspects of all decisions. Council, not the public. The city attorney protects council from us, the public. Legal advice apparently isn't enough help for this council. They need to find a slick political consultant who can guide them as they stomp and stumble through their decisions like that PD outsourcing mess, UUT tax intro, HWY 1 widening, muffin or donut for brekkie). Then they could really skin us. Any day, now, any day.

Tom Clifford said...

That is the point I was trying to get across. The City Attorney is there to protect the City and do its legal work, not to protect the people of the City who in-fact pay the bills. Never expect to get answers from the City Attorney unless Council and the City Manager have said it is alright for her to release it. an you should expect her to spin anything she says to place the City in the best possible light.

Anonymous said...

http://www.cityofsanmateo.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/11719

Anonymous said...

True that, Mr. Clifford, true that.