Sexual harassment allegations. Shouting matches at City Council meetings. Human remains. Donated turkeys and hams.

For nearly a year, a motley crew of mortuary operators, political insiders, local developers – and even the mayor of National City and his assistant – have spun up a feud that has mired the working-class city in legal action and animosity.

It all started late last year, when a pair of brothers proposed to build a gas station, car wash, liquor store, drive-through restaurant and five-unit apartment complex on a tiny plot of land in the city. That proposal, which was derided by community members, was ultimately rejected by the city’s Planning Commission.

Still, the married owners of a nearby mortuary claim the proposal’s path to the National City Planning Commission was paved

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