Pacoima Steps Up!
Tonight, the Pacoima Neighborhood Council came out in support of Sunland-Tujunga's
battle to keep Home Depot from opening in their community.
This is the 4th NC to openly side with S-T in support of their
right to be the best judge of what serves the communitys interest.
The question now becomes whether this act of unprecedented alliance means anything to the L.A. City Council and to the L.A. City gov't at large.
Can a united position from several NC's be enough to influence the decisions made in a
seemingly far-away Downtown? Is the self-determination that neighborhoods seek attainable, or will the developers, the deep pockets of corporations and their high priced attorneys continue to rule the roost?
The No Home Depot Campaign in Sunland-Tujunga has just submitted their analysis of Home Depots latest plans (their last set plans were determined by the City to be "Vague and Incomplete"). This community is seeking a "Project" determination by L.A. City Planning.
A "Project" determination will allow the City to require full environmental scrutiny,
including traffic, air quality, and noise level studies before Home Depot can proceed.
To Sunland-Tujunga, this is not too much to ask of a company whose potential presence will affect the area for decades to come.
Posted by Unknown @ 7/19/2006 09:06:00 PM
30 Comments:
I can't believe this. City Council once again is scheduled to get two pay raises in the next two years come Jan. 1st. They will jump from $149,160 now to $162,000 in 2008. They are the highest paid council members in the nation and the dumbest. GET RID OF THESE CLOWNS
NO TERM LIMITS...VOTE OUT THE MORONS THAT ARE UP IN 2007. THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT THEMSELVES AND EMBARRASS THIS CITY.
Funny, everybody uses the child abuse issues to up all their fund raising and attention to them with the laws they are trying to create to better protect our children. It’s a big deal to know where they are and rightfully so, they can’t be within so many feet front places like schools and parks, rightfully so. But when it comes to a store that encourages undocumented day labors to hang out at the store front and bother there customers that come to shop and they want to put a store about 100 yards from an elementary school nobody thinks that is a big enough issue, when you have day labors hanging around a part of the blvd. that kids from others schools near by walk by after school, where bad people can hang out like a day labor, but not to seek a days worth of work but a child they can do harm to and that is not an issue!! Sorry, but this old K-Mart lot as close to homes and schools that it is, just for the fact it is there doesn’t make it right to be there. Times have changed, like all these building codes and laws but having a lot like this already there doesn’t and shouldn’t give the OK to “Putting salt in the wound” put a Home Depot there…
Shameful is the lack of attention to the protection of our Children and the neighborhood they play in. I am sick of the liberal yo-yo arguments about the right to and the right not to, having your cake and eating it…
The City employee’s better start thinking of the people who live in these communities and not the money that comes from afar. Funny put something like this next to them and there are the ones that would be starting a No-Home Depot website…
The so called Pacoima residents have once again shown why their community will continue to be relegated to third world ghetto status. Man, what a lot of great jobs an operation like that could bring to Pacoima. Idiots like Nury Martinez-Guzman oppose new home building as the "white man's" gentrification - unless there are so called "affordable housing" provisions as well as set asides for politically connected contractors and developers (and the occasional "consultant").
Where Pacoima could bootstrap itself with some pretty good damn resources and a strong population of honest people who will work hard, their so called leaders will continue to be just as great poverty pimps as the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Hopefully, something will happen and the populace will see through these clowns.
By the way, has "Gerry Guzman" ever had a job in the true, honest private sector (not non-profit)?
The idea that Neighborhood Councils really represent the views and interests of the communities is a joke!
They are mostly a small group of the most politically active people, but unfortunately, usually coalesce around one single issue that pisses them off. It has been revealed over and over again how the negativity and narrow focus of many NC's drive away moderate residents who are interested in being broadly involved in community and government issues.
7:38 and 9:37 have either consumed too much or too little caffeine this morning. Home Depot will not “bring jobs” to the Sunland-Tujunga community. I live in Sunland-Tujunga and know for a fact that, with my daily 20-mile commute to downtown Los Angeles, I pass more than 5 Home Depots: for those poor in math, that’s one Home Depot every 4 miles! [20 ÷ 5 = 4] Has Home Depot truly brought more jobs to San Fernando/Sylmar, Glassell Park, Atwater, or Burbank? I am not against Home Depot, per se; Home Depot is not the right business for this particular community location. Wake up, folks!
Hey 9:37
Guess what. NC's are here to stay. Voted on in 1999 and mandated by the City Charter. Get used to it. Interminable whining about them won't make them go away. Join your own and do something about it.
I agree with 9:37am. Neighborhood Councils do not represent Neighborhoods. Think about it. 100 or so people show up at the meetings and that's a BIG turn out,300 or so vote in the election and these figures are for towns of 75,000 people. It is nice that the PNC endorsed the No TO Home Depot Campaign but all it means is that the 15 or so people who are are the PCN do not want Home Depot in Sunland Tujunga.And who is Cindy Cleghorn?..never heard of her.
Hey, 1:32 -- this is not about Neighborhood Councils. This is about a community that is seeking support in telling Home Depot that HD is not wanted in Sunland-Tujunga. Get over yourself!
Hey 2:39 pm. No.. the TOPIC is Pacoima Steps Up.Pacoima, as in the Pacoima Neighborhood Council.
Did you fail reading comprehension 101 or are you on the Neighborhood Council and have an overinflated sense or self importance?
No To Home Depot - yes
Neighborhood Councils - who cares?
Home Depot is not the right business? The company is willing to spend millions and millions to build there. If not Home Depot, then who is the right business? Is someone else champing at the bit to build a factory, an office complex -- anything? Provided a business complies with zoning and construction codes, shouldn't we let the private sector decide what is the right business for a given location?
Honestly, Walter, I think that the people of Sunland-Tujunga want that property to remain a vacant lot for time and all eternity. It reminds me of how an acquaintance of mine who lived in Mission Viejo went in with the other members of his homeowners' association to buy the last vacant lot in the subdivision so nobody could build there.
The vacant lot in question is 11 acres and there are a number of interested developers. 11 acres is big enough to accomodate many retail stores and restuarants and also is big enough to accomodate a mixed use retail center.
What a waste of valuble space a Home Depot would be in an area where every resident must DRIVE to Burbank, Glendale or Pasadena to buy the basic nessesities like underwear or find a good resturant.
The people of Sunland Tujunga absolutely do NOT want a vacant lot. What we DO want the best use of the last large parcel of land in Sunland Tujunga. Home Depot is not the best use of 11 acres.
5:14 pm The interested developers will not step on Home Depot's toes. They will not make their intentions known until Home Depot is out of the equation. To borrow a phrase from Walter Moore... the developers ARE chomping at the bit. The sooner Home Depot is defeated the sooner the people of Sunland Tujunga wil get what they need and want---proper development.
Right last poster. It's chomping, not champing. Sorry but I despise bad spelling.
Remember the Wal mart in Northridge?
They beat that store when nobody but nobody thought they could. Even had to fight their Councilman to do it. The land owner next door bought it and they are now working with the NC to build a mixed use project there that the community wants.
Walter and all you other "let the market decide" folks... the people are the market, not some corporate titan from out of state.
The market can’t decide if companies like Home Depot which has lots of money and can keep that store open even if the community doesn’t shop there. The community is what’s important here not the idea of free market. The spin and concepts here is unbelievable. Home Depot has already had its day with respects to the “Market”, just because the market accepts it doesn’t mean the community wants it in their area. Airports have been accepts and needed by the “Market”, but communities don’t want an airport in their area. No one will step up to say, I want to build “XX” because the property is not for sell or the owner is looking for a business to put there.
The jobs will be imported just like they did when the Home Depot opened in North Hollywood and San Fernando. Home Depot doesn’t care about the community; they care about the bottom line. All the other Home Depots you see where they help the community it’s an exchange of PR and free employee time, it’s great but the Employee’s did it, with their time, not Home Depots time. What a great deception Home Depot has done.
There is a song from an old band that sums a lot about Home Depot, the name is “Sensationalism Sells” and this song nails the work of the interest driven people, $$$.
I also agree with July 20th 7:12am. Not the best English and neither is mine, but it’s the idea’s that counts.
The Bigger picture is Home Depot will do more harm than good to this Town.
Always on patrol... Cruising the blogs looking for errors.
Over ninety-five percent of the people who live in Sunland Tujunga do not want a home depot in their town. We know what we want.
"We want Socks and Underwear. No Home Depot."
OK, so suppose Home Depot backs off that parcel and S-T instead gets a proposal for a Target or a Wal-Mart. I'm willing to bet a fairly substantial sum, relative to my meager stipend, that a pretty substantial portion of 8:44's "95%" would also oppose a general-merchandise big-box retailer because of traffic.
Peter,
Read the posts and read the No 2 Home Depot website!
These people want development that meets the needs of the residents. Home Depot does not. Any store on that site will increase traffic, but Home Depot
traffic patterns are much different than Target or Wal-Mart. Contractors start their day at Home Depot, the same time everyone is going to school or work. No one races out at 7am to buy a shirt, nor do they show up with a stake-bed truck to buy school supplies! Target does not have forklifts to load a customers car with a pair of shoes!
Hey Joe B., be honest, how many of the above comments are from you? You seem to like to post comments to yourself alot.
Hey, 8:27 pm, why would Joe B. have to make up any posts. As I said earlier, 95% of the people who live in Sunland-Tujunga do not want a Home Depot. There are about 75,000 people in S-T and 95% would be about 71,250. Chances are a few of them have heard of Mayor Sams on their own. And it seems likely several of us have read about Joe's posts here on Mayor Sams at NO2HOMEDEPOT.com.
Who I am is not necessarily any of your business, but I can guarantee you that I am not Joe B.
And while I am at it, Walter Moore, I voted for you for Mayor, but your attitude as to our right to stop Home Depot has changed my mind about you. It seems to me that you spoke before you gave it thought. If you know all of the circumstances, then you are quite uncaring. If not, you are quite unwise.
FYI In all our efforts we are operating entirely within the law. We are volunteers with few funds, some knowledge, and little personal clout. Fortunately, Wendy Greuel, our Councilwoman, is with us.
We are trying to stop Home Depot primarily from bringing hundreds of trucks and semis into our town daily over the single route that runs through our community. The potential Home Depot site is surrounded by single-family residences on two sides where these trucks and semis when leaving Home Depot headed for the West and/or the freeway would be required to exit passing directly in front of these homes and directly in front of the neighborhood elementary school on their way out.
Maybe you'd like to buy a house on one of those streets, and if you have children you'd be delighted to learn that Apperson Elementary, the above-mentioned school, is rated tops - providing you don't mind your kids weaving their way to-and-from school amongst those semis trailers, flat bed trucks, and pickups.
Your best bet would probably be to wait until Home Depot opened and then you could likely buy your new house for many thousands less than you'd pay today. Afterall, you would be one of the very few who wants to live next to a Home Depot (or its day laborers.)
Oh, and P.S. to the 12:33 post,
Peter,
I can not speak for others, but although Target is not my choice, I would not oppose them. I would, however, lead a battle to stop a WalMart, if for no other reason than it is WalMart. You may not be aware of their practices and track record. Basically to put it in a nutshell, they suck.
Walter Moore is correct in his usage of the idiom "champing at the bit." The INCORRECT usage is "chomping."
CHAMPING: Repetitious, strong opening and closing action of the mouth which produces sounds when the teeth hit together.
Definition from Hurnik et al., 1995.
- The Encyclopedia of Farm Animal Behavior
v. tr. - To bite or chew upon noisily.
v. intr. - To work the jaws and teeth vigorously.
Idiom: - champ at the bit
To show impatience at being held back or delayed.
- The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The etymology is based on the idea of a horse chewing on the bit (= piece of metal in its mouth that allows a rider to control its movements) when excited or nervous.
Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms © Cambridge University Press 2003
Gail Goldberg, L.A.'s new Planning Director stated at a Town Hall Meeting that communities should be allowed to determine their own future and that there will be no "cookie Cutter" plans for our communities. Let's hope that she listens to the residents of Sunland-Tujunga and convinces Home Depot to go elsewhere.
Sun Valley would love to have them in their community on San Fernando Road where H.D. would be an excellent fit. Sunland-Tujunga needs another K-Mart type store. Residents shouldn't have to go to another city to buy socks and underwear.
H.D. will put approximately 15 small businesses that sell H.D. type products out of business. H.D. will destroy the community businesses, cause empty building, which in return will create blight.
It took 15 years of residents working together to build Foothill Blvd back up from years of neglect. Also, to get the state to turn it over to the city in order to get rid the huge pot holes. The boulevard was a disgrace and required vehicles to be constantly re-aligned. After many many volunteer hours of gathering petitions, begging and pleading, it was finally re-paved for commercial-residential traffic only - not industrial.
The traffic that H.D. will create will cause our only throughfare to
become distressed again. It will also have a negative impact on the residential area surrounding it. We will still have "no socks and underwear"! Where's the justice!
Thank you Pacoima for your support well as any community that also supports us. We all need to work together to help support our community plans and not allow big business to dictate to us.
By the way, I'm not Joe B. and I won't vote for Walter Moore in the future either!
I'm confused. The city of LA is going to allow Home Depot to go through despite the concerns and protests of it's Sunland/Tujunga citizens. And those VALID concerns being increased traffic and (let us all be honest here) increased day laborers looking for work. YET there is NO talk of increased police patrol? Sunland/Tunjunga a rather large city and seemingly growing all the time has only THREE patrol cars and that is it. IS ANYONE CONCERNED ABOUT THIS?
"Champing" was not a typo. It is a perfectly legitimate word, and, traditionally, was used in the expression "champing at the bit."
Definition:
champ 1 | ch amp| verb another term for chomp . ORIGIN late Middle English: imitative.
Oh, I see now that someone else already came to my spelling defense, and with a better, more precise definition. Thank you!
As for those of you who voted for me, thank you! I appreciate it. I wish you would support me again, but I'll understand if you do not. I hope you can respect, however, that I try to make principled, consistent decisions, rather than just promising everything to everyone.
I realize that may doom me, politically, but I'm not willing to lie. That is why, with respect to the Sunshine Dump, I told the people who asked about that that it's a done deal, and that the battle was fought and lost in the late 1990's. They didn't like hearing that, but that's the way it is.
All things considered, wouldn't you rather have an honest mayor?
Wendy need to also ask the City Attorney to check the back pocket of the LA City Planner, Daniel Scott, you may find it a little fatter!
Funny the city planning dept. was designed to protect the communities from over building, protecting land owners, ensuring the safety with the building that are being built. They push the responsibilities of structure on to the engineers, yet this LA City Planner, Daniel Scott is acting like he is going to except the responsibilities of the Home Depot “Project” and the question I would have is, “If the Home Depot increases the traffic to a level that would not have been acceptable and if the tenet changes end up being more than the plans out line and show to bee a project, all and any of these and more show up after the have moved in is the city and this Daniel Scott liable, can either or both be sued? My guess is not.
Funny the city planning dept. was designed to protect the communities from people building structures where they don’t belong or what the communities want. But see when you have a building and zoning dept. that covers a county, then you have the City of LA, Building and Zoning Dept., employed with people who do not care about all those communities that they do not live in or near. The big pocket walks in and your community is screwed…
Sunland is so screwed; people of Sunland better brace your self for this Home Depot and the fall of your property value. Can we sue if that happens? Why not? They caused damage to the neighborhood…
When the going gets tough, so does Sunland-Tujunga and sister communities. We will stand united. Watch the storm at election time! Changes can and will be made.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home