A portent of who knows what

Good morning, BlogaBarbara fans. I'm new here and I'd be happy to introduce myself, but on second thought, nah, I'd rather stay shrouded in mystery. It's good to be here, though, and many thanks to the efforts of Cannon and Sara in developing the narrative so far. I hope my thoughts and words can be of some tiny service to this great community as well.

Sara's right: there are enterprises of great pitch and moment afoot at city hall today. And what better festive way to start the morning off than a plague of butterflies? Seriously! It seems to be slowing down now, but for an hour or so this morning, thousands upon thousands of butterflies were observed flying across the beach (straight upwind!) and apparently throughout town, headed for points west. They must be en route to the freshly preserved Elwood Mesa, so keep former Assemblymember Hannah-Beth Jackson and the good folks at the Trust for Public Land in mind today. Or try to imagine the hundreds of thousands of really awfully disappointed butterflies we would've had instead. They'd be looking for the eucalpytus trees they usually hang out in, but instead finding $2 million sprawly McMansions with lots of curb appeal and whopper heating bills. Shudder!

But back to the fireworks - if you're among the lucky subscribers to the local fishwrap, make sure to check out this morning's skinny on the negotiations that Sara's planning on gluing herself to Channel 17 today to watch. (ordinarily I'd link to it, but...well, y'know). There's a bunch of the good stuff in it, but you have to just love the story of the leak that looks like it's in the process of backfiring...

Mayor Blum believes that her vote in closed session to oppose the police union's 5 percent raises was leaked to the union, in an attempt to hurt her politically. Other council members interviewed confirmed that they believe there is a leak on the council.

Councilwoman Iya Falcone said council members shouldn't say anything in private closed session that they can't back up in public.

"This is a small town and it doesn't take a long time for things to get out," said Ms. Falcone. "I operate from the position that everything gets out."

Talk of leaks followed so closely by a couple quotes from Ms. Falcone? Does Intrepid Reporter Josh Molina have his suspicions, or is it just us? There's lots of possibilities, of course: maybe the Slugger leaked it herself to appeal to the fiscally prudent! Josh mentions (but doesn't really tease out) the implications of uber-organizer Das Williams' police-unionless win in the last go round, but I think the underlying point is that there are a lot more ways to win elections in this town than there used to be.

Stay tuned, and be sure to watch out for divebombing butterflies!