The half-a-million dollar hang-up

I wrote a story in today’s paper about La Puente's legal troubles.

It seems the city and Victor Gudzunas - who owns the Hacienda Mart strip mall at 1313 to 1335 N. Hacienda Blvd. - can’t seem to agree on a sale price for Gudzunas’ land.

They’re off by $500,000. Gudzunas’ final demand of the city is $6.5 million and the city’s final offer to Gudzunas is $6 million.

Just some background: the city has been trying to acquire this land for a year to build a commercial retail center. City attorneys filed legal documents in court last July to start the eminent domain process.

Throughout the proceedings, the city and Victor have been trying to negotiate a settlement - but to no avail. There seems to be a lot of that going on in City Hall these days.

City officials and Gudzunas made it pretty clear that trial is eminent. It could begin as early as May 19.