SQUIDFRY 02.25.21: Let The Sun Shine

LET THE SUN SHINE… Squid was giddy to get a notice from the First Amendment Coalition that Squid needed to prepare for Sunshine Week, an initiative launched by the American Society of News Editors to promote open government. The week has its own hashtag – #sunshineweek – and the FAC wants people (and cephalopods) to prepare their tales of forcing governments to be more transparent.

Squid favorite on-point tale just came to an end. It’s the tale of former Greenfield City Manager Jaime Fontes and Community Development Director Mic Steinmann, both ousted – Fontes for refusing to fire Steinmann, and Steinmann because, once Fontes was gone, who was going to stop them – in 2018. A source provided Squid’s human colleagues with documents that provided the backbone to the story, one that Greenfield sued the Weekly over in a failed attempt to keep the paper from publishing. (Hashtags #wepublished, #theylost, #theyhadtopayourlegalfees).

Fontes and Steinmann sued Greenfield, alleging wrongful termination. The city tried – and failed, again – to get a judge to toss the case. And the city just settled, with $325,000 going to Steinmann and $250,000 to Fontes.

“This case exemplifies that doing the right thing still matters,” says Fontes, who is now in a better-paying gig as city manager of East Palo Alto.

It almost makes Squid tear up when the good guy prevails.

MORE SUN, SON… Speaking of transparency, Squid now turns Squid’s attention to the city of Seaside, and the Committee for Sound Water and Land Development on Fort Ord’s 2020 lawsuit, which sought to overturn Seaside’s approval for developer Danny Bakewell’s years-in-the-making Campus Town project. While the committee filed anonymously, an email oopsie from the plaintiff’s attorney, Steve Herum, revealed the plaintiff as developer Paul Petrovich, who was working on a project called Main Gate. Shenanigans ensued: Petrovich had denied he was behind the suit, saying he needed Bakewell’s residential development to complement his retail-centric development.

While the committee dropped its initial suit almost as fast as they filed it, they then re-filed it. But last week, Monterey County Superior Court Judge Tom Wills said enough – and tossed out the whole damn thing. With prejudice, meaning the committee won’t be allowed to try again..

“You don’t file a timely case, voluntarily dismiss it and then re-file it too late,” one person familiar with the case tells Squid’s colleague. “They missed the statute and misread the law.”

Herum didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from one of Squid’s human colleagues. But Squid will make some shrimp-flavored popcorn, and watch as the project breaks ground.