Page 149 - Just Deserts

Playa de los Borregos

nation’s capital, eh? Must be a lot going on there that we out here on
the West Coast don’t hear about.”
Billings accepted the gambit. “Yes, indeed, there is, Mr. Pickett.
Congressional hearings, presidential panels, ad hoc committees—it’s
quite a circus, if you know what I mean. And I did happen to hear
your name mentioned the other day; rather a coincidence, I think.”
Pickett leaned back, threatening the equilibrium of the bench.
“Oh, really? How did that come about?”
“It was at an open hearing of the Coastal Commission. One of my
clients has a property which is being, shall we say, investigated by
certain government agencies, and he felt my presence might be of
some assistance in getting his case evaluated properly by the
commissioners.” Billings did not quite wink, but Pickett had a good
idea of the nature of the assistance being provided. “At any rate, a
prior item of business caught my attention as I was sitting there:
Playa de los Borregos.”
Now Pickett came to attention. So this was the reason Manny
Billings had arranged the meeting. As a Washington insider, he had
access to every bit of gossip concerning government affairs; Pickett
Investments was one of several developers submitting bids for the
undeveloped tract of wetlands known as Playa de los Borregos, and
the Coastal Commission had the final word on who would be given
the rights to develop it commercially. An ad hoc coalition of
environmentalists and local residents had been petitioning the
commission to reject all development schemes and leave the area in
its semi-natural state. Fortunately for Pickett and his competitors, no
endangered species had been identified in the area; and the city of
Clearview, under whose jurisdiction Playa de los Borregos fell, having
calculated the revenue to be gleaned from improving a useless piece
of real estate into a shopping mall, golf course and condominium
community, was squarely behind the developers. It looked as if the
scales would soon be tipped in favor of Pickett or one of the others;
in recent weeks T. Bond had often daydreamed of bulldozers ripping
through the dunes and burying the marshes.
“Well, that is of interest to me, Manny. My company is trying to
get the go-ahead from the government to start building on that land.
It’s taking forever, you know: all sorts of bureaucratic hold-ups and
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