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Sunday, November 26, 2006

Black Friday in Sunland-Tujunga



In a blatant slap to the face of the Sunland-Tujunga community, Home Depot, on Friday, erected a chain link fence around the site of their proposed store.
A contractor's representative, supervising the fence building, told a local that they intend to start remodeling the former K-Mart on Monday(Nov 27).
What makes Home Depot's sudden actions such a slap in the face is that the community is currently in the middle of an Appeal questioning the very issuance of those building permits. The community is also still waiting for Home Depot to hand over their latest plans for review of what exactly they intend to do with the building (a very reasonable request, by the way).

Additionally, there remain many unresolved issues, not the least of which is what Home Depot plans to do with the old Penske Auto Repair Center that is part of the former K-Mart building.

For Home Depot to use this area as their intended Pro-Desk and customer pick-up, they would need to apply for a "change of use" permit, something that the company has fought to avoid due to the ensuing environmental assessment that would be required.
Instead, Home Depot claims that the Auto Repair use will remain the same, even though
auto repair is a service that Home Depot does not provide!
Does the term "Piecemeal" come to mind?
You can read more about the "change of use" issue HERE


At a recent Sunland-Tujunga NC meeting regarding the proposed project, Home Depot was only able to produce 7 supporters (total attendance was 360 people, a pretty impressive turn-out by NC standards). The Home Depot representatives could only watch and listen as one after another, locals and non locals stood and spoke out against the proposed store.

Instead of listening to the message from the community, or waiting for the Appeal process to play out, Home Depot has elected to erect a fence and staff the property with security guards.





FYI:

Besides my posts here at Mayor Sam and at the No2HomeDepot.com website, Home Depot has been subject to even more local criticism for their major sponsorship of Prop R(they kicked in $25,000), their close ties to the Mayor ( HD lawyers accompanied him on his trip to Asia), and a continuing investigation by NBC over consumer rip-off allegations (http://www.nbc4.tv/homedepotinvestigation/index.html).

Labels:

66 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said:

You No Home People drive me nuts. You guys are crazy, literally! What's wrong with having a home depot in the area, big deal. You hippies don't want MOJADOS asking for work. Racist F'ers.

November 26, 2006 9:19 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

9:19,
What a pathetic post.

November 26, 2006 9:23 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Pathetic are those wasting peoples time with NO HOME DEPOT RANTS.

Here's one for you. I disagree with Hippie Nutritional Food/Drug Stores. The products are not approved by FDA and may be harmful to general public. Can we close down the stores in City of L.A?

Yes we can. Gather 360 people and fight, fight, fight till your fingers ache.

November 26, 2006 9:27 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

The Mayor Rocks and You Suck.

Watch out. Mayor is gonna burn you to the ground, legally speaking.

November 26, 2006 9:28 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

It really is too bad that you, 9:19, have to resort to wasting my time with your off topic response.
Go post somewhere else.
That community is united in the fight to save their town from Home Depot. They have to shop in Burbank, Pasadena, etc for household supplies. This gigantic hardware store is the wrong store for the location. Literally, the proposed site sits in the middle of a residential neighborhood, surrounded by homes on three sides. I'm sure you wouldn't want a Home Depot down the street from the school where your kids attend. And don't call me a NIMBY, either. I don't live anywhere near it - but I see exactly why they don't want that store there!

November 26, 2006 9:37 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

NIMBY,
If you wanna contact the Mayor

Mail him a letter to one of his residences in LA, Pasadena, Moreno Valley

November 26, 2006 10:26 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

OOOPS nimby,

I failed to include Corina's hush hush home locations.

You're not supposed to know.

LOS ANGELES, CA
PICO RIVERA, CA
SOUTH PASADENA, CA
NEWBURGH, NY

When did the vatos and vatas buy the NY home?

November 26, 2006 10:30 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Who the F*k is FO VILLARAIGOSA?

Corina and Antonio's other homes located:

LOS ANGELES, CA
PICO RIVERA, CA
SOUTH PASADENA, CA
NEWBURGH, NY
CHICAGO, IL
MORENO VALLEY, CA

November 26, 2006 10:34 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Nimby do you know who Mario Villaraigosa is? Does he own a Home Depot?

November 26, 2006 10:35 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Did Mario Obledo change his last name to Villaraigosa to purchase property w/AV?

November 26, 2006 10:37 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I'll say one thing, you rarely see people fight this hard against development. Sunland-Tujunga certainly has my respect!

November 26, 2006 11:00 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

No HOME DEPOT in my town.

November 26, 2006 11:11 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Hmmm... EAA pickets LAX, and promises more job actions in the future.

Are there any residents in that area who are willing to picket that particular Home Depot location?

November 26, 2006 11:27 PM  

Blogger Walter Moore said:

It's not a "slap in the face." Home Depot obtained a permit. It's running a business. It has made an economic decision to proceed with remodelling.

If you prevail on appeal, Home Depot will presumably have to "un-do" its remodelling. If Home Depot prevails, the company will not have wasted any time.

If you think the remodelling will cause irreparable injury, you can always file suit for a preliminary injunction -- if you're willing to post a massive bond to protect Home Depot from the profits it might lose if your preliminary injunction is ultimately deemed to have been "improvidently granted."

November 26, 2006 11:55 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Walter... Heavens alive! Don't you ever sleep?

November 27, 2006 12:02 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Walter,
If S-T's Appeal succeeds, HD will seek
compensation from the City for money spent. Would it not be better for the City to protect itself and declare they will not be responsible for money spent while an appeal is in process?

November 27, 2006 12:09 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Walter, Walter and all the rest of you kabitzers, please don't be naive! You are supposed to know this city better than anyone else-or at least so you indicate over and over again.

Home Depot is VESTING their interest so they will have a claim on Los Angeles for allowing them to prematurely pull permits, spend money, and then, perhaps, be required to back off, because the City made a mistake.

All Home Depot has to do is spend a few hundred thousand and watch the lawsuits fly when they lose the appeal.

Don't you make a mistake, the City of Los Angeles has made a hugh mistake by making this discretionary decision by the Developer's friend, Daniel Scott, Los Angeles City Planner.

Sunland-Tujunga has a Specific Plan which prohibits the project without an EIR and this is an attempt to ignore that Plan plus a number of other issues many of which are environmental.

The City does not want to obey its' own law - laws. The City warned its' people a long time ago to forget their Specific Plans, because Smart Growth Urban Planning was coming to our city. And who do you suppose brought same to LA. You got it. Zuma Dogg's favorite Councilmember, Wendy Greuel.

You are all supposed to be so knowledgeable on this blogspot. How come you don't recognize crappola when it slaps you in the face?

And Walter, why don't you offer to give the No Home Depot group a reduced fee and help them file an injunction? It will have to come about very soon. You could get started this week.

November 27, 2006 12:27 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

People in Inglewood protested a Wal Mart being in their neighborhood and guess what? THEY WON. All it takes is people to organize and fight.

November 27, 2006 12:29 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

People in Inglewood protested a Wal Mart being in their neighborhood and guess what? THEY WON. All it takes is people to organize and fight.

November 27, 2006 12:29 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

It is my experience that the PR firm for Home Depot loves to call people racists and fags. That is the mentality of Home Depot and their employees and they keep showing up on this blog.

Guess where Home Depot headquarters is located?

November 27, 2006 12:31 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

You want the city to protect itself from monetary claims if Home Depot loses?

As far as reality goes on this blog, Home Depot was granted permits through process. The city is liable for fraudulent actions, you are part of the city and will pay.

Blame the department who gave these permits, not the applicant.

November 27, 2006 12:33 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

How come every time Wally talks about Home Depot he acts like theres no city
shenanagins going on, but on every other issue, the city is knee deep in sh*t?

November 27, 2006 12:33 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Guess who AV took with him on his China trip. That is correct. Members of Home Depot's law firm-Latham and Watkins. Surprise! Surprise!

November 27, 2006 12:36 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Have you ever gotten the feeling that the City of Los Angeles is up to it's hips in corruption, fraud, and bulls**t?

November 27, 2006 12:38 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

You would think with all the bad publicity these morons would learn. But no..here we go again with their stupidity.

SIGNS OF OPPOSITION IN BILLBOARD DEAL....Groups assail the city attorney's backing of a plan that could allow permits for hundreds of new and existing illegal billboards.
By Patrick McGreevy, Times Staff

City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo is facing opposition from Los Angeles beautification advocates for having pushed a lawsuit settlement that could allow hundreds of new and existing illegal billboards to get permits.

Critics question Delgadillo's impartiality in negotiating the deal because sign companies donated $424,000 worth of billboard space to support his first election in 2001. And the firms have since contributed thousands more to him and some of the City Council members who must approve or reject the settlement.

November 27, 2006 12:40 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Wally? That is just too perfect! Wally, I love it!

November 27, 2006 12:41 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Hey, 12:40 am, that is a very interesting subject, but can we get someone to set up a seperate original post - this is a post about No Home Depot in Sunland Tujunga.

There will be No Home Depot in Sunland Tujunga!

And yes, we have picketed in the past and we sure will in the future if it is required.

November 27, 2006 12:47 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

12:36 You Nimby!

The mayor did NO SUCH THING! You are full of lies. He is the best mayor L.A. has and his little lies are not killing you, are they? Don't make a big deal about little lies.

November 27, 2006 12:48 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

12:47 Get used to it.

Don't you want to see who is Six Degrees from Villaraigosa's corruption.


NEW THREAD:

6 Degrees from Mayor's Corruption

Travel Traders-Alex Penelas-Florida Scandal Donors-Joe Ramallo-Mayor Villaraigosa

November 27, 2006 12:55 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

12:33 AM -

Home Depot has lied, renigged, capitulated, redrawn and revised their plans over and over in order to avoid an EIR. They now claim that they are going to carry all goods in and out of the too small doors by hand: that is correct without the use of forklifts.

Been to a Home Depot lately? Go! Watch what they bring out their hugh doors on forklifts. Then picture all of that being carried out by hand. You know, cement, blocks, refrigerators, two by fours, beams, fencing, etc.

Plenty of work for the MOJADOS - only very strong ones need apply.

November 27, 2006 12:57 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Ahhh. Don't be like that man. Call the hardworking men Immigrants. (don't say mojados)

November 27, 2006 1:00 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

12:48--

Don't make a little deal out of BIG LIES!

November 27, 2006 1:07 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Joe Ramallo worked under Alex Penela -Florida. Sounds similiar to Villaraigosa & Travel Traders-Florida.


June 07, 2004
Quote of the Day
"The single most treacherous and dishonest person I dealt with."

-- Al Gore on Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas(D), quoted by the Miami Herald.

Villaraigosa asks us to trust him when he hires (Joe Ramallo) individual organized illegal fundraisers, worked under Alex Penelas?

November 27, 2006 1:08 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Backroom Deal?
Governator + Villaraigosa+ Meruelo

State to Assess Whittier Site for a Prison

The state was poised to sell the property to Los Angeles developer Richard Meruelo for $107 million when the item was pulled from the agenda of Friday's Public ...

November 27, 2006 1:11 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I wish David Zahnisher who I believe is one of the best reporters in LA should investigate the Playa Del Rey project. Paul Moyer Channel 4 did a story how all the permits were rushed through and the land is on methane gas property. when Paul showed the report to wimp Antonio, he just said I will look into it. I guarantee those developers also gave money to Antonio. David isn't afraid to report the facts and other lazy reporters should take his lead. I'm beginning to like Steve Hymon's stories recently. He outed the Building & Safety Dept. for political preferences. This is what we like to see in our newspapers. The corruption and outing of these assholes.

November 27, 2006 1:12 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

If you want to read about corruption and "unusual" operations at L.A. Dept. of Building & Safety, just take a look at series of articles in the L.A. Weekly by Jeffrey Anderson. They have been writing about this for the past several months. L.A. Times has now finally gotten to it, but the Weekly has been on this for a long time now.

And the Times article is by Patrick McGreevy, not Steve Hymon...

November 27, 2006 1:13 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

All of the above -- PLUS, Antonio Villaraigosa is a pathological liar who can't be trusted to do anything he says he'll do.

Someone prove me wrong.

End of story!

November 27, 2006 1:15 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Uh oh, another leak on the sleaze pipeline Parke. Isn't Florida a hotbed of drug activity and one of Vignali's major ports of entry. Richard Muruello, the ugy ripping off LAUSD on behalf of Tony and Huizar, isn't this Cuban from Florida?

November 27, 2006 1:21 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

"...These are people 3,000 miles away who are ... not executives of the company and are giving the maximum amount," Stern said. "And the most important question in my mind is, what does this company want in L.A.? What do they want from the Mayor's Office?"

November 27, 2006 1:21 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

A rose by any other name is still a rose. A Tony, by any other name is still a scumbag. Tony has used four names in his life time:

Tony Vilar - (notice that the elle sound of the l's was not pronounced) he used this name when it wasn't cool to be Mexican.

Tony Villar - I guess if you can't beat them, join them. He used this name in the 70's upon entering his radcial days.

Antonio Villar - He started using this name in the early 80's when the large influx of immigrants from Central America - you know, the ones fleeing right wingers in their countries - came to the U.S. Ironically, this is his father's given name.

Antonio Villaraigosa - he started using this name right after his postponed marriage to Corina. With all his female baggage, I guess he thought this was an easy way out.

But Tony closing the borders, come on. Not only will he have no jurisdiction, working for Sin Fronteras will contradict any such stance.

November 27, 2006 1:24 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

9:27

Haven't you heard? The FDA approves drugs tested by the same companies that develop them.

The most dangerous substances you can buy in Los Angeles' Drugstores are FDA approved drugs!

November 27, 2006 1:24 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Speaking of laughing (9:51 a.m. Anonymous) -- this part of the original thread posting was better than ALL the sitcoms I've seen this week...

"...Tony Villar has the street cred to get away with these things."

Care to guess where that particular "street" is? Would that be WILSHIRE or RODEO (in Beverly Hills, where ADV® takes Times writers for lunch), or BISCAYNE in Miami (where he picks up dirty campaign money), or J, K, L, M, N, O, or P (pick one) in Sacramento (where ADV® learned of art of taking credit for other legislators' work and ideas), or maybe even PENNSYLVANIA in D.C. (where he sent those appeals for a pardon)?

Or would it be some other street in some other city?

Because after lying to 300,000 people on the Eastside for two years, getting NOTHING done, and then telling them they really WANTED him to lie to them (for their own good, of course. . . you're getting SLEEEPY. . .), ADV® sure doesn't have any "cred" on any of THESE streets:

Cesar Chavez OR Soto OR Lorena OR Alameda OR Olympic OR First (Second, Third, Fourth, etc.) OR Huntington OR Eastern OR Alhambra OR Figueroa OR Colorado OR Eagle Rock OR Monterey OR York OR. . .

(FYI, for you imported district field staffers, those are all major streets in CD14).

He hasn't walked enough on any of these streets since 2003 to wear off the shiny, slick part off the half-soles of his expensive loafers (appropriate name for his shoes, however, yes?)

Okay, maybe ADV® still has a LITTLE "street cred" on Mount Washington Drive and San Rafael Avenue. . . more like "CUL-DE-SAC CRED" in the minute upscale portion of the district, really! But, THAT will finally be gone when they finish converting the Southwest into a VERY fancy Public Storage franchise ina few months.

November 27, 2006 1:25 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Hey, haven't you heard, we will be done with AV by 2008. He's planning to run for Vice President of the USA?

November 27, 2006 1:28 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Hey, Dorky.

Villar is brown on the outside, but white in the inside.

November 27, 2006 1:30 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

That's his plan. Hate him so much the peoons willing to vote for his departure.

Off to mars my friend.

November 27, 2006 1:31 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

BARACK OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT.

AV IS A JEALOUS MOTHER FU''ER.

November 27, 2006 1:32 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

1:25 am

What does AV have to do with Mount Washington? Does he have any special friends there?

People want to know!

November 27, 2006 1:33 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Barak would ruin his image with AV by his side. Makes you feel kinda sick.

November 27, 2006 1:36 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

No Home Depot in Sunland Tujunga!

November 27, 2006 1:39 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

av IS 1/8 OF BARACK OBAMA.

SEND THIS SORRY LIAR BACK TO MT WASHINTON.

November 27, 2006 1:40 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Mayor Sam,
What kind of crap is this?
No one declared this an open thread!
Do we need to go back to moderated comments again?

November 27, 2006 1:43 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Joe Ramallo worked under Alex Penela -Florida. Sounds similiar to Villaraigosa & Travel Traders-Florida.


June 07, 2004
Quote of the Day
"The single most treacherous and dishonest person I dealt with."

-- Al Gore on Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas(D), quoted by the Miami Herald.

Villaraigosa asks us to trust him when he hires (Joe Ramallo) individual organized illegal fundraisers, worked under Alex Penelas?

oH YEA AND NO HOME DEPOT IN SUNLAND-TUJUNGA.

November 27, 2006 1:44 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

1:43 WHO THE HELL ARE YOU ANON? YOU'RE SUCH AN ANAL CHARACTER. GET OVER IT IF YOUR SUNLAND-TUJUNGA RANT ISN'T INTERESTING.

Grab a beer and scratch'em hard.

November 27, 2006 1:45 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Joe B.,
Merry Early x-mas.

"Home Depot, Antonio Villaraigosa, Fernando Guerra, and Microsoft
What a strange, strange titular combination. Fernando Guerra is a Loyola Marymount associate professor and the director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at that school.

He's also a pundit on Los Angeles politics, and he was apparently all over the TV, radio, and newspapers with his various pro-Villaraigosa views.

However, he's also a lobbyist, pulling down $10,000 a month from Home Depot to lobby the Los Angeles City Council about their day laborer sites. Now, go see the previous entry about a newly proposed ordinance that would require all new big box hardware stores to have day laborer sites. An immediate connection? Not known, but, gosh, I think it's highly likely.

Guerra is also a lobbyist for Microsoft for some unknown reason. He also represents real estate developer Richard Meruelo. Antonio Villaraigosa got over $220,000 in donations from Meruelo's family.

My gosh he's busy! He's so busy in fact that I'd suggest getting a large chalkboard and a few boxes of chalk as you read the Daily Breeze article "Questions arise over LMU professor's roles". You're going to need it in order to figure out who's doing what with whom. Of course, who they're doing it to isn't hard to figure out. For that you just need a mirror."

November 27, 2006 1:48 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Mayor Sam or who's in charge at this blog.

It is important. I'm at a downtown L.A. Hotel and there are rumors that something has just happened to the Mayor. Is it true, what happened to him?

This is sad. I'll ask and post any news.

November 27, 2006 2:01 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Something like what?

November 27, 2006 2:08 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

What? AV got laid?

November 27, 2006 7:38 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Hey, is that Sacramentonites at 1:25am??

This fight is going to be better then Tyson/Holyfield.
Gotta love Steve Hymon-latimes.com

...Parra then fired the opening salvo in the campaign this week when he said he was filing an ethics complaint over Huizar's use of a nonresident to collect signatures to qualify for the ballot....Yawn.....Signature-gatherers are supposed to reside in the city...."Our response is that had we had nonresidents out" collecting signatures "and they were paired up with residents for safety and language reasons," said Parke Skelton, Huizar's campaign consultant. "The resident was always collecting the signatures."

People should go after Parke cause he's so slimy.

November 27, 2006 7:40 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

NO "day laborer" sites (i.e., illegal alien lounges) !

November 27, 2006 7:43 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

7:40

You forgot the rest and best part of that story by Hymon:

"The episode jogged this column's memory about an incident last year involving Parra when Huizar was running for his seat against former council member Nick Pacheco.

At the time, Parra was involved in distributing unflattering newspaper stories about controversies involving Pacheco. Parra was so good at it that Huizar eventually hired him.

The problem is that the articles were old and none mentioned that Pacheco was ultimately cleared by authorities of any wrongdoing.

When asked by a reporter last year to explain that, Parra declined to say whom he was working for or with.

Now that's ethics!"

I'm sure the residents of the 14th District are proud of what Parke has done with their district. With Snyder and Alatorre, politics was already slimy enough - then along comes Parke. Like the good ole' white boy that he is, Parke was going to teach us Mexicans a thing or two about ethical politics, we all need that white/Jewish guru in our lives to straighten us out! And now look what is coming our way, the nastiest battle CD14 has ever seen - and Pacheco is not even involved. Way to go Parke. That was a lame excuse you used, by the way. Don't you think sneaky Alvin has proof in the form of a live body who will testify for him. But then again, you know how Alvin operates - remember that memo he faxed to your office from Gloria Molina's office, the one you said you had no knowledge of. Karma is a motherfucker, and it's about to bite you in the ass. What do you think Alvin knows about Antonio's campaigns?

November 27, 2006 8:31 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

7:40 IT aint no big deal. If non resident wants to help, so what! To assist a candidate and collect signatures, it's all it is. The signature collector doesn't have to agree, support, or vote for the candidate. The process assists in get'n candidate on ballot. I know someone who helped collect signatures but rejects support of the candidate.

November 27, 2006 8:53 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

"and they were paired up with residents for safety and language reasons,"


What? It looks as if local resident didn't collect for Mr. Huizar?

November 27, 2006 9:21 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Mayor V's breath smelled today.

What did ya eat mayor?

Was it V.

November 27, 2006 1:10 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

NO Home Depot in Sunland Tujunga! NO Home Depot in Sunland Tujunga! NO Home Depot in Sunland Tujunga! NO Home Depot in Sunland Tujunga! NO Home Depot in Sunland Tujunga! NO Home Depot in Sunland Tujunga! NO Home Depot in Sunland Tujunga! NO Home Depot in Sunland Tujunga! NO Home Depot in Sunland Tujunga! NO Home Depot in Sunland Tujunga!
(again)
NO Home Depot in Sunland Tujunga!
(and, yes, I am a nimby and proud of it)

November 27, 2006 1:15 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I knew it! You friggin NIMBY.

You Yuppie MF'er

November 27, 2006 1:30 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

The mayor has many special friends in Mount Washington. Just ask Fabian Nunez.

November 27, 2006 4:22 PM  

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