Don't think this is a coincidence. Bass and Newsom know that if they wait long enough, the landowners will just sell and the city can rebuild the land the way it wants, not what the homeowners want.

Probably just Hanlon's Razor:

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

Wikipedia: Hanlon's razor - Wikipedia

....although in my practice (development law), I usually amend that to be "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence and bureaucracy."

That said....it's only been six months. No way many of those people were able to get an architect/contractor and surveyor hired and plans completed to be sufficient to apply for building permit any faster than two months after the fire, if that quick. And a bunch of people have already managed to get their permits in only 4 months - like, the County has issued 44 building permits within that 4 months? That's actually pretty good, in my experience - especially given that you've got demo/cleanup work and all kinds of utility issues that probably had to be solved before permit review. Plus, consider that the folks who normally handle SFR plans reviews in all of the agencies and trades (building, mechanical/structural, electrical, plumbing, water/sewer, environmental, etc.) are now being swamped with a decade or more's worth of permits from that area at the same time.

It's not that uncommon for it to take a few months to get a building permit issued once you've got a complete application (and applications are rarely complete on first submittal), and considering the circumstances this doesn't seem too far out of the ordinary - certainly not to the point where you'd start reaching for conspiracies....