Theoretical Outreach Update
" Anonymous Strikes Again"- photo by Joe B.Neither Home Depot, nor the City Attorney's "Dispute Resolution Program" team has yet to contact anyone in Sunland-Tujunga. Not a word, not even a "Hello, we'll get back to you soon". The backroom deal that the City Attorney made with Home Depot trumpeted how both HD and the City Attorney's office would "outreach" to the Community in a major way. As of today, still nothing from either party.
So while we wait to see if and when this "outreach" is going to happen, we thought of a few things we would like to discuss with Home Depot.
These meetings with Home Depot, if and when they occur, are not going to come without some baggage of Home Depot's own creation, and this baggage must be dealt with.
First of all, we are still pretty upset at the tactics Home Depot has employed in our town.
We don't appreciate being labeled "racists", we don't like phony websites, paid signature gatherers, shady tactics, or bussed in supporters. We particularly don't like paid speakers at City Hearings smearing Sunland-Tujunga, nor do we find an army of paid lobbyists flooding the City Council chambers on HD's behalf an equal playing field or conducive to a productive resolution to this problem. By the way, HD broke a record in Los Angeles by spending $600,000 on lobbying efforts over the proposed S-T store in the first quarter of 2007 alone.
That being said, we hope a full, complete, and public apology from Home Depot will be forthcoming.
We cannot allow HD to pass the blame to one of their PR firms, they pay them, they are responsible for their actions.
Secondly, we will not allow these "discussions" to be used by HD as a way of saying that they have "worked with the community". "Meeting with us" should not imply "Working with us" just so that HD can make this claim to a Judge or City official. HD has stated, in the past, that they have "worked with the community" by attending our STNC meetings. In reality, they simply sent an attorney that sat silently, and took notes. We will not allow these proposed meetings to be used by HD as a specious and vain exercise in "community engagement".
Finally, HD must come to the table willing to abandon this proposed store if our community group comes to this conclusion. We do not want to spend all of this time and effort just so Home Depot can resume their lawsuit if they don't get their way.
If they want to work with the Community, then Home Depot must be willing to abide by the Community's decisions.
Obviously, the NHDC (No Home Depot Campaign) will work to show why this proposed store is inappropriate for our town, but there will be others in the stakeholder group who favor this development (theoretically). HD must listen to all, and comply with the final decision.
We ask Home Depot to not make this a futile and "for show only" exercise. Do not waste our time anymore than you already have.
That is, if HD or the City Attorney ever implement the "community outreach" they so fondly, yet vaguely, speak of.
Labels: home depot, rocky delgadillo, sunland-tujunga
Posted by Unknown @ 3/22/2008 12:35:00 AM
13 Comments:
This is a great post Joe and right on the money! However, It is going to be very hard to have any confidence in HD after all the shennigans they have pulled on our community. I don't know if I would want to hold my breath waiting for them to take responsiblity for their unethical actions.
zzzzzzz......
don't you have anything interesting to write about?
Congradulations Joe.
Remember it is the Mayor, the Council and Rocky who got us into this mess. Its time this city went back to "the will of the people". Let make sure we vote them out as fast as we can.
No one likes Home Depot, but that is shockingly offensive to Germans. Over 1 million German women were raped by Russian soldiers in World War II. Even the Germans' worst critics acknowledge their soldiers did not rape.
Actually, that last comment is true. When my mother was a little girl and her mother was young and pretty, the whole village hid from the Russian soldiers who came in to "liberate" Eastern Europe because they raped every single woman over 11. They painted spots on their faces to look like contagious disease, stuffed pillows inside their clothes, anything to look too disgusting even for the Russian animals. Germans were horrible in the camps etc., but whatever they did evil and cruel was "organized" and ordered, not pure debauchery.
So is HD a choice between the two?
That image is from WW1. The soldier is German and the image of the woman represents Belgium.
Joe, your group really needs to stop putting those posters up if you want to claim the high road.
Actually, our group did not put up these posters. There are other people in this town upset with Home Depot
than besides us.
The day Home Depot apologizes for anything they have done will be a shock. I wouldn't hold my breath either.
Abby says -
Home Depot employed despicable tactics to try and fly under the radar of environmental review by submitting their plans as "tenant improvements". They are now required to apply for a Project application. It's a strange and dual reality; their lawsuit demands reinstatement of the TI Permit, but at the same time, they have an agreement with the City Attorney to file for a Project Application. They want it to be both ways - it appears that someone has been sipping the Kool-Aid, if you ask me.
It will be very interesting to see how Home Depot "works with the community."
And as far as the poster goes, it is a shocking image. It gets exactly the reaction I believe the artist wanted. It shows how Home Depot will overtake ST, as the Germans plundered Belgium in WWI. Gets one to think a little bit, urging action, rather than just sit back and do nothing.
So here's the deal, and this is from LA City Attorney after I contacted them.
"
Please spread the word to people who you believe will be interested in the Sunland-Tujunga Dialogue, and have them send their names and addresses to us by U. S. Mail to the Los Angeles City Attorney's Dispute Resolution Program, 222 S. Hill Street, Suite 600, Los Angeles, CA 90012 or by e-mail to mediate@lacity.org .
We are preparing for 1,000 dialogue participants. If you expect that significantly more people will want to attend, please inform us. We may require a larger venue and/or additional facilitators for this initial session. We are planning to schedule 100 facilitators to keep groups small enough so that everyone has the opportunity to participate.
"
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Please do not take this out of context or distort in some way as I am only passing on information that I have received after inquiring with LA City Attorney about this new Stakeholder Committee.
Thanks,
Stuart.
Abby, your group really needs to stop putting those posters up if you want to claim the high road, no matter if it "gets exactly the reaction I believe the artist wanted." You and Joe do a poor job of pretending to not to know the source.
9:22, Where do either of them say they don't know the source? They just say that someone else put them up, not their group.
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