Free Market Works in the Case of Home Depot
By watching the video we posted last week, it appears that anti-Home Depot advocates in Sunland-Tujunga don't believe in the free market. I don't know if that makes them communists but it sure ain't American! (It would appear actually that these folks believe in a "command economy" where decisions are made by the government.)Well anyway there are some signs that the free market is working in issues surrounding Home Depot.
One of the big arguments the Home Depot haterz in ST throw up about the proposed store is that it will cause all of the other hardware stores - especially mom and pop stores - to go out of business. We proved - or more importantly a mom and pop hardware store in the same town as a Home Depot proved - that businesses that innovate and deliver in the face of competition do well. Virgil's Hardware in Glendale has thrived despite the fact that a Home Depot is not too far away.
Then last week we learned that not Virgil's, but the Glendale Home Depot is closing down. Why? The free market determined that more value existed in the property as condos than a hardware store.
While the folks in Sunland-Tujunga were drinking margaritas and cooking up schemes to have Neighborhood Councils spend money at Do-It Center in exchange for a donation to pet causes, the market was working in delivering a Lowe's Hardware Store (apparently not an evil store) to Glendale.
By the way - Joe B. was dead wrong on his predictions for the Glendale Home Depot store.
In the meantime the denizens of Sunland-Tujunga are crying out for socks and underwear. They say there is no place to buy them.
Inquiries from the Sister City to national retailers such as Target, K-Mart, Sears, etc. went unanswered. Apparently there is no interested from these firms in the community. You can probably make the City ban Home Depot, but the City can't make Target come sell underwear.
Labels: home depot, nimby, sunland-tujunga
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 6/05/2007 12:48:00 AM
37 Comments:
Mayor,
Have you been drinking again?
"Then last week we learned that not Virgil's, but the Glendale Home Depot is closing down. Why? The free market determined that more value existed in the property as condos than a hardware store."
According to your own link, it was the city of Glendale that rezoned the area, not the "free market" that is
purportedly closing down this store. C'mon Mayor, try to get the story straight!
The City rezoned the area to allow mixed-use, but that didn't mean Home Depot had to leave. After the rezoning, the property owner decided to terminate his lease with Home Depot and do something else with the property. THAT is the free market.
Another example of the free market is Kmart selling its Sunland lease to Home Depot. More than a year after the company exited bankruptcy, despite what Joe B. has said.
Joe B. and the gang really understand property rights. They left crude hand-made signs on Home Depot's fence from Saturday to Monday. Check it out
Joe B., did you get permission from Home Depot to use its property in such a fashion? More importantly, did you get permits from the City that determined these signs were in compliance with the Foothill Boulevard Specific Plan?
Something tells me Joe B. wouldn't want other people leaving such crude signs on his fence. Mayor Sam, these aren't communists, they're vandals no better than taggers.
Even though No 2 Home Depot claims that everyone in the community supports them, at least two people called Joe B. out on his tacky signs: here and here.
Joe responded by brushing them off, asking them to bear with his "homemade efforts." He didn't address the fact that the signs were put up without City permits or Home Depot's permission.
Let's all put "homemade" signs on Joe's fence and see how he likes it.
Hey, you just don't understand, MS.
You see, God is on the side of the liberals, so anything THEY do is in accordance with HIS will, and thus, the end justifies the means.
Now do you understand??
Good, now leave Joe B. alone and allow him to judge the world as he sees it and act accordingly unto his own will. It is his right as a card carrying liberal and opponent of Home Depot, to boot.
Ok Mayor Sam we get it but this is over the top all the Home Depot crap. This is very interesting. Why is Huizar having this little ceremony for himself?
The Inaugural Ceremony
DATE: Jun 16, 2007
TIME: 5:00PM To 9:00PM
Please join the Honorable Jose Huizar on June 16th for his official inaugural ceremony. Enjoy live cultural performances by various artists, great food and the opportunity to meet and chat with your Councilmember.
Location: Los Angeles Christian Prespyterian Church, 2241 N. Eastern Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90032
Nice to see where hard earned tax dollars are being spent in CD14. This group of council members don't have the respect of the old ones. In order to get respect you have to earn it and I've never seen a group so disliked and criticized.
5:42
Odds are everything was donated in kind or paid by Huizar's campaign funds...
And what makes it such a bad thing that a CM wants to throw a party for his constituents?
Oh...and OF COURSE THEY DON'T HAVE THE RESPECT AS THE OLD CMs....these people haven't been in office for 25 years!
Once again, MS, the stream of this section to head off in an unspectacular direction by allowing posters to bring up Huizar. What? -- they can't put enough words together to write their own column and take the heat there? This is about Home Depot and their non-compliance with City Code and attempts (previously successful) to thwart the zoning, codes, safety, and health of the community. No Home Depot in Sunland-Tujunga! I am a proud NIMBY (not liberal) resident of Sunland-Tujunga and have been for 25 years!
if you are not a liberal why are you against a legal business and in favor or government control.
You are a liar.
Joe Barrett and Jim Alger screwed the pooch and sold the N2HD people down the river styx.
Never trust activists.
How does it feel now to look like the two most well known fools in Southern California?
Alger, Alger, Alger... Shame on you!
It's time to drop Honorable from the names of the Clowncilmembers.
9:20 am you are a fool. I never said that Home Depot was illegal. I said that their non-compliance with codes is what got them in trouble. There is no finding that a community has the power to stop a legal business. I am just saying that there is a better use for this piece of commercial property -- one that the community would support with its dollars and enthusiasm. Are you such a saint that when someone comes into your neighborhood (whom the majority do not want) to allow that individual or business to ignore safety, building and health codes -- just because their business is "legal"? Don't those violations make the business "illegal" as in non-compliant? No Home Depot in S-T! No non-compliant businesses in S-T!
The Home Depot fight is about one thing and one thing only; impacts on the community that can not be mitigated.
If Home Depot did an EIR and FOLLOWED THE LAW they could build whatever they want. They didn't. It is that simple.
All these attempts to try and slander me or Joe are just silly distractions.
The "Free Market" elected people to represent the district.
The "Free Market" created laws and zoning and a community plan.
Home Depot has violated those plans. The City has said they violated the law and ordered the work stopped. Why do you support willfull violation of the law Sam? And what laws should we violate? Who decides?
Your argument is ludicrous on itsface. You want to replace a zoning and enviornmental review system with pure anarchy. Build whatever you want wherever you want.
LA has a housing shortage. Let build a 10 story low income housing project next to your home... or does the free market not apply in your own backyard?
Daniel Scott of City Planning approved the Home Depot plans. Gary Booher of City Planning decided to override his colleague Daniel Scott. Seems like City Planning can't make up its mind! Or maybe it just FLIP-FLOPPED!
How would any of you like it if someone at City Planning gave you a permit to build something and then 6 months later someone else at City Planning said that the other guy was wrong and to stop building?
The "Free Market" elected people to represent the district.
The "Free Market" created laws and zoning and a community plan.
I think you're confusing "democracy" with the "free market." One has to do with governance, the other with economics.
Zoning laws actually contradict the "free market." If zoning laws did not exist, the market would dictate how property develops.
Alger you really fucked up here.
You tell us and your dear friend Mayor Sam that Home Depot had no "right" to build, ergo they can't, and such, you try to stop them.
You smugly declare that if Home Depot had a legal "right" to go up your fight would not exist.
However Mr. Alger you are once again inconsistent. You fought a "by right" Wal-Mart in your community and told the world how smart you were when you won. Indeed, how droll.
You took Councilman Smith to task for a "I'll touch yours if you touch mine" scheme with regard to this particular store - but two years later you attempt to hatch a plan of your own with the Do-It center.
Are you beginning to learn why you will never be elected to office?
Alger is confusing brains with lack of brains.
Jim Algers letter to the NHDC that was posted on their website today:
Mr. Joe Barrett
Ms. Abby Diamond
No Home Depot in Sunland-Tujunga Campaign
June 4, 2007
Dear Friends,
As you know, I have been following the events surrounding your fight to stop Home Depot from building
a store on Foothill Blvd. in Sunland-Tujunga since almost the very beginning. The community of
Sunland-Tujunga has much to be proud of in that it is your groups’ efforts that are wholly responsible for the Home Depot being forced into compliance with applicable zoning ordinances as well as state law. I
share your belief that the Home Depot, as proposed, will be unable to comply with the requirements of
an Environmental Impact Report which is why, in my opinion, Home Depot is trying so hard not to have
one. I also believe that the City of Los Angeles was correct in issuing the Stop-Work Order in that it appears that Home Depot violated its permits and the work being conducted clearly falls under the
definition of“Project” as defined by existing law.
Since Home Depot has found themselves in a bit of a pickle, they have apparently resorted to an old and tired political strategy, attacking the community and anyone who can be identified as a “leader”
within that community. They have attempted to brand anyone who disagrees with their belief that they can subvert the will of the community as a racist. They have gathered up signatures proclaiming the community wants a Home Depot built in an effort to undermine your groups “authority” to speak on
behalf of the community.
Lastly, they have engaged in personal attacks against the character of individuals and local businesses.
I am all too familiar with these tactics and can tell you they can be successful, but only if you allow them to be. You, and your group, must remain steadfast in your determination to see the laws enforced. This is not about day laborers, nor any other Home Depot. It isn’t even about Home Depots’ practices at
other locations. This is about one store in one neighborhood. It is about a store that, much like the Wal-Mart in Northridge, at the end of the day simply can not mitigate its negative impacts on the community
as required by law, period. If you keep that goal front and center, it is my belief that you will prevail.
Rest assured that you continue to have my full faith and support in this struggle. If there is anything I can do to assist you, don’t hesitate to ask.
Sincerely,
Jim Alger
Senator/Vice Chair LANCC
Councilmember, NWNC
Alger got it right and said it well!
Hey! Where did the pro Home Depot goons go?
Jim Alger wrote-
LA has a housing shortage. Let build a 10 story low income housing project next to your home... or does the free market not apply in your own backyard?
-=-=-=-=
Not everyone hates poor people like you do. Don't be a snob.
Hey! Where did the pro Home Depot goons go?
Maybe they don't exist. Why does everyone in Sunland and Tujunga buy into conspiracy theories? Must be all that meth.
Alger should not have sent that letter to No 2 Home Depot. He's going to drag them down with him. Has he been indicted over the Do-It-Center scandal? My sources at the DA's office say it's only a matter of time.
Your source at the DA's office is a figment of your meth fueled imagination.
Why hasn't Joe B. addressed the issues raised by 1:11 and 1:16.
No 2 Home Depot posted tacky signs on the construction fence surrounding the Home Depot site WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM HOME DEPOT OR THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES.
If you don't think this issue will be raised at the hearing, think again.
I am sure when you raise it at the hearing, you will get a good laugh from those present.
The only conspiracy that anyone is aware of is the one cooked up by Jim Alger and the Do It Center.
oooh, what a conspiracy!
Huizar wouldnt talk to anyone before he was campaigning; he still wont until after he is sworn in. So, if it happens, he celebrates. But; he had to go out of town first.
I am sure when you raise it at the hearing, you will get a good laugh from those present.
This entire case hinges on whether Home Depot did something to violate the Foothill Boulevard Specific Plan. Daniel Scott of City Planning says no, Gary Booher of City Planning says yes. The upcoming hearing will settle an internal staff dispute.
HOWEVER, WE KNOW FOR A FACT THAT NO 2 HOME DEPOT VIOLATED THE FOOTHILL BOULEVARD SPECIFIC PLAN. Those tacky signs would never be permitted by the City.
It's kind of like accusing someone of a crime and then committing the crime yourself before a trial. No 2 Home Depot has lost all credibility, and all members of the Planning Commission will laugh when this is brought up.
Jim Alger:
The Home Depot fight is about one thing and one thing only; impacts on the community that can not be mitigated.
Well, actually two things: the nonsense he wrote above and Do-It-Center giving funds to the Congress of Neighborhood Councils, which he controls. How much money have you collected to date, Jim? Will you cooperate with the City Attorney's office and the DA?
Rest assured that you continue to have my full faith and support in this struggle.
No 2 Home Depot doesn't want your help, Jim, you've left a big black mark on their operation. Stop hitching your political wagon to their horse.
Here's the $20,000 question: If Jim Alger has nothing to hide, why did he emerge from Mayor Sam "exile" to defend himself once that video was posted? If there's no "there" there, he should have kept quiet.
Hey Jim, say "hi" to Paris for me when you're in jail! That's hot!
Your source at the DA's office is a figment of your meth fueled imagination.
I may live in Sunland-Tujunga, so but I don't do meth. Alger is going to be arrested. That video is only the latest evidence in the case against him, according to my source.
He's been "shaking down" retailers like Do-It-Center for some time, according to my source. How else could he afford that plane?
I heard there's a chance that Joe B. or one of his crew will be arrested tomorrow for trespassing, vandalism, and violations of City Code when it comes to the tacky signs mentioned here. Joe B. admitted to the crime on foothillsforum, as documented here, and even posted photographs of his crime!
I don't know if Jim will be arrested tomorrow because he is a bigger fish and there are many more issues surrounding his governance of the "Congress of Neighborhood Councils." Buying emergency supplies and other materials wins you a lot of "friends" in this town, if you know what I mean.
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