Before a City Council committee voted yesterday to tentatively approve a controversial condo project in Van Nuys Valley Village, a planning staffer for the city called the developer and told him not to worry about the vote or any appeals within the city planning machinery. "You'll win the appeal no matter what, OK?", the staffer assured. Only the message was left, mistakenly, on the telephone of a project opponent in Van Nuys who played it for the council. No matter, the project got the OK as the staffer promised. David Zahniser story in the LAT and Rick Orlov in the Daily News.

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