Steve Sheldon isn’t nearly as famous as his gay-bashing evangelical-minister dad. Most people know him simply as the son of Lou Sheldon, whose Traditional Values Coalition raises money to fight the vast gay conspiracy to undermine America but has less of a problem with sins that don’t involve lube. In 2000, Sheldon the elder helped lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his Las Vegas casino clients kill federal gambling legislation. Crucial to that effort was his son Steve, a Newport Beach-based public relations consultant who in the previous decade had already taken more than $100,000 from Sin City to fight Indian gaming in California.
But along Garden Grove’s Main Street—one of the last relics of small-town America in the suburban sprawl that has engulfed Orange County—Sheldon the younger is rapidly becoming a celebrity. Just not in a good way. Last October, the longtime consultant to the City of Garden Grove convinced city council to give him the exclusive right to develop a $40 million condominium project adjacent to Main Street. In approving the deal, the city sold him the land—currently a city-owned parking lot serving Main Street businesses—for just $1.5 million.
In January, the Garden Grove Downtown Business Association filed a lawsuit to stop the 100-unit condo project, alleging it violates city and state law by declaring the parking lot “blighted” and handing it to Sheldon without competitive bidding.
Hmmm, so why is America's holiest family involved in some not-so-Godly behavior? Just what is Steve Sheldon up to in Garden Grove? Follow me down below for more...
So what exactly is Steve Sheldon up to? And what's going on in Garden Grove? Art Pedroza sheds some light on all of this at Orange Juice:
The Republicans in Garden Grove are up to their old tricks - and their usual ally, Democrat Council Member Mark Rosen, is helping them. The O.C. Register reported today that developer and GOP moneybags Steve Sheldon allegedly purchased a parking lot that serves the Main Street area with the intention of turning it into a 100 unit condominium complex.
Sheldon is of course the son of right-wing nut the Rev. Lou Sheldon (pictured). And he is allied with most of the members of the OC GOP Central Committee.
The president of the Garden Grove Downtown Business Owners Association, Scott Weimer, says that the complex will doom area businesses by getting rid of valuable parking spaces that are owned currently by the City of Garden Grove.
OK, so this sweetheart deal between the son of Lou Sheldon and the city of Garden Grove doesn't look all that ethical... But is it illegal? Business owners in Downtown Garden Grove seem to think so. (From OC Register)
Main Street would be in deep trouble if the city sells the property to a Newport Beach developer with plans for a 100-unit condominium complex overlooking the lot, said Scott Weimer, president of the Garden Grove Downtown Business Owners Association. The group has a court hearing in May on its claims that city officials violated state and municipal court when they approved the project.
"Parking is the lifeblood of any commercial area," Weimer said. "How are we supposed to survive if our parking lots are taken away from us?" [...]
The association filed the petition in Orange County Superior Court in January, asking the court to halt the condo project, which includes 12 live-work apartments, proposed by Sheldon Development on a 1.7-acre site near the intersection of Garden Grove Boulevard and Acacia Parkway.
Association members allege that the city violated state and municipal code by proceeding without a recommendation from the Parking and Main Street Commission. Weimer said city officials did not act as good custodians of the parking lots. Deeds for the lots were transferred from the county to the city in 1975.
Wow. So what is it with these holy rollers, that they can easily tell other people how to live their lives, even as they can't even stay out of trouble themselves? It never ceases to amaze me how these folks have no problem comparing me and my queer friends to Hitler and the Gestapo (WHAAA???!!), but they do have a problem with being upstanding legal citizens. And oh yes, why do they seem to have no problem whatsoever putting so many small businesses in Garden Grove in such jeopardy by taking away all their parking spaces, just so that son Steve can profit off a new condo development?
Don't any of these people know what Jesus has to say about practices like this? Don't they ask any more, "What would Jesus do?" I don't think he'd do any of this.
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