Slap In The Face!
Delgadillo Makes Backroom Deal With Home Depot!
Mayor Sam warned me this was going to happen, and now it has.
Without a word to the community, the City Attorney has made a backroom deal with my old friends, Home Depot, and it really looks like Sunland-Tujunga is about to get screwed!
Heres the Deal:
1. Home Depot puts a "stay" on their $10,000,000.00 lawsuit against the City.
2. Home Depot will submit a new application and will undergo
Project Permit Compliance Review.
3. The City Attorney has agreed to limit this process to a maximum of 5 months, unless both
parties mutually agree to an extension.
4. Home Depot will drop the litigation if the store is approved.
5. Home Depot will resume the litigation if the store is not approved.
6. Either party can pull out of this agreement at any time.
7. The City Attorney's office will spearhead an outreach program to the community and will form something called a "Stakeholders Committee" to mediate between Home Depot
and Sunland-Tujunga.
Sounds good right? Wrong.
Holding the threat of resuming a lawsuit over the heads of everyone involved is not a good faith way to work towards a resolution. If Home Depot really wanted to work with the community, they would completely drop the lawsuit and work towards a mutually agreeable resolution. Here, they can walk away from the table anytime they like, not bound by any agreements, and sue if things are not going their way. The Sunland-Tujunga community is being asked to devote time and hard work to settling this mess, and we can't walk away unless the City Attorney says we can. That's one trump card for Home Depot to play.
The City Attorney has agreed to a 5 month time limit on the Project Permit Compliance Review.
He made this agreement not having seen what Home Depot's new plans entail. There is no way a full EIR (Environmental Impact Review) can be completed in a 5 month period, as just about everyone, but Home Depot, agrees that this Project must be subject to. There are just too many issues involved with a school being less than 500 ft away, a flood channel adjacent to the property, and only one road through town for this to be declared a mere MND (Mitigated Negative Declaration). Home Depot has been asked to conduct an EIR, and they have refused.
This becomes the second trump card Home Depot has in it's possession.
The fact that no one in Sunland-Tujunga was informed that this deal was in the works (we found out the details from Kerry Cavanaugh at the Daily News) until it was signed, is reason enough to be suspicious and very angry. I spoke with the City Attorney in charge of the case and he referred to Sunland-Tujunga as a "Special Interest Group". Imagine that. We are the town that is directly impacted by his backroom deal, but when we ask why we were not informed, his response is that his responsibility is to the City and not to us, as we are merely a special interest group.
Nice, Huh? I call this the "Chopped Liver" defense.
Now about the "Stakeholder Committee" that the City Attorney will form. Exactly who is on it?
Home Depot has a record of stacking hearings with paid supporters. They have had a very hard time of finding more than a handful of supporters in Sunland-Tujunga (most of which are employees of their company), so what will this committee look like?
10 opponents and 10 supporters? Hardly an accurate reflection of local sentiments.
The Deal Stinks! And we'd rather take our chances in the courtroom. But then again, that's just wishful thinking from the "Special Interest Group" of Sunland-Tujunga.
Get ready for a fight! As Joseph Mailander once said, "Sunland-Tujunga is isolated just enough that they don't know they can't fight City Hall..."
Posted by Unknown @ 3/08/2008 08:41:00 PM
67 Comments:
Yep. Sounds like more than just a slap in the face. I have a few suggestions for what you can do to fight these guys off. I'll be in touch.
Analyze these points one at a time:
1. Home Depot puts a "stay" on their $10,000,000.00 lawsuit against the City.
Good.
2. Home Depot will submit a new application and will undergo
Project Permit Compliance Review.
A do-over with a menacing lawsuit pending is double jeopardy for the City of Los Angeles. Bad, and probably illegal. Shame on Latham & Watcrooks, who are counting on no third party lawsuit, and now have the City Attorney in pocket.
3. The City Attorney has agreed to limit this process to a maximum of 5 months, unless both parties mutually agree to an extension.
A wash.
4. Home Depot will drop the litigation if the store is approved.
Inconsequential. They would anyway.
5. Home Depot will resume the litigation if the store is not approved.
Inconsequential. It's their "right" to anyway.
6. Either party can pull out of this agreement at any time.
Good. This insane agreement is not bullet proof.
7. The City Attorney's office will spearhead an outreach program to the community and will form something called a "Stakeholders Committee" to mediate between Home Depot and Sunland-Tujunga.
This is not the City Attorney's business, and it's probably against the City Charter too. The City Attorney's office itself, the theoretical people of the City of Los Angeles in legal disputes, is hereby merely forming a buffer between itself and the People it represents. The People of SLTJ need an attorney to argue this point in a court.
It's completely absurd that the City Attorney has agreed to broker a deal between a corporation and its own citizens, rather than actively represent those citizens, because the citizens themselves are supposed to be represented by the City Attorney in such matters.
Sometimes it really seems like Rocky doesn't know anything about public interest at all. Either that, or he's a too-willing stooge.
Well Joe though I wasn't a convert to the cause at the time I did say this would happen for exactly the reasons it did happen.
Well this time Sunland Tujunga has the old dead Republican mayor on its side to rile up the dum dums.
The first question I'll be asking is what did Wendy Greuel's office know about this and when did they know it?
Joe,
The Daily News article came out on March 4th. Considering you are quoted in the article, I wonder why you waited until today to post it on Mayor Sam?
Community betrayed!
Guaranteed that this would NOT be happening if Delgadillo's,or Villaraigosa's children were in Apperson Elementary School. Guaranteed!!! Orwellian world falls upon Sunland Tujunga who are expected to simply roll over. Baaaaaa. Sheep being herded! Write to Rocky, everyone, and demand he revert this NOW!
How could you expect anything good to come out of a Rocky Delgadillo-run City Attorney's Office?
He has shown himself to be shallow on being truthful, honest and forthcoming.
He should have already resigned. Even City Council could not support him and took steps to get other representation.
Rocky Delgadillo continually swoons to the charms of special interests.
He ignores all and any fiduciary duty to the people of the city.
There is no reason to trust him.
To: 9:49
Have you seen the No Home Depot Campaign website? If you did, you wouldn't be asking that question!Clearly, the NHDC has had a lot on their plate. And then, on a lazy Saturday, Joe B. finally has some time to write a story, after working all week, and you are wondering what took him so long?
Hey, maybe, you were jokin' around?
Maybe Home Depot got the deal after saying how cool it is that Rocky was a scholarship football player at Harvard.
Right Rocky? If you'll lie about your younger years, you'll lie about everything.
JB, what's their excuse for refusing to do the EIR?
10:37 good post but what does it have to do with this story?
I think it's good that Zuma has his own blog now, too. With Z's blog at #12 and Mayor Sam's at #14 looks like the mayor has twice as much to worry about.
California's Most Influential Political blogs
Rank Blog Prev
1 Calitics 1
2 Red County 2
3 Liberal OC 3
4 Patterico's Pontifications 4
5 Politics in the Zeros 18
6 Orange Juice 5
7 Red County/Riverside 8
8 LA Observed 6
9 Foothill Cities 13
10 FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog 20
11 California Progress Report 7
12 LA DAILY BLOG.COM -
13 Fresno Bee Opinion Talk 14
14 MAYOR SAM'S SISTER CITY 10
15 San Diego Politico 9
16 Window Manager -
17 Woody's Woundup
18 The Rose Report -
19 k / o -
20 Greetings from Huntington Beach
Common Mayor Sam...10:37's post about Jessica is a copy and paste of Zuma Dogg's entire post from his blog.
http://ladailyblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/city-leader-jose-huizar-loses-cheif-of.html
Pretty weak.
his responsibility is to the City and not to us
What is his definition of "the City"? The pavement in the parking lot? The City is the people who live in it. His responsibility is to US!
Hmmm...
If the BNN is high ranking Dave Elliott and some lunatic ranting dentist Mayor Sam should maybe reconsider being ranked by them at all.
Will Rocky be the next one to jump ship and go to work for Latham & Watkins? His and his wife's "problems" may prevent his continuing in "public service". And the Potemkin Community Stakeholder Committee thing? - hey, it works for North Korea.
What else can you expect from a City Attorney that doesn't know his wife is not supposed to drive his city car,mis-represents himself, yada, yada, and thinks an apology is sufficient? Who do you trust? No wonder the City needs to hire outside legal firms as consultants.
To add to his problems, his ignorant employees don't know that Neighborhood Councils, as well as all community members ARE the city and ARE revelant!!
What kind of leadership is that?
When is he up for re-election? What damage will his office do before he is kicked out?!
Somebody's head should roll over the Home Depot mess his office just helped to enhance by their selling out the Sunland-Tujunga community. Who should be held accountable for that?
Maybe it's time for the good citizens of Sunland-Tujunga to consider a lawsuit against the city. It's very obvious the city of L.A. is not representing them!! Perhaps there is a law firm out there that might be willing to do so, at no charge, just to have the opportunity to make national headlines defending a small community such as Sunland-Tujunga against big bad L.A. and the lying Home Depot Corp., who appear to be in cahoots against their town. If there is, please make yourself known to the community.
HELLO ==Rocky was only too happy to attend a party thrown for him two nights ago at a ritzy Beverly Hills hotel by Clear Channel/ABC Outdoors, who just happened to be his biggest (some $500K) contributors to his last election as CA, AND to thank him for, in return for this generosity, selling out the city. The City Council told him to negotiate down the ad / billboard numbers and give them and the public transparency -- Rocky did the opposite.
Thanks to Rocky himself and his funny moeny, we now have MOre big billboards than ever, incl. the lighted giant ones outlawed before.
Come on, people. You all KNEW that Wendy Gruel wasn't going to drag the city into a major lawsuit against HD.
That she was playing both sides, to stall a problem -- and give herself momentum into the Controllers' race.
No way would she drag the city into a multi-$ lawsuit in this economic ER.
You've been played by a classic stalling tactic, admit it.
Um excuse me...can March 08, 2008 10:37 PM (Huizar/Avila story) please at least credit the source of your comment.
YOU COPIED AND PASTED THE ENTIRE THREAD.
I didn't just copy and paste the article from a newspaper...it was 100% original content based on actual phone calls with people.
Maybe YOU should try it.
I would add jury tampering to Rocky's list of achievements. Just ask Zuma Dogg. Hey Rocky, how's Maria Del Angel. How much did you pay her to help you get elected -- and why was she sitting in on a jury. The judge spends time screening potential jurors for conflict of interest.
She said she is a babysitter, and failed to mention she is on East LA Housing committee and campaigned for the prosecuting attorney.
THAT'S A JAILABLE OFFENSE. ROCKY IS PLENTY FAMILIAR WITH THAT!
11:54 pm=sour grapes loser. Why can't you just say, "Damn Zuma, nicely done." I worked hard as hell all week maintaining the blog. Not just copy and pasting articles from newspapers.
HEY SOUR GRAPES...How come you didn't mind the ranker on Mayor Sam's blog when ZD was blogging on Mayor Sam, as I was obviously driving hits.
Rocky should have been canned after what he and his wife pulled with the car incident. Why didn't anyone call out for his recall? He's suppose to be a role model for enforcing the law yet became the laughing stock of the nation and now his credibility is down the toliet.
I for one hope that Home Depot wins. From what I have seen all the reasons that the ST people give for an EIR are stupid. A wash next to a store is no big deal there are hundreds of stores next to washes. A store next to a school is also no big deal there are plenty of stores next to schools all over this city. I think that the real reason has always been that STs are afraid of illegal aliens in their neighborhood. All the other reasons are just made up. Foothill is a big street and can easily handle two or three big rigs driving down the street in one hour. The customers for this store will most likely come from the ST area so that won't add an extra traffic. We residents of the city are lucky that a deal has been worked out with HD if not they could of sued the city for millions and tell me who would of paid? The taxpayers in the rest of the city for ST residents stupidity.
Hey, it looks like the Home Depot shills have arrived! They pay you guys to work on Sunday, right?
9:42 how much did Home Depot pay you to write that comment?
If the No 2 Home Depot participants would get of their high horse and quit claiming to represent the "community", we might actually get something out of this. I have no doubt the store is coming the questions is will you idiots stand in the way of us getting some real benefits from this. Please don't speak for me and the others that want to see real improvements in this community. Also, I see that you claim anyone who is supportive of the store or the possible community benefits, is a paid by or employed by Home Depot. You can't really believe that no one supports this. Come on be realistic and stop spinning this to your own way. I look forward to the improvements that can come from this and know that many others do too. This community has to welcome the potential and be cognoscente of all peoples rights and not just the vocal few.
Higby don't let ZD spin on here. It seems to me that for several weeks prior to his glorious departure you dropped off the BNN Top 20 altogether. I think it was the week he left you got back on and then went up a few notches.
'Will Rocky be the next one to jump ship and go to work for Latham & Watkins? "
He did before, so there is no reason to assume that he wont go back after Villar and his crew is off to other pastures. Rocky will never be in the State aministration...he lost before.
March 09, 2008 6:40 AM
"The original post'
And I was one the people who spoke with Zuma last night. We stopped speaking when he had other calls coming in. Guess there was two of us who contributed to the staff story.
zuma's press deputy said:
AND ANYWAY...WHO CARES WHAT NUMBER THE BLOG IS?
The Britney Spears Blog gets more hits than mayor sam...go read that one.
Meanwhile, I hope Jim Alger doesn't get in trouble from his boss for posting here? I know his boss has already warned him out it.
SO DAVE YOU DIDN'T CARE ABOUT BLOG RANKINGS WHEN YOU DROVE MAYOR SAM INTO THE TOILET BUT NOW THAT YOUR STUPID LITTLE BLOG GETS ON THE LIST YOU GET HARD.
KEEP UP THE JIM ALGER OBSESSION MOROON.
11:27am,
Bull...when Mayor Sam's blog dropped out of the Top 20, it's when I stopped blogging threads altogether for that period. (I've been wanting to stop blogging on Mayor Sam for a while....) but then I got sucked back in, started posting again, and it went back up. CHECK THE BLOG...You will see a period a couple months ago where you will see very, very few ZD threads. That's when the blog dropped out of the Top 20. But part of the problem is Mayor Sam is busy at work, and wasn't putting in the time in like he used to.
I WOULD SUGGEST YOU GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT, SON, BEFORE YOU POP OFF AT THE MOUTH!
Mayor Sam wants to expand the blog into a more mainstream "laist" type blog -- and I wanted to stay focused on the same kind of issues.
And if you look back over the past two weeks worth of threads on Mayor Sam and LA Daily Blog, I think you will see the difference.
MEANWHILE....I don't want to get sucked into LA DAILY BLOG vs MAYOR SAM.
And I assure you my ranking is going to drop next week, because I did a lot of extra hard blogging the first week to get the blog up to speed.
I don't care about how many hits, cause i don't have ads and i'm not trying to squeeze money out of it.
Mayor Sam is always trying to expand his market -- which is why they post stories about stuff like Mirthala and threads about girl scout cookies and crusin up and down van nuys blvd and cartoon posts.
So again, now you have 2 blogs with 2 different directions.
AND...I don't think my #12 ranking necessarily was based on an all mayor sam audience.
By adding my feed to Blog Net News, a lot of people saw the stories on their main page -- and other search engines.
Dude...when are you simply going to admit that ZD deserves at least a shred of credit for keeping Mayor Sam's blog in the Top 10 over the past year. AND YES, When the blog dropped out of the Top 20, it was when I stopped blogging for the most part. Check the archives...AND people who know me (that I speak with regularly) KNOW this is the case, because everyone who knows me, knows I discussed this in advance.
I wanted to stop blogging altogether at that time...but I got sucked back in.
But with the recent direction the Mayor Sam blog has taken this past month, or so...I decided I'd rather blog to a smaller audience and not have it be my problem anymore.
Luckily, I got the best of both worlds, with no Mayor Sam baggage, but a bigger audience, too.
Mayor Sam,
Can you please take down the entire copy and paste of my original content at 10:37pm...or do what I used to do for you...copy and paste the first paragraph -- and link to the original article. Isn't that the way it's done for everyone else.
1126 -
Though I believe that there are some folks in Sunland Tujunga who either support the Home Depot and/or don't care either way, its pretty safe to say the N2HD people are representative of the majority opinion in ST.
I was hard pressed to find one supporter of Home Depot (other than their paid security guard of course and even then I doubt she really understood any of it) in my travels to ST. Driving around town with Joe and Abby I was amazed at the number of people who waved at them, honked, cheered, etc.
Even with ST residents I know outside of my contacts with Joe and gang, they are ALL opposed to Home Depot. Even people I have talked to who don't like the N2HD people are opposed to HD.
Believe me, I wanted to support this project. But Home Depot has made it impossible with their actions. And the community opposition is overwhelming.
Homeless Dave can't deal with the fact that he has been booted from Higby's blog. I predicted he would be a few months ago.
The most amazing thing is that the dumbass is upset that someone copied something from his blog that noone reads which he would paste things on Mayor Sam too.
Higby since you can moderate posts now how come you are still posting Homeless Dave rants? I thought you guys voted to fire him?
I have heard this same accusation (9:42), from friends of mine, "Anglos" that live in Sunland Tujunga, namely that all the fuss about the proposed Home Depot there boils down to the fear of Mexicans or Central Americans grouping up in front of the Home Depot looking for work.
These are close friends of mine since childhood who happen to be "hueros" and have worked construction for many years as have I, so my tendency is to believe them.
I am not totally familiar with the situation in ST but have wondered why a Home Depot would not be welcomed.
I, on occasion have work in the La Crescenta, ST area and when I need lumber or other construction materials I have to drive to either San Fernando, Glendale or even Pasadena to get them, otherwise I end up at one of the couple of local lumber yards on Foothill Blvd, where if I need a 2 X I have to go to the desk and fuck around there till they get to me which is sometimes 20 minutes, then they give me a PO and I go out to the yard and ring a bell and wait for some hippie on a fork lift to finish his joint, take care of his homies first, go take a piss, then snarl at me about what I want (when it's on the PO), then he tells me to move my truck closer and then he goes in the back and picks out the most banana shaped, knot holed, crap he can find and then brings it out, and then I have to load it cause he has a bad back!
To be honest I would rather go get the shit myself cause I know it'll be faster, I'll pick out my own lumber, don't have to hear any BS or attitude from some guy who doesn't know me and probably doesn't like me anyway.
So in conclusion I would just like to ask Mayor Sam's people what the real reason is for all the opposition against a Home Depot?
I have no opinion now and am willing to listen to any rational objection.
Just wondering.
I really don't like to moderate posts because I believe in free speech. I have no problem with Zuma Dogg posting here.
As far as how many people read Zuma Dogg's blog well I hope a lot do. We need MORE not LESS blogs covering the city. Most of the other blogs in town do a really poor job of covering city politics and getting out the inside info. I do hope that Zuma's blog and our blog are joined by others.
As far as rankings go its fun to watch the numbers like watching your favorite baseball teams standings but in the end the most important thing is not just the ranking but the impact you have on the process. When stuff happens at the city because of our blog or Zuma's or any other then you know you have impact.
HA HA! Home Depot now has Don Quackers as a spokesman!
Thanks Mayor Sam! That's what I think, too. Dr. Deming is against rankers like this, and so is ZD.
The only reason I signed up at BlogNetNews is because they feed my blog posts onto their main page, and although I don't care about stats, of course I want as many people to read something that I feel is important and worked hard on.
But of course I was curious if anyone was reading...and as the underdogg, And I admit...it's good for people to know that people are also checking into LA Daily Blog, too -- cause no one likes tumbleweeds.
AND -- I think you will see Mayor Sam get back to the hard hitting stories people come to the blog for. At least it looks that way based on this weekends Mayor Sam stories.
Darn...now I'll be jealous!
SO IF THE HATER WILL STOP TRYING TO PROVE MY WORTHLESSNESS...I'M SURE I WON'T HAVE TO SPIN IN MY DEFENSE.
MAAAAAAAAAAAAN, if the haters only knew how they have fueled me and kept me in the City Hall game waaaaaaaaaaay longer than I wanted to. Every day is my last day!
I have heard this same accusation (9:42), from friends of mine, "Anglos" that live in Sunland Tujunga, namely that all the fuss about the proposed Home Depot there boils down to the fear of Mexicans or Central Americans grouping up in front of the Home Depot looking for work.
******************
When does Don Quixote ever work, we see Don Q. aka Santiago aka Drinking With Tony posting comments all day long, always assuming every issue "boils down to the fear of Mexicans or Central Americans"
I smell a falso, who makes stories up as he goes along.
We should ask Don Q. about his black friends or as he refers to them changos and mayates.
Don Q. Racist Speaks
don quixote said...
I know there is blame to go around but along with the shooting death of 3 year old Kaitlyn Avila and these killings (including an innocent 10 year old boy while he was on the ground), what does this tell you about culero Mayates. And look at the ages of these chanates. I hope the Carnals get a shot at these changos when they hit the joint.
I don't live in Sunland-Tujunga, but I've heard them speak many times about why they were against Home Depot. Never ONCE was illegal workers used in their arguments.
The ongoing reason was that they had no place to buy socks and underwear and wanted a Kmart, Target or something equivalent instead of yet another hardware store. Anything but a Walmart or Home Depot.
The neighborhood has several small family-owned hardware stores that will go out of business when Home Depot is allowed to go there. That does nothing for our economy or our morale.
What did Wendy think she was doing? Why did the people of Sunland-Tujunga think they could trust her? Why can't she find a store that the people want to go there? Her family owned a small business. I don't know what it was but maybe if a huge, well-connected with LA politicians, moneyed company came in and her family lost their business, she would be more sympathetic.
Something else to consider. Some stories do better elsewhere than on Mayor Sam. For example, my most read story this week was about Schwarzenegger trying to overturn California Home Schooling.
When I post stuff like that on Mayor Sam...you get crickets.
Meanwhile, want to emphasize again,to the hater who is trying to make this about ranking... I don't expect my blog to be as highly ranked in future weeks, cause I blogged extra hard this first week to send out the message/promote. But I'm not going to have as much time on my hands this week/month to keep it up...
I HOPE!
If you see a blog avalanche from ZD over the next couple weeks...be sad for me...I gotta back down a little on the relentless blogging. I could sit here and keep trying to chase the BNN ranker and push it up the charts...but that's the last challenge I need in my life, right now.
I think Mayor Sam should bring Jim Alger back...and I'm sure Mayor Sam's blog would pop into the Top 5 !
Anonymous 2:54,
Why are people accusing Wendy of anything but trying to support the citizens? She made very strong statements against Home Depot and then backed them up, even to the point of causing the City to being sued. What the City Attorney does on behalf of defending the City, should not be influenced by the citizens of Sunland. Why in the world would the City Attorney consult with the Council Office let alone the Citizens? The City Attorney represents the City Government. If the lawsuit is lost, I don't see the money coming from just Sunland. Maybe that's the solution. Sunland Tujinga residents should indemnify the rest of the City from this disaster. I hope some common sense comes into play before this is all over.
Wow! The Home Depot spinners are having a great time!
HA HA! Home Depot now has Don Quackers as a spokesman!
And don't forget the battalion of "hueros" lined up behind Generalissimo Quixote.. I'm quite sure the impolite service person at HD who so obviously hates don quackers and delivers up shoddy matrials is a "low-down mayate".. His post reeks of vitriolic racism and draconian ilk.. Oh and I spy Dorian Gray in the closet too.
"I don't live in Sunland-Tujunga, but I've heard them speak many times about why they were against Home Depot. Never ONCE was illegal workers used in their arguments."
*************
That would never stop Don Q. Cholo from assuming every issue "boils down to the fear of Mexicans or Central Americans".
I am still waiting to hear Don Q. Cholo, the spokesman against racism and “vitriol”, express his feeling towards African Americans, especially the innocent African Americans who have been targeted and killed by the Latino (sureno) gang members he idolizes on a gang blog.
Zuma, the Governator isn't trying to "overturn Calif. Home Schooling," but the ruling that has outlawed it.
The Times' article yesterday quotes him as saying that if the appeal in the courts doesn't overturn this decision, he as a legislator will.
As for the HD thing: I agree that the S-T community was naive to ever believe that the city would eat a huge lawsuit for their sakes, when HD had already spent all that money redoing the store and was nearing completion.
Clearly Wendy wanted to get the community's support for herself, and stall the kind of attack that some of her colleagues were getting for their green signals on projects. Even though those other projects were very high-end, the locals were up in arms.
The rest of the city won't want to pay millions to HD to prevent them from opening up in a community far from the mainstream, sorry. Wendy of course knew that all along, and when it became HD was going ahead with the megasuit, she didn't stand in Rocky's way. IF ST wants to pay those damages out of its own pocket fine, but the city can't let every community bring a suit like that on our heads. This would be bad precedent.
If HD brings in illegal Hispanics hanging around and there are people in the community who don't want it, it's a legit issue. But in this liberal, Hispanic-politician driven city, they don't have a prayer of that ever being considered.
Too bad the project wasn't stopped before HD did all that work -- what did Wendy say when it started? Yes she played the community to shut them up. They could still make things more embarrassing for her run for Controller, but she'll put the blame on Rocky and nothing will stick.
Please, Home Depot paid Blogers, back off! Your insincere corporation has already done enough damage to Sunland-Tujunga with your lies and dispicable behavoir to order to harm them.
Oh my, the poor person who occassionally works in the area, but, doesn't live in S-T who has to drive to Glendale or Pasadena, a less then 10 minute drive, to get supplies. It appears that you have a time management problem. You should either pick up your stuff on the way in, or , it's a free country, pick a job closer to what will satify you needs. Please don't put your personal problem on Sunland-Tujunga. It doesn't sound like you or whomever you are referring to, has really noticed Sunland-Tujunga. At 11 am in the morning, afer S-T was accused unfairly of racisim,I personally counted 150 day labors on Foothill Blvd. between Tujunga Cyn Blvd and Pinewood. There is probably 3 times that many between 6 and 8 am. No harm has ever come to them.
So those racist remarks by Home Depost and/or their sympathizers is mute and plain stupid! There are not that many contractors living or working in the S-T area, however, most of the S-T population must travel to other cities to get materials for day to day living necessities regarding their entire familis.
Don Q. I have seen you on this blog many times, so it's hard to believe that you don't knew why S-T doesn't want Home Depot. If you really want to know visit:www.no2homedepotinSunland-Tujunga.com,
www.stnc.org and www.STA.org where you will get all the valid information you need.
Those who are worried about a lawsuit don't know enough about the details of this subject in order to be able to comment on who would win or lose.
We say No Home Depot in Sunland-Tujunga because we need and want a general store tht is a safe respectable company in S-T. and meets all the legal requirements!
Home Depot doesn't fit that bill.
What about Home Depots property rights. Forgeting what may or may not have happened and forget about who wants and doesn't want a Home Depot. What happened to the rights of a property owner. Does the City just change the rules as they play the game? I mean how did the construction get started in the first place? Did Home Depot illegally put people on site and just start building or did they get a permit and were stopped because the community made to much noise. I would like to know these answers so that I could be better informed.
If you want to be in the know regarding the history of the community vs Home Depot, visit
the following websites
http://www.no2homedepot.com - The No to Home Depot in Sunland-Tujunga,
http://www.STA.org - The Sunland-Tujunga Alliance
http://www.STNC.org - The Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council
Or attend the Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council meeting on Wednesday, March 12 at Mt. Gleason Middle School and judge for yourself.
HD was able to sneak by the Dept of Building & Safety by going to the downtown L.A office instead of Van Nuys, in order to get their over-the-counter piecemealed permits. Doing so helped them by-pass the S-T Foothill Blvd. Business Corridor Specific Plan Ordinance, because the L.A.office was not familiar with it and HD also mis-represented their "project" as a remodel as well. HD did not want to do the required Environmental Impact Assessment for what is considered a "project" according to the City's Ordinance.
Why should S-T be forced to pay for errors or mis-calculations made by anyone else? What about
S-T's rights, huh? Oh and now can you believe HD Reps.say they want to play nice with the S-T community after all the garbage they pulled on them? Right...who believes them.
Please, someone save Sunland-Tujunga from the HD voltures
Hey I don't support or not support the HD in Sunland Tujunga, I admit I don't know enough about the situation and am just asking for more info.
I only posted up what I have heard from friends that live in ST.
If the people of the area don't want the HD then I stand with the people 100%, I only posted my experience trying to get materials in the ST area but I don't live there.
I just requested some clarification on the issue and a bit more info. I cliqued up the website you posted and was not able to get the site.
If the people in my CD are up in arms about the Las Villas scam and ask for the support of the rest of the city I would hope it would be forthcoming and the same would apply to the people of Sunland Tujunga, I always support the will of the people but would appreciate more info on the pro's and con's.
Or click here to read a TON of material about Home Depot
Don't count us out yet, this fight is far from over! One thing the No Home Depot Campaign always has is a trick or two up it's sleeve!
Also, I would kindly ask that off topic posts be kept off threads of
mine.You can say just about anything but if it has nothing to do with the subject being discussed it could be deleted for that reason alone. Fair warning.
The following are the correct websites to find out about the S-T & Home Depot situation and anything else you want to know about S-T. Visit:
http://www.no2homedepot.com
http://www.stnc.org/
http://sunlandtujungaalliance.com/
http://www.savethegolfcourse.org
Joe is right! Get out of here Zuma!
Supposedly, our City Officials have our backs. However, by the City Attorney's actions this week, it is clear that it's us gainst the City and their special interest groups like Home Depot, who are calling the shots against the will of the people in our communities.
We all need to stick together. Sunland-Tujunga has the support of all the communities in the north valley,and thoughout L.A. who came to their aid when needed.
S-T has also assisted others and will continue to do so when called upon. We may not have a lot of money, but, we have a lot of moxie and we work hard to support our communities.
You want facts. Here are some facts about why S-T doesn't want a Home Depot right smack in the middle of their residential neighborhood. The project site abuts residential homes on 2 sides. There are home directly across the street. The Home Depot expects 18-20 diesel truck deliveries per day from their vendors. They operate a 24 hour business, and the loading dock is about 50 feet from homes. It will be like living in a truck stop. Foothill is the only commercial corridor in town. The side streets are substandard, and everyone, including the diesel trucks will be trying to avoid the traffic mess and clog the residential side streets, most without sidewalks. The nearest fwy on/off ramp is over 1 mile from the site. The other fwy entrance is over 3 miles, uphill. The way the driveways are configured, the diesel trucks will block 3 of 4 lanes while entering or exiting, and then they'll figure out the route back to the fwy by turning onto the narrow residential streets. Less than 500 ft. down the street is an elementary school. The corner nearest to the site is where the school busses drops off the high school kids. Imagine what the corner will look like with 20 school busses, large delivery trucks, contractors, and people in passenger cars trying to get to work at 6,7,8 in the morning. Home Depot carries a lot of hazardous and flammable materials; not exactly you want stacked just the other side of your backyard fennce. The rear corner of the property is only about 30 ft. from the flood control channel and the runoff from the property, trucks and forklifts, and the other hazardous waste they store outside will runoff into the water channel that empties into the sea. The HD tried to pass off a 100 page plan set as simple tenant improvements, bypassing compliance with the Specific Plan. The community appealed the ministerial permit, and won the requirement that Home Depot must comply with the Specific Plan and undergo environmental assesment, just like any other large project that significantly impacts an area. I hope that answers some of your questions. Additionally, this largest commercial property on Foothill Blvd, sits right in the area designated as the Community Center, which is supposed to be pedestrian friendly, and provide neighborhood reatail. Please note, the Sunland-Tujunga Alliance appeal documents can be found on the no2homedepot.com website. You can read for yourself, there is no mention of day laborers.
DQ is right about the will of the people. If Oakand and Inglewood can ban Wal Mart, ST can ban Home Depot.
This is the exact way to read the appeal for yourself.
>www.no2homedepot.com
>click on links from the left column
>appeal docs will be in the right column: 3 Important Documents
Sorry, we haven't posted the many documents we've written since the Zoning Administrator's determination. We had 2 North Valley Area Planning Commission hearing, where HD appealed the ZA decision, the NVAPC ruled in HD favor; at one time we had video footage of that farce on the website, but I'm not sure if its still posted. Then after that, Councilmember Greuel utilized Charter Section 245 to assert jurisdiction and we had 3 City Council sessions, including a PLUM hearing, and the final vote was 12/1 in favor of the Community. We have spent 3 years of our lives working to save our town from further industrialization. How many of you have invested the type of effort it takes to bring positive change to your town? Home Depot has spent the same amount of time to avoid environmental review.
Thanks 12:04, the arguments you put forth are concise and the picture you paint of a large HD in a residential area is pretty awful.
Seems that HD could have picked another location that would not impact the community so severely.
In my opion there is a need for a HD like store in the foothills but why not down torwards the big Tujunga wash on Wentworth or at the gravel pits
around Hansen Dam?
OK, I see the light. Thanks
Yes, property owners, or in this case, those who lease someone else's property, have rights. They also have a responsibility to follow the law.
Home Depot originally wanted to raze the old K-Mart building. After all the existing structure was too small for a Home Depot. However, once HD realized the community would fight a big box hardware store geared for contractors in the midst of their residential community, they opted to 'remodel' the old building. HD even said they would not be using the area that had originally been the auto repair portion of the old K-Mart (although I believe some plans showed that area being designated for contractor orders & sales).
HD agreed to 'remodel' a store that was smaller than they wanted, and they were willing to leave part of the store unused so that they could call their construction work a 'remodel'. After all if it was a 'project' the company faced the prospect of an Environmental Impact Report.
Once it was shown that their 'remodel' was nothing of the sort, but rather a 'project', HD had a couple of options. Rather than go ahead and do that EIR, they chose to sue the City of Los Angeles.
Now that this questionable deal has been struck between Home Depot and the City Attornies office, it's clear that HD is still trying to avoid an EIR. But why?
We hear the corporation talk about giving back to the community, we hear them talk about wanting to be part of the community. That is been all talk on the part of Home Depot.
Why does the community continue to fight having a Home Depot in Sunland? First off, when an earlier poster says it's no big deal to have a store next to a school for a residential area. That may be true if you're talking about a department store, a grocery store, or even a small strip mall. Those are very different STORES than a Home Depot. The kinds of big rigs and delivery/pick up schedules involved with a HD is significantly more of an impact - a negative impact - on a community than any of the other stores listed above.
And we're not talking about the usual community you would find in the San Fernando Valley or in greater Los Angeles. Sunland-Tujunga, as Mayor Sam learned first-hand, is a small linear community that runs between two mountain ranges. It has one main artery, Foothill Blvd., which is 'main street' S-T. Adding big rigs and other large delivery trucks and contractor vehicles to this primarily small business boulevard will have a terrible impact on motorists and pedestrians.
The side streets that use Foothill Blvd. are residential. The K-Mart property is surrounded on two sides by residential - homes as well as a trailer park.
For the earlier poster to say that locals are afraid of illegal immigrants must be pulling a page from the HD play book. It didn't work for HD because it isn't true. That is not the community's motivation against HD. S-T is made up of many thnic groups, from Hispanic to Armenian, and most just about everybody else in between. The only legality concern for the community is making sure Home Depot follows the law that everyone else is suppose to follow.
All of this time wasted, all because Home Depot wants to avoid an Environmental Impact Report. What does the company have to hide? If they 'care' about the community, why wouldn't they want to make sure a HD on this particular property would not interfere with the quality of life in Sunland?
Drive around Los Angeles and you see most Home Depot stores are located in semi-industrial areas. That's where they belong. Sunland doesn't want to be turned into a semi-industrial area. Property owners have rights. So do communities.
What did you expect being so bias with your NHDC and STNC fear campaigns? Anyone that would come to any of your town hall meetings in support of new development would be "tarred and feathered". It seems obvious to the majority of residents and now City Attorney that a fair and balanced group is needed for the benefit of this community. Stop spreading fear to rally support for your negative cause in this community - folks are beginning to wise up and no longer buy into it. The fear campaign is over here. Fear worked for Hitler and Stalin, for a while - well many years. But folks in Sunland-Tujunga are much wiser than that and will not subject themselves to this propaganda you're shoving. I encourage you to reconsider, open, objective and productive discussions that can only benefit this community - AND YOU.
Stuart - Even I wrote better pro-Home Depot spin back in the day. I hope you aren't billing Katherine for that one!
Well if it isn't Mayor Sam himself, the person behind the curtain. I was hoping you would take the bait. Thanks for your "snappy" reply. You seem to be a man of just a few words, I enjoy simple.
First, who's Katherine? Is this another woman you despise?
Second, you seem very proud of your previous accomplishments with pro Home Depot spin - that's awesome! I'd love to see some of your eloquent writings.
Third, is "Mayor Sam" a self assigned title, pet name, or perhaps you are a relative of the beloved Mayor Sam Yorty? Also, is this your web site, "Mayor Sam's Sister City - Home of Los Angeles Politics"? Is this an appointed name and declaration as well, or just you exercising your First Amendment rights?
Lastly, I suspect you are not a Sunland-Tujunga area resident and somehow found a voice in this community. Is this really true?
Sorry, these are all two/three part questions, but I'm sure your figured that out on your own.
Look forward to your comments!
Cheers!
Stuart,
Do some research, read the Mayor Sam blog, try to actually learn about this case before you spout off.
Mayor Sam can spot a shill a mile away, you got caught and now you are trying to say "he took the bait".
What a loser.
Dear Anonymous:
I'm not sure what I was caught at, but ok if that makes you feel better.
I have read the bantar on Mayor Sam's and NHDC web sites, mostly opinions with no supporting information. But we are all entitled to our First Amendment rights and our own opinion. It is interesting that when the No Home Depot types face opposition or opinions that do not line up NHDC, you dismiss them as uninformed, nuts, Home Depot decoys, or losers. I do admire your passion though.
Is Mayor Sam a real person? Or is he (or she?) a digital image or icon for the anonymous to have an identity? If he is a real person, maybe he will answer the question whether he's a Sunland-Tujunga area resident or not? Not sure why that would be so difficult to answer. Maybe you can persuade Mayor Sam to come out from behind curtain.
Hi!
This is Nice Blog!
We are located in Chennai India Offering a wide range of back office and I.T Enabled Services namely data entry, data processing,
litigation and data conversion that match the high global standards in terms of efficiency and accuracy.
We offers innovative and effective outsourcing solutions for clients around the world. We deliver higher quality, increased productivity, and lower costs. Can we do that for you? Sure we can
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home