A story I wrote in todays paper follows up the Ed Butts Ford saga which isnt really a saga anymore since the city decided to go with another developer, hence terminating all negotiations with Ed Butts for the site.

Some quick background: Ed Butts and the city have been in talks to expand the dealership on a parcel of city-owned land along Hacienda Boulevard for about five years. But the two parties have been at odds over liability of environmental issues on the site, which was once home to a contamination clean-up facility. Ed Butts wanted indemnification. The city said the soil was clean.

Now just a little more insight: I spoke with Ed Butts General Manager Anthony Iannone Wednesday and he told me he and his father had yet to hear from the city, even though the City Council voted Tuesday night to go with another developer. The Iannones werent too happy, but Anthony said they would just be looking out for our business in the future.

Some contradiction to the story on the citys side: Mayor Louie Lujan said Wednesday that he personally tried calling Iannones last week and Tuesday, before the council meeting, but didnt get any calls back.
He also said that while the city was willing to give them indeminification in the form of a memorandum of understanding, Ed Butts refused. Lujan said they wanted indeminifcation in the lands deed which would have set it in stone forever.