On Eve of Arcadia Vote, Pro-Density Hunger Strike Goes On

​We've been telling you for a few days about Henry Nunez, the Arcadia developer whose nakedly self-interested hunger strike has entered its ninth day.

Today we chatted with Councilman Robert Harbicht, who says that Nunez's vision of an urban transit village in downtown Arcadia not what the city wants.

"He's gotten a lot of publicity out of this, but I don't think there's one Arcadian in 100 that understands what his point his," Harbicht said. "If they were exposed to his position and my position, 98 of them would favor my position. We're not a high-density apartment kind of town."
Harbicht is up for re-election tomorrow, and is considered a favorite to win. Nunez is backing two challengers -- Paul Cheng and Sho Tay -- and incumbent Peter Amundsen. Since last Sunday, Nunez has limited his diet to Muscle Milk protein shakes, vitamins, and various beverages, to draw attention to tomorrow's vote.

The L.A. Times is working on a story about this, so you might think Nunez would declare victory and have a sandwich already. But no.

"I'm just ready to die," Nunez said today. "I'm not kidding. I'm starving. I don't know how I'm going to make it."

As we mentioned last week, Nunez wants to be one of the developers to build multi-million dollar mixed-use projects in downtown Arcadia. But current zoning limits buildings to 24 units per acre, and there is a height limit of three stories. He'd like to increase the limits to 50 units per acre and five stories.

"He's pretty much a joke in the real estate industry here," Harbicht said. "I don't think anybody's taking him seriously. But you never know in a local election... He's more like a gnat that's buzzing around my ear."

Nunez fights back at length on his Web site, on which he addresses Harbicht personally:

You should be embarrassed of yourself for your supreme selfishness. Your wishes of no change is going to cause Arcadia many problems for many years after you are gone.

One day to go!