Alger Defeats Wal-Mart
In an unexpected move, Wal-Mart has withdrawn it’s application to build a new store in Northridge.You may remember we covered this issue in July of last year when Northridge Neighborhood Council Leader Jim Alger and his troops went to battle against construction of the new big box store. This eventually led to a battle between Alger and City Councilman Greig Smith over Smith's support of the project. It was reported that Smith had asked Wal-Mart for a donation of $166,000 to a voluntary fund, which Alger characterized as "another form of pay to play." Smith then threatened to sue Alger and Neighborhood Council Vice President Sherry Ramstead after Ramstead drew a comparison to the donation and a bribe
"The Neighborhood Council demanded an EIR when the Councilman was willing to accept a mitigation fund" said Sherry Ramstead Vice President of the Northridge West Neighborhood Council, "we filed a 50 page response, hired an attorney and forced the hands of the political structure when noone thought we could."
“The council office consistently told the community that this project was a ‘done deal’” said Alger today, “I always knew the will of the people could prevail.” We have stopped the first ‘by-right’ Wal Mart in the United States” Alger concluded.
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 1/16/2006 05:35:00 PM
39 Comments:
I need an LCD tv can anyone tell me where the nearest walmart is?
Good for you all
mynewsbot.com
your thing on walmart tries to make this out to be a fight between alger and smith, but its not. the whole community reject4ed walmart, so get it right for once!
Big Thanks to Jim and the Northridge West Council! I wish Northridge East was an active!
Charlie Carnow
The Real Story...
LA Business Journal.
Posted date: 1/16/2006
Wal-Mart Cancels Northridge Store Plans
By DAVID LOTT
Los Angeles Business Journal Staff
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has canceled plans to build a store in Northridge, citing concerns over rising development costs, community opposition and demands for an environmental impact report.
Wal-Mart decided not to move forward with building a 150,000 square-foot store in Northridge after Los Angeles City Councilman Greig Smith demanded it conduct a full environmental impact report to analyze the economic impact to other local businesses. The report also would have allowed more community input on the process.
Wal-Mart initially agreed to the report but then said on Sunday that it would be too costly to perform for the location. The company also cited rising land prices, increased costs of construction and the city of L.A.’s lengthy entitlement process.
“We hadn’t expected such a lengthy process for a site that was already zoned for commercial property; there are some things you can’t anticipate,” said Kevin McCall, Wal-Mart’s local community affairs representative.
Wal-Mart approached the city nearly eight months ago saying it wanted to build a store on Nordhoff Street at Tampa Avenue, a retail-heavy area with another Wal-Mart location a few miles away in Porter Ranch. Since the location for the proposed store has long been zoned as a commercial development, the City Council didn’t have any authority or jurisdiction to stop Wal-Mart from building a store there. A Best Buy and a Levitz store had already been at the location in the past.
However, after Wal-Mart had submitted a required traffic study, Smith negotiated a package that added more parking spaces, decreased the store’s hours of operation from 24 hours per day, disallowed the sale of alcohol and firearms and created plans to cut down on car traffic in the area.
Meetings with local residents, the Chamber of Commerce and neighborhood council members ultimately led Smith to ask Wal-Mart to conduct a full environmental impact report, prompting the store’s decision to quit, Smith said.
“This is a tremendous victory for the community. I’ve said from the beginning that the traffic in this area, particularly adjacent to the Northridge Mall, is already grid-locked and this was never the right location for a Wal-Mart,” Smith said in a statement.
The proposal was not affected by the city’s big box ordinance, which forces major retailers to demonstrate the economic benefits of opening a store of at least 100,000 square feet with more than 10 percent of their floor space dedicated to groceries since the Northridge location would not have sold any groceries.
McCall would not say if Wal-Mart would pursue another Valley location.
Glad to see Mitchell and Matt posting here. I don't live in CD12 and don't really care about Smith. I even love Wal-Mart. Anyone who has followed this issue knows that Smith has flip flopped three times. Alger might be scrappy, but at least him and his associates have been consistent on this issue in fighting it.
hate to tell u all but jim was not the head, the ass, or anything to do with this
Anyone who reads this blog knows that Alger held the community meetings, went to Washington DC, and organized against Wal Mart. He also brought in legal council and obtained an independent traffic study that forced Smith to give in.
Smith asked for the EIR after the Northridge West Neighborhood Council demanded it and filed the papers with City Planning.
The funny part is if you read the SFV business journal article it eludes to it...
"Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has canceled plans to build a store in Northridge, citing concerns over rising development costs, community opposition and demands for an environmental impact report."
"Meetings with local residents, the Chamber of Commerce and neighborhood council members ultimately led Smith to ask Wal-Mart to conduct a full environmental impact report, prompting the store’s decision to quit, Smith said."
If we remember it was previosly reported on Mayor Sam that Alger organized the NC, Chamber and the unions in an article entitled "Strange Bedfellows in Northridge".
So get the facts straight. Alger stood up for the community and won, AGAIN. I know that pisses a few staffers in his office off but tuff shit.
Lets visit som history shall we?
Alger takes Wal Mart battle to washington DC, July 17, 2005.
Mr Smith throws a fit, July 27, 2005.
Smith Flip Flops on Wal Mart, August 16, 2005
Wal Mart opponents heartened, August 22, 2005
Councilman attacks NC leaders September 19, 2005.
... and that was just a short search.
So for the jackass saying Alger had nothing to do with Wal Mart, you spin has once again colided with the truth.
Alger was standing up for us when NOONE including Smith would.
Here was Alger "Having nothing to do with Wal Mart" back in JULY of 2005!
WAL MART BATTLE GOES TO WASHINGTON DC
Alger calls in reinforcements
July 17, 2005 WASHINGTON D.C. - With little help coming from local officials, Jim Alger today took the Wal Mart battle and the plight of Northridge residents to Washington D.C.
There, he met with leaders of the "Wake Up Wal Mart" campaign and discussed strategies to defend Northridge against an attempt to build the third Wal Mart within a 5 mile radius.
"I was elected to represent the people of my district, and that is what I intend to do" said Alger adding "many members of this council were elected on the Wal Mart issue, this really affects the community in a negative way."
Last December Wal Mart announced plans to demolish the BEST/Levitz on Nordhoff west of Tampa and replace it with a new store. The community came out strong against the proposal based primarily on traffic concerns.
According to figures released by Wal Mart, the proposed store would generate between 5,500 and 9,000 new vehicle trips per day at the intersection of Nordhoff and Tampa.
In what was already thought of as an unusual alliance the Northridge West Neighborhood Council, usually supporting homeowners rights and the North Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce have already joined together in opposition to this proposed project.
"It's not Wal Mart, it is the proposed site that is just bad for the community" said Chamber of Commerce President Wayne Adelstein.
The addition of the Wake Up Wal Mart campaign brings organized labor unions, who have long opposed Wal Mart on employment grounds, into the mix.
"Politics can make for strange bedfellows" said Alger, "on this issue we are all on the same page, it is just to bad we have to fight like this for what should be a no brainer. If the people don't want it the people don't get it, how hard is that?"
10:17 anon, way to go!
It is sooooo obvious when Greigs' staff posts on here. The problem is they always go overboard with stupid claims that he got fired or had nothing to do with Wal Mart.
What was sad in this fiasco is that Smith had to be forced to do the right thing, and then as he always does, tried to take the credit for what Alger and others did.
The idiot at 9:13 - Alger is running for ASSEMBLY not Senate. Jesus, if your going to try and attack someone at least make an ATTEMPT to get the smallest morsel of facts straight.
Alger has been our Neighborhood Council President for nearly a year and was just named a Senator to the NC Congress. Needless to say we love him up here, not because he is always right, he isn't. But because he is very consistant in fighting for the people.
When Smith and company told us all that Wal Mart couldn't be beat it was Jim Alger who stood up and held the several Town Hall meetings to discuss how we could beat them.
In fact,Smith NEVER HELD A SINGLE MEETING on the issue. He did ATTEND a Neighborhood Council meeting after he thretened to sue two of our board memmbers. At that meeting he stood up and said the Wal Mart had a right to build the store and couldn't be stopped.
THANK YOU JIM!!! I know your probably getting alot of email thanking you. Now it is time to see what we will build at that intersection.
Thank you Mayor Sam for getting the story RIGHT. It always amazes me when idiots accuse you of getting something wrong when if they would have simply clicked the links in your story they would see that you actually got it quite accurate.
Chalk yet another victory up to Jim Alger and company.
No wonder the politicians are so damn scared of him that their staff sits in here and attempts to tear him down as if we are all blind and didn't watch this whole thing unfold.
He gets things done.
Great job Mr. Alger. Adding WalMart to the area will only saturate it with traffice and pollution. I remember the days when nothing was out there but orange groves (even those are gone from the CSUN campus).
Mr. Alger put up a great effort. If only other communities would do the same.
This win won't help him win his Assembly seat but it's something he can say he had a hand in. Keep up the good fight.
Of course the CD12 staff is posting here. I am sure Mayor Sam has the IP addresses if it had to be proven.
Here's the thing - the point isn't debating what impact Alger had. Whether he got old dead Sam Walton on the phone himself, or he was by himself standing with a sandwich board on Roscoe and Tampa, he remained consistent.
Smith on the other hand flip flopped, bullied the NC and even attempted a Jesse Jackson style shakedown on Wal-Mart. Not becoming of a City Councilman.
Smith like Antonio take credit for the things the "community" does. The power of the people not politicans fought this battle and won. More neighborhood councils need to get involved and fight and win these type of battles.
Didn't Smith create the "internet" along with Al Gore?
Boy Smith really ate this one. He went to war with the Neighborhood Council over Wal Mart, changed his position a few times to go with the tides and once again tried to take credit for what a few persistant Neighborhood Council members achieved.
To force the EIR was the turning point in this battle at it was Alger and company who held the many Town Hall meetings in northridge to exert political pressure on Smithy.
Nice try Smith, to bad your letter to the community telling the world the project was a done deal and no EIR was warranted did you inYou just might have gotten away with it.
This was clearly a victory for the Neighborhood Council. Great job guys! I wish more were as involved as you.
20 bucks says jim uses this when he loses the state seat, and tries for smiths job!
12:39 pm Anon - He would be a fool if he didn't, it is a hell of a win for him and he did it in spite of Smith and Englander's attacks against him.
Although I don't see him running against Smith. There are many people who wish he would but that doesn't seem to be on his radar yet.
I wish to hell that Jim Alger would run for Smiths' seat. All that Smith does is send out letters and newspaper inserts about how great he is when he has done absolutly nothing.
He screwed us on Sunshine, he is screwing us in Chatsworth and he tried to screw us with this damn Wal-Mart except Alger stopped him dead in his fat ass tracks.
I don't live in the 38th but I do live in the 12th District and I can tell you that Smith has no desire to work with neighborhood whatsoever. He talks the talk and alot of people are humbled to be in the presence of the almighty Smith but he will never be more than a fake cop and a stuffed shirt.
I am just glad we have a Neighborhood Council in this district that picks up his slack.
We live in a world where the only tools in the toolbox are monkey wrenches. In LA anyway, it is easy to stop things, impossible to build them. No one cries over Wal-Mart, but if this was something LA truly needed, the process and outcome would've been the same.
And for that matter, where in this debate did potential consumers of inexpensive Wal-Mart products figure into it? Do they get an EIR on the impact of having to spend more money in existing stores?
The Neighborhood Council held widely publicized meetings about the Wal mart, not a single person showed up to support it but hundreds opposed it.
The key folks is GET INVOLVED. If hundreds showed up to support Wal Mart, there would be a store going in as we speak.
Political pressure is always applied in numbers. He with the most numbers wins, unless some over the top reason exists for otherwise. Complacency loses every time.
I applaud my neighbors and friends in Northridge who didn't listen when Grieg Smith told us that this project couldn't be stopped. The community was truly represented by our Neighborhood Council, Jim Alger, Beverly Adler and Sherry Ramstead in particular.
Jim Alger sniffs his farts and smells roses and then tells you the scent in a press release. The entire world fought Walmart but Jim would like the credit.If this pompous blowhard, that has never held a job, ever gets seriously questioned about his actions the truth will come out. Oh, quoting you own press releases doesn't make them factual, it just proves what a fool you are and take the rest of us to be.
Hi Mitch, still posting on here I see. Only you would post such a rediculous attack.
Wal-Mart Pulls the Plug on Valley Site
By Steve Hymon, Times Staff Writer
Retail behemoth Wal-Mart has dropped its plans to open a store in Northridge after deciding it did not want to conduct a lengthy environmental impact report demanded by neighbors and city officials.
Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has been trying for a year to open a store in an existing building at Nordhoff Street and Tampa Avenue. Officials said that an environmental study for the more than 150,000-square-foot store in the San Fernando Valley would have been too costly and would have delayed the project by at least several months.
"The time it took to do the environmental impact report added to the time it would take to start construction and the economics of maintaining the land while going through this process was a factor," said Kevin McCall, spokesman for Wal-Mart in Southern California.
Two other Wal-Mart stores, in West Hills and Porter Ranch, are within several miles of the site. McCall said the purpose of the new store was to alleviate long lines at those two locations.
But the plan met with strong resistance from nearby residents and Los Angeles City Councilman Greig Smith, whose 12th District includes Northridge.
Wal-Mart "explained to me through their intermediary that as they analyzed this further, it wasn't worth it for them to go forward," Smith said. "It was surprising. I thought it was a foregone conclusion."
Residents and activists, who sometimes sparred with Smith over his commitment to opposing the project, applauded the retailer's decision.
"I'm not surprised that we won, I'm just surprised that Wal-Mart went this fast," said Jim Alger, president of the Northridge West Neighborhood Council. "This is what I think it came down to: The environment impact report had to include alternative uses for the property that have a less significant impact on the community."
Wal-Mart has had its share of success in Southern California, operating five stores in Los Angeles. But increasingly it has run into opposition from communities whose concerns about the company include its salary and benefit plans for employees and its effect on local businesses.
The Northridge project was unusual because Wal-Mart was moving into an existing building already zoned for large retail purposes. Also, Wal-Mart was not proposing to turn the store into a so-called supercenter, which sells groceries.
But the new store would have been surrounded by other businesses. Northridge Fashion Center is across the street and restaurants and retail strip centers abound.
That, combined with the store's location at an already busy intersection, was apparently the tipping point.
"I'm very pro-business, but for me, it was the wrong business in the wrong place" because of traffic, Smith said.
One city report suggested that a Wal-Mart store would have put an extra 5,000 cars on nearby streets each day.
McCall, the Wal-Mart spokesman, said his company would continue to seek potential sites in Los Angeles.
"We are always looking on how to best serve the community," he said. "We believe the Valley is a wonderful opportunity for retail, and we're always looking."
As someone who lives in Northridge I can tell you, although I don't need to, that he was obviously the catalyst for the successin defeating Wal Mart.
The idiot who tries to attack him is just that, an idiot. Some depraved ingrate who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. The type of individual who suffers from a severe inferiority complex.
This individual is hoping that the average reader will not click on the links, or look beyond his words. this individual believe if he attacks Jim for never holding a job, (I seem to remember him working for the Senate) or makes statements like "if he ever gets questioned seriously the truth will come out" that we will somehow forget the long faught battle over this Wal Mart. That we will be transported into some fictional land of make-believe.
A land where Grieg Smith gives a damn. A land where Mr. Smith didn't go head-to-head against the Neighborhood Council over his support of the Wal Mart in direct contrast to the will of the community. Unfortunately for the staffers at CD 12, even the writers at Disney couldn't make that story fly so they are left to sad pathetic personal attacks.
See Greg, and yes I actually know how to spell Greg, we have this ability to {cough} read. See, I know it is hard to believe but many of us actually graduated kindergarden. Many of us have read and posted on various aspects of this drama in Northridge over the past year.
So next time you send your cronies on to this Blog to attack a man who has shown us time and time again that he is consistant, honoarable and selfless almost to a fault; know that Jim Alger has earned our respect. It wasn't given to him, he earned it.
The bloggers in here will be the first to attack Jim if he does something blatently out of bounds but he hasn't. All this man has done is stand up for the people he was elected to represent, and stood up against the politicians who stood in his way. That includes you.
Now, tell your staff to quit attacking people on here on the citys' dimeand do your god damn job.
Good evening all;
I rarely post on here in a charged discussion that I am involved in but this "battle" between myself and Councilman Smith has been blown way out of proportion and a public response seemed appropriate.
I have nothing against Councilman Smith personally. I have had major disagreements with positions members of his staff have conveyed. In the case of Wal-Mart, the main difference was that I had information that led me to believe that we could force an EIR on the proposed project. Councilman Smith believed that there was nothing more that could be done and decided to get a "pound of flesh" out of Wal-Mart in a community mitigation package, which I supported.
Things went sideways when Councilman Smiths' representative made the statement "Councilman Smith does not oppose this project" at the planning meeting. In that meeting, Smith also fired a shot at the Neighborhood Council that he was "shocked" that the Neighborhood Council had not responded to the proposed MND. The shot was uncalled for and unfortunately for Councilman Smith it was done in a room full of people we had bussed down from Northridge.
So basically I was selling the community hope, based on legal advise I was receiving from outside council that Councilman Smith did not have access to. I then authorized outside council to talk to Mitchell Englander and forward the legal opinions as well as the review we conducted of the traffic study Wal-Mart provided. Upon review of that information, Councilman Smith then joined the Neighborhood Council in demanding an EIR.
As I have said from the beginning, this entire mess didn't need to happen. If Councilman Smith would have communicated with the Neighborhood Council, 90% of this so-called battle would have never happened. Unfortunately, to this day he chooses not to.
I have approached Councilman Smith several times to attempt to "bury the hatchet" to no avail. It is sad that he has chosen this path but I still hold out hope that he will reverse course and engage the Neighborhood Council in future dialogue.
An important dynamic to keep in mind here is political. Councilman Smith, a staunch Republican, will endorse my Republican opponent in the Assembly race. He has also been given bad advise by his staff who have him convinced that I will run for his job. No matter how many times I say I am not, it doesn't seem to get through.
The bottom line is you can't work with someone who you believe is after your job. What Councilman Smith needs to know is that I never attack anyone who returns my calls.
Politics is about working through differences, not amplifying them.
On the Wal-Mart issue, it is important to note that I didn't do it all. This could not have been done without community support, the Neighborhood Council, Sherry Ramstead, Beverly Adler and yes, Councilman Smith. Many people circulated petitions, got on busses to planning meetings and helped set up the several Town Hall meetings that got the message to the land owners in Chicago that the community was serious about fighting this project.
This wasn’t a win for Jim Alger, this was a triumph for the community. A triumph not against Councilman Smith, but rather a multi-billion dollar corporation that was hell bent on building regardless of what the community said.
Thank you all for your continued support.
Jim Alger
Stand up move Jim. I am sure someone will try and hit you again, but stand up move.
Can't tell you how impressed I am that you post here. Shows you don't let things get to your head.
It is good that you, unlike others, are capable of sharing credit. That is a good quality.
I don't know why you bother. There are 2 people, both CD 12 Staffers who hate Jim and try to take shots at him constantly.
To respond to them is to do nothing more than to egg them on.
We are intelligent enough to see what the gooid Jim is doing and I am sure he gets the credit when it matters.
Besides, Mayor Sam got the story right, even if the Smith publicity machine tried to rewrite history.
I don't care what you say Jim, you should be running for city council.
Smith didn't do anything accept try and take the credit for your hard work;
Since Jim Alger chooses to quote himself and respond, perhaps he could clarify the employment question. The way the facts stand are that Jim Alger is a High School graduate ONLY and worked for Alarcon for Mayor, not the Senator, on a brief contract that was not renewed. That appears, in his own record, to be the only employment he has ever engaged in.
Any corrections Jim?
First of all, why the hell do any of us care where Jim Alger worked? The best you could do is try and attack someones work experience? What doesthat have to do with the good he has done for his community? Oh, that's right IT DOESN'T. It is simply a way to change the subject.
If you would have fact checked you would know that Jim worked IN THE SENATE OFFICE as an NC Liaison NOT for the Alarcon for Mayor campaign.
Jim left sometime in July,long after the Mayoral race was over. How do I know this? Because he appeared at my NC on behalf of Senator Alarcon in his official capacity in June.
Your other insistant attack is an implication that Jim does nothing but sit on here. That is so rediculous I won't even respond.
"You don't have to have a college degree to serve....You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to Serve...You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generted by love."
Martin Luther King Jr.
Of course, working hard in your community always doing the right thing helps too.
heres a fact Jim=Jackass Wow they both start with a J
Gee Mr. O'Connell yes people think Jim lives on this blog because it is the only place he has a campaign or job( running for Assemby) The assertion is that Jim has never held a job other than the rather brief period(2-3 months?) he worked for Sen. Alarcon on a contract job that Jim claims he left and the Senator claims was not renewed(political for dismissed/fired).
Your attempts to shop around this ridiculous rumor has failed at every news outlet you have brought it to.
If the best you can do in response to the good work Jim Alger has done is criticize him for not getting paid for it, it shows how little you have on him.
As we have said before, and will say again, Jim Alger left the Senate office on EXCELLENT terms with the Senator. It is no accident he filed for Assembly within days of his leaving.
Senator Alarcon would have loved for Jim to stay on, but he didn't and instead filed a few days later anything other than that is simply yourself attempting to spin a story where there isn't one.
It would also expose you to a libel suit should your sorry behind ever come out of hiding so remember, the walls at City Hall are thin.
Once again, your simply trying to change the subject. To bad we know better.
Actually, Jim is referred to as ahead case in the Alarcon D.O. But really has Jim ever held another job? In his life?
Nice, wait 5 days and post an attack when noone is reading anymore.
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