I used to live in Sierra Madre. That is where I started writing news, an adventure that has taken me in many interesting directions. One of them was straight out of town. Something that happened several years ago, and with only minor consequences.

One of the joys of running a local news blog is you have the honor of airing out your city’s dirty linen. Local newspapers, economically deprived and newsroom depleted ever since readers decided Facebook stories about the neighborhood dogs were preferable, pretty much give an independent newser free rein to share the pain.

One Sierra Madre story we broke had to do with water bonds issued to purchase infrastructure needed to moisten some downtown cheese-box urban renewal. The city had to raise some cash tout de suite to take advantage of a matching federal water grant, so it cooked up $6 million worth of 30-year economic bondage….