Now That's A Big No-No!
Ahh, the saga, the manipulation, and the rule skirting continues.
Less than a week ago, Home Depot sent out some fancy brochures to the residents of Sunland-Tujunga announcing what they call an "Open House" meeting on June 24th at Mt. Gleason School.
Home Depot intends to use this event to promote their controversial proposed store.
There's just a little problem with that though.
LAUSD facilities are not available for corporations or developers, or any other group that is not a legitimate non-profit organization.
According to the requirements of the LAUSD/Civic Center Rules:
"The major function of the Civic Center Permit Office is the issuance of the appropriate permit to allow for the use of school facilities in conformance with the California Education Code mandate and the Board of Education rules, which require that each and every public school facility be made available as a civic center to members of the community and non-profit organizations for
supervised recreational activities, meetings and public discussions, when regular school activities are not disrupted.
To qualify for a permit:
A group must be non-profit.
No money may be charged for admission, nor collected for goods sold. (exceptions exist-please call for requirements). The event must be open to the public."
Home Depot is clearly not a non-profit, and this event, if it is allowed to proceed, will set a precedent for other corporations or developers to use public facilities to advance their business interests.
The recent "Sunland-Tujunga Dialogue" was a City Attorney sponsored event.
This "Open House" is an attempt by a corporation to use school facilities to promote their proposed store.
Additionally, the application to use school facilities states;
"Any form of announcement or advertising regarding activities held on school property for non school purposes must include the following statement: "This meeting is neither sponsored by nor is in any way connected with the Los Angeles Unified School District. If announcement is in printed form, statement must appear in equally large and prominent type".
The brochure that Home Depot sent out announcing this "Open House", has no mention of this required disclaimer.
Home Depot is not a non-profit and is not permitted to use school facilities to promote their business.
Normally, when anyone wants to use a public school for a function, they first have to get the schools principal to sign off. In this case, the principal never had that opportunity, and was simply told by the LAUSD Civic Center Permit office that Home Depot was coming in.
Anyone sensing more collusion between those in power and those with the money?
Having said all that, and knowing how Mayor Sam readers really enjoy fighting the good fights, I'm going to ask a big favor.
Would you please contact the three LAUSD officials listed below, within the next 24 hours, and remind them that taxpayer financed school facilities are not available to corporations to promote their business interests?
Here is the list:
David Brewer
Superintendent of LAUSD
213 241-7000
Julie Korenstein
Board of Education
213 241-6388
julie.korenstein@lausd.net
Kathy Freeman
LAUSD Civic Center Permit Office
818 587-4350
Sunland-Tujunga will greatly appreciate your efforts, as will I.
Labels: david brewer, home depot, julie korenstein, kathy freeman, lausd, sunland-tujunga
Posted by Unknown @ 6/11/2008 08:30:00 AM
16 Comments:
I just spoke with Sara Perochina. She sounded quite rattled. She did not issue the permit (according to her). She asked me to "please" call back in 2 hours and speak with Kathy Freeman the supervisor. Kathy's direct number is 587-4350 (according to Sara). I really don't think calling Sara is going to be the thing to do. She sounded quite overwhelmed with the calls and I believe her when she said she wasn't the person that issued the permit. I just think if you are going to take time to make a phone call she's not the person to call.
Shouldn't y'all be calling Tamar Galatzan too?
And someone should let Toni Guinyard know.
Sounds like an event that is ripe for a Zuma Dogg visit and free concert too!
Thanks 10:08! I made the changes to the post.
Poor Sara! She got hit hard this morning!
Now it's Kathy's turn.
I wonder if the John and Ken show of KFI would be interested in this story...
Dear Ms Korenstein,
It is outrageous that the Home Depot Corporation which is NOT a non-profit, as you know, is being allowed to use Mt Gleason Middle School in Sunland to promote their proposed store. This store will be on a site adjacent to Apperson Elementary School. They have consistently avoided using that parcel address on their applications to the City. If they were honest about stating where their building is actually sited on that lot, and if LAUSD employees were doing their jobs, Home Depot would be forced to do environmental review due to it being less than 500 feet from the Apperson school.
The Board of Education should be putting the safety of our young children ahead of any political considerations involved with taking on this company and its army of lawyers and PR consultants.
Home Depot must not be permitted to use the facilities we pay for to wage their battle against our community. LAUSD's silence will start to look like collusion before too much longer. I would suggest that it is past time for your organization to start insisting upon the rule of law.
Dear Ms. Korenstein,
I received yesterday the mailer from Home Depot titled, "Looking Forward to Serving Your Community". It announced an open house later this month at the Mt. Gleason Middle School (LAUSD). I have also received information that such a public meeting, albeit without a formal presentation, is still sponsored by a For Profit business and therefore may be in violation of LAUSD rules. If this is indeed the case, I would like to voice my objection regarding another perceived "loophole" found to benefit Corporate America. While I appreciate Home Depot's effort to provide a public forum for questions and answers, if they have been granted any special favors that would otherwise be denied other For Profit businesses, it further deteriorates the tenuous relationship they (and the city) are trying to make with the community of Sunland/Tujunga. One would hope that LAUSD is not endorsing Home Depot's behavior by "bending the rules".
I have not been a vocal person in the past for the anti-Home Depot groups, but if this is indeed a loophole that has been exploited, I am very concerned. We are already losing more and more of our communities to corporations. Given the history of this particular campaign, the usage of our local school is a further slap in the face and any blatant disregard of policy established to protect our communities from exploitation would be seen in a very negative light.
My personal opinion is that if Home Depot wishes to host a community Question and Answer night, they have ample space on the parking lot of the former Kmart property to pitch a tent and set up chairs. And parking would probably not be a problem either.
Dear Julie Korenstein,
As a home owner in Sunland, I am concerned that Home Depot has been allowed to use Mt. Gleason School on June 24, 2008 to promote its own business. The brochure sent to us does not have a disclaimer related to its usage. Home Depot has attacked the local community, has made many mistatements in its application, and has yet not addressed the fact that the former Kmart property is less than 500 feet from Apperson School.
I respectfully request that this issue be addressed before June 24. If Home Depot wants to be a good neighbor, as they claim, they should be held to the same rules as other entities who wish to use public school facilities.
Please be aware, I contacted Julie Korenstein's office this morning.
I know that Julie was not aware of this.
She is the one who wrote the letter
to the City to ask Home Depot to do a full EIR.
She is against this project as there are Student safety Issues.
The people who issued the Permits did not realize there is a conflict of interest, I am sure.
I am sure this will be fixed and the Permit will be revoked.
I still believe in LAUSD, although I do often ask myself why.
The stench of the slimy Latham & Watkins attorneys hangs in the air. When is the federal and state government going to investigate Latham's inappropriate access to the Mayor, other divisions of our City, the school district, and other governmental entities?
Home Depot has such complete disregard for the safety and welfare of our little children, to such an extent that they are opening a store 440 feet from our elementary school. This is their plan knowing full well that their store brings a staggering number of large, heavy vehicles that will endanger our children and an uncontrollable (per their own statement today at the Chamber of Commerce, they cannot control this) number of day laborers hanging around the adjacent residential and school streets. These are just two of many factors that demonstrates their disregard for the safety of our children.
Ironically they are planning an open house, attempting to win support from the community that has asked them repeatedly to sublease to a suitable tenant, using one of our schools.
It is simply unconscionable that this is being allowed on our school grounds. There is just no end to their contempt and disregard for the laws and our community.
Wa Wa Wa that's all you inbreds in Sunland-Tujunga do. All of your reasons for Home Depot to not open up are stupid. There are plenty of businesses by schools. There are even schools located on major streets. When Home Depot attempts to do some outreach you stifle it. You would rather not know what they are proposing. I hope that home depot drops this process and continues with their lawsuit instead. And, I hope the money they get from the City comes from the Sunland-Tujunga N.C. budget.
Property rights are our most fundamental right we have and it's obvious that no one in ST knows anything about this right.
We have the right to Life, Liberty and Property - John Locke
Gee- an' I thought the saying went : "...Life, liberty and and a new FLAT SCREEN, dude." So I guess you think us "in-breds" out here in Su-tunga should be grateful it won't be a combination Home Depot/Criminal Sex Offender Half-Way House, huh? And by the way, it's the lawful PURSUIT of property/happiness we're entitled to-- not the property/happiness itself. Look, I know you're probably bummed about something like getting kicked out of your little rent-controlled walk-up over there in Silverlake, but try not to take it out on us Pillars of Society over here in the Foothills, okay? Please??
Good morning Julie - myself and quite a few of my neighbors are wondering what is happening with this illegal use of a public school by the Home Depot. How many more rules will they be allowed to break to try to get their store into a community that so obviously does not want or need it? We are trying to protect our quality of life, our quiet little community. Home Depot has repeatedly broken all kinds of rules to get in here, and the infractions just keep on coming. I would have thought LAUSD would've had some kind of concern considering you have a school within 400 feet of their proposed store. Instead it appears you are trying to help them. Have you ever seen the area just before school hours? There are crowds of children walking all over the sidewalks, crossing the streets, on there way to school. Putting this store in this location will surely get someone killed. It's just a fact. You should not be helping them, you should be questioning their motives and tactics. Wake up and sniff the infractions, and then get a clue.......respectfully, john ciasulli, Tujunga
Well, folks-- according to Kathy Freeman HomeDope is completely within legal protocal to have their stupid "Open House" at Mt. Gleason Middle School. (Why don't they call it "junior high" anymore?) In fact, Ms. Freeman said that if they DIDN'T allow HD to do their thing, they'd be subject to a lawsuit. Now HD does have to actually rent the place, but evidently not only are they within legal jurisdiction, they're REQUIRED to do this in order to better inform the community of their dastardly agenda. Sigh...
The whole thing stinks like a 3 day old dead skunk on a hot Alabama summers day..
Well, Kathy says that she's not taking anymore calls and that Home Depot has the right to let everyone know about them and we cannot keep sticking our heads in the sand...........
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