U.S. Special Envoy for Special Missions Ric Grenell accused California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday of lying about the state’s intention to conduct a “land grab” within the areas hit by the Los Angeles fires.
Grenell’s accusation, the latest salvo in a fight between the administration and the governor, came as local residents were in an uproar over Newsom’s plan to build low-income housing on some fire-ravaged lands.
Last week, Newsom allocated $101 million for developers to build low-income housing in the areas hit by the January fires. The decision came just days after Newsom signed a rollback of environmental regulations that had blocked the construction of multi-unit housing structures in cities — what is often called “urban infill.”
Meanwhile, the State Senate passed a proposal to create a new local authority with the power to use property tax money to buy burned lots for the purpose of building low-income housing — a more aggressive form of a proposal to give local residents control of the rebuilding process. That led to an outcry among local residents.
State Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) announced Wednesday evening that he was pulling his own bill before it could be considered by the State Assembly, noting that it needed more time for public consultation.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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