Avis Ridley-Thomas, Home Depot, and the Art of Manipulation!

Garbage in, Garbage Out.


It's been awhile since I've posted an update on the continuing Home Depot battle in Sunland-Tujunga. Not that it's all been quiet on the North Valley Front, rather so much has been happening, so rapidly, that the complexity and dynamics of the situation have required more time than I can devote to reporting the story. As Zuma Dogg might say, 'The Shady Never Sleep'!

So for this update, I've chosen one very disturbing piece of the story, and her name is Avis Ridley-Thomas (ART). ART runs the Dispute Resolution Program (DRP), part of the City Attorney's office.

Now bear with me for a bit of background. In November 2007, Home Depot filed a lawsuit against the City Council for revoking their tenant improvements building permit. Back in March of this year , the Home Depot agreed to suspend their lawsuit and file a Project Permit application to build their store per the local Specific Plan, a City Ordinance. After Home Depot suspended their lawsuit, the Order to Stay Litigation Stipulation included a directive that meetings be held between Home Depot and Sunland-Tujunga community leaders in order to facilitate discussion of the issue. The DRP was asked to oversee these discussions, and this is where the problems began.

On April 26, a meeting sponsored by the DRP was held in which 250+ residents attended and a consensus was reached by S-T stakeholders that Home Depot did not belong in that former Kmart location, was in violation of our Community Plan, and must undergo a full Environmental Impact Review (EIR) so that everyone would better understand the impacts their proposed store would have on the Sunland-Tujunga neighborhood. On a side note, Home Depot could voluntarily undergo an EIR (as many developers are known to do), but has repeatedly refused.

What did ART and the DRP make of this overwhelming unified consensus?
They decided that there was a dispute in the community, and they were going to solve it (huh?). ART promised an open and transparent process and then immediately scheduled a closed door meeting with selected participants, many of which were not S-T community leaders, nor even residents of the area (invited guests included Brendan Huffman from VICA and others no one had heard of). The purpose of this meeting was to schedule another meeting and to lay down the ground rules.

On October 16th, a 3rd meeting was held at L.A. City Hall, with invited participants and again behind closed doors. There were also 8 police officers on hand to search the attendees, and presumably preserve order in case of trouble.

At this meeting, a motion was made to suspend the DRP process until City Planning had made a determination as to whether Home Depot's application for CEQA exemption would be granted or not. A CEQA exemption would mean that Home Depot would not have to undergo any environmental review, and no mitigation of their impacts would be required. A majority voted that indeed these DRP talks were premature, and as City Planning was the lead agency (not the DRP) then why not wait until the lead agency could provide some guidance as to what the group should be discussing.

Are you with me so far?

So the majority of the participants voted to suspend the talks, until an appropriate time in the future. The DRP representatives went out of their way to ensure that the language calling for a suspension was correct, and assured everyone that what the community wanted was vitally important. Everyone shook hands, and called it a night.


But Avis Ridley-Thomas, who was not present at this meeting, would have none of this. A few days later, in response to an email re-capping the events of the October 16th meeting, she issued this statement:

"The Dispute Resolution Program has been contacted by a member of the Sunland-Tujunga community to facilitate and/or mediate further sessions to resolve the matter involving the Home Depot.

As in every other matter where we are contacted by a member of the community, we are proceeeding forthwith.

The process will be voluntary and confidential unless and until the parties deem otherwise."

As you can probably surmise, the community is outraged!

In one brief statement, ART dismisses the democratic process, the votes of the majority, and plows ahead with her mission. She will put together another group, one likely more sympathetic to Home Depot, regardless to whether they represent the sentiments of the Sunland-Tujunga community or not, until she gets the consensus she is seeking (or has been ordered to?).

Yes, the Shady Never Sleep, and it appears that Avis Ridley-Thomas and the DRP are over-reaching their legal boundaries, and creating more problems than ever existed before the DRP became involved.

Home Depot, The DRP and a Closed Door Meeting!

At 4:30 this afternoon, Avis Ridley-Thomas and her Dispute Resolution Program will hold what is being billed as a "Scheduling Meeting" at the North Valley City Hall in Tujunga. The purpose off this meeting is to set the date, time, & ground rules for any further talks between Home Depot and the Sunland-Tujunga community and is part of the Stipulation Order to Stay Litigation made between the City and Home Depot.

If you'll recall Home Depot filed a $10,000,000.00 lawsuit against the City last year after their building permits were revoked by the L.A. City Council. Home Depot suspended their lawsuit and agreed to file a new application and undergo environmental assessment for their proposed store as an alternative to further litigation. Part of this agreement included a clause that the Dispute Resolution Program would mediate between the community and Home Depot. This mediation is completely non-binding and considered by many a waste of taxpayer money and community time. This mediation will have zero effect on whether or not Home Depot is ever able to open their controversial store, as that decision currently lies with City Planning, who is currently reviewing their application.

And the story goes all downhill from here.

After the DRP held it's first open community meeting back in April that was attended by over 300 local residents and produced an overwhelming consensus of opposition to Home Depot's store,(Just ask the MS bloggers who were there-Michael Higby, Red, Zuma, Joseph Mailander, and Petrafried), the DRP promised more meetings that would be "open and transparent in the process".

That promise comes to a grinding halt at 4:30 this afternoon, when the DRP holds a private closed door meeting with "invited community leaders" (of their choosing) in the very public North Valley City Hall. Even after numerous requests to the DRP, no names of the invited participants has been provided.

Not only is the public not allowed to observe this meeting, the DRP has now threatened a police presence to prevent local residents from entering the hall.

The Sunland-Tujunga Alliance, the sponsors of "The No Home Depot Campaign" have spent weeks trying to contact the DRP to discuss the details of the meeting.

The DRP has not returned a single phone call or email.

After waiting on hold for hours (literally) last Monday, the STA finally spoke with a DRP staff member who informed them that the meeting would indeed be open to the public. Additionally, people who called Councilmember Wendy Greuel's office were told the meeting would be open to the public as well.

With that info in hand, and feeling somewhat relieved, late last week, the STA posted a public invite to today's event on the No 2 Home Depot web site (www.no2homedepot.com).

Last Friday, the STA received an email from Barbara Goldfarb, the volunteer DRP lead facilitator in charge of the meeting.

Here is the entire contents of that email :


Sunland-Tujunga Alliance/No2Home Depot

It has come to our attention through observing the notices that the Sunland-Tujunga Alliance is posting on the No2Home Depot web site and through phone calls being received in Councilwoman Wendy Greuel’s office, that the Sunland-Tujunga Alliance is disseminating false and misleading information regarding Monday’s upcoming scheduling conference.

May we remind you once again that this meeting is under the auspices of the Dispute Resolution Program and that the Sunland-Tujunga Alliance has no role to play in its organization or conduct beyond that of being one of many invitees who have been asked to have a representative attend. The meeting is for invited participants only. This closed door meeting at this location does not violate any existing laws and its closed door status will be strictly enforced.

The Alliance’s irresponsible behavior in issuing its unauthorized public invitation has forced the Dispute Resolution Program to request police presence at the meeting to insure that this process will proceed under the Dispute Resolution Program’s policies and rules. (emphasis added)

As was clearly stated in our letter, this meeting is logistical only. We fully respect and honor your right to express your opinions about the subject, but this scheduling conference is not the place for that and no discussion of the controversy as identified at the April 26, 2008 dialogue will be allowed. We are simply discussing time, date, place and ground rules and the Alliance’s representative will be asked for input along with all other representatives.

May we respectfully request that the Alliance issues a correction of the incorrect information on the web-site and call as many of their members as possible to instruct them not to attend. The last thing any of us want is a disturbance at the meeting and we should all do our best to avoid that possibility.

Barbara E. Goldfarb
Dispute Resolution Program

When Ms. Goldfarb was contacted by phone about the DRP staff member who said that the public could attend this meeting, Ms. Goldfarb was dismissive saying that the staff member didn't know what she was talking about. It is unfortunate that the DRP now blames the STA for their own lack of communication and misleading information. The DRP is ultimately responsible for creating this confusion and hard feelings among neighborhood residents, and the DRP is able to resolve this matter by calling off the police, and allowing the public to observe this meeting.

Sunland-Tujunga resident, Damien McGinnis, put it this way:

"What an outrage! Ms.Goldfarb seems to be making up the rules as she goes along and as she sees fit. The secrecy in the form of undisclosed participants/invitees, the closed door policy, apparent ulterior motives (which raises questions about possible corruption within and/or coercion of the DRP) and simple lack of congruency from the DRP and its office is intolerable and outrageous! I hope the news gets all over this and it becomes the latest city scandal."


Needless to say, angry residents upset about being excluded from this process will be showing up today at 4:30 pm to voice their concerns.

Perhaps you (and the Press) will consider joining us.

DRP Scheduling Meeting
4:30 PM
North Valley City Hall
7747 Foothill Blvd.
Tujunga



(For those that don't know, Joe B. is the president of the Sunland-Tujunga Alliance Inc., and chairman of the No Home Depot Campaign, in addition to being a blogger on Mayor Sam.)

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Wednesday

Former President and CEO of the Century City Chamber of Commerce Robyn Ritter Simon has announced she's raised over $100,000 in her efforts to get elected to the 5th Council District seat to be vacated by Jack Weiss next year. Other candidates who have announced for the race are former Assemblyman Paul Koretz, who represented West Hollywood and also served on the West Hollywood City Council before moving to Los Angeles; land-use attorney Ron Galperin; and businessman David T. Vahedi, who ran against Weiss four years ago.

How are hard working, tax paying, decent citizens who are fighting for their community treated by a wannabe bureaucrat who trades on her politician husband's name? Searched for weapons and watched like hawks by police officers. That's what happened on the orders of Avis Ridley-Thomas of the City of Los Angeles Dispute Resolution Office when leaders from Sunland-Tujunga came to inspect important city files related to the controversial effort to place a Home Depot store in their community. Will officials from Home Depot get the same treatment? Ridley-Thomas says yes, but I tend to doubt it.

Where are the worst potholes in LA?The Daily News is mapping them out! Using Google Maps technology readers can submit the locations of potholes and add important details. Perhaps the Mayor can download those to his BlackBerry (or Jose Huizar's BlackBerry) and go out and fill them.

We talked the other day about the need to allow MTA commuters to take their bikes on buses and trains and the efforts of Councilman Eric Garcetti to get the transit agency to relax their rules. The LA Times reports however that folding bikes are allowed at any time on the train. I first saw these types of bikes when my grandparents brought back two of them from a vacation in Europe in the early 70s. They can be quite compact and easy to tote. However some wonder given the condition of LA's roads if these bikes are sturdy enough for safe travel.

Former State Contoller and Democratic candidate for Governor Steve Westly has donated $100,000 to the Green Dot Charter School at Locke High School. Westly who rose to prominence in Democratic party politics made a substantial portion of his fortune as one of the founders of eBay.

And finally you'll be seeing a new voice here on the blog: Althea Shaw. Althea is the sister of Jamiel Shaw, Sr. and the aunt of Jamiel Shaw, II. Ms. Shaw will share her experience as one of the leaders of the movement to pass Jamiel's Law as well as news from her local community. Welcome Althea!

Open Thread for Saturday

Today is the day of the big Circus in Sunland-Tujunga. Joseph Mailander wraps the whole sordid tale of Home Depot and our friends to the north in a nice big box with smart and pretty bow around it. This afternoon, Mrs. Ridley-Thomas brings her army of happy mediators to Mt. Gleason Junior High for the biggest Charlie Foxtrot since NBC brought us Supertrain.

Your guesses as to what will happen?

When The Circus Comes To Town

This coming Saturday, April 26th, the Delgadillo Traveling Circus of Backroom Deals will descend upon the community of Sunland-Tujunga in a display of stunning manipulation not seen in these parts since P.T. Barnum exclaimed " A Sucker Is Born Every Minute!"

Witness almost 100 mediators under the artistic direction of Avis Ridley-Thomas attempt the impossible. These highly trained professionals will try to mass hypnotize the 1000 participants and work to convince them to let down their guard against the evil desires of Agent Orange (aka Home Depot). It's hard to let your guard down after Home Depot has spent the last 3 years labeling opponents of their store as racists, spending $600,000 lobbying the City, and bussing in paid supporters. The mediators, who may not even realize the part they are really playing in this unprecedented extravaganza, will likely stick to the script and take their roles very seriously.

The room may be padded with outsiders, possibly hundreds, brought in by Home Depot (aka Agent Orange) in order to force the community to go along with their plans to convert a former K-Mart into the industrial warehouse store that they dream of. Home Depot owns numerous other former K-Mart sites in L.A., that they also want to transform. Could this be the test case and the precedent setter?

Mr. City Attorney, in his infinite wisdom, decided to allow anyone in the entire world to attend this show of shows, instead of keeping the matter between the local residents, who will be most affected, and the corporation wishing to infect.

If the mediators can come back to the City Attorney and say that no clear consensus emerged from the community (the community now being redefined as whoever shows up at the event), will this be the excuse a Judge or City Official needs to allow the Project to proceed?
Even though this is not a popularity contest (Home Depot still needs to go through a full E.I.R. whether they want to or not), "community" support can play a big factor in the process.


Will this be Manipulation's finest hour?
Come see for yourself. We can only hope
that our suspicions are wrong.

And to prepare you for this heart stopping event:

Read the list of questions that will be posed to the participants (written by the RAND Corporation, no less) follow this link:
http://www.no2homedepot.com/files/
Sunland-Tujunga_Discussion_Guide.doc

To see some disturbing photos of what Home Depot wants to do to Sunland-Tujunga,
visit this :
http://www.no2homedepot.com/HDSF.html

To just witness this marvel of manipulation is worth the price of admission alone! And just for you, the admission is free. The entire world is invited!

As an extra added attraction, a virtual perfect storm of L.A. Bloggers will be on hand to cover
the proceedings. The mighty Mayor Sam, Zuma Dogg, and Joseph Mailander will be there, live and in person, to report back to their respective readers. KNBC and several other media outlets will also be on hand to cover this mind boggling event.

Step right up, this is one feat of daring not to be missed.

The Sunland-Tujunga Dialogue
Saturday, April 26th,
1pm to 4 pm
Mount Gleason School
10965 Mt. Gleason Ave.
Sunland, CA 91040

Let The Games Begin!

The City Attorney's Office announced on Monday that the initial "dialogue" between Sunland-Tujunga and Home Depot will take place on April 26th in a 6 hour long marathon of mediation madness.

If you recall, Home Depot has suspended their $10,000,000.00 lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles and have agreed to undergo Project Permit Compliance Review. If the City does not grant Home Depot their permits to complete their store and open, they will reinstate the lawsuit. The City Attorney has also agreed to complete the process in no more than 5 months unless both parties agree to an extension.

This agreement was made without anyone seeing what Home Depot's application entails, nor was anyone in Sunland-Tujunga notified that this deal was in the works until after the ink had dried.
In some parts of the world, they refer to this as a "backroom deal". Here in Los Angeles, the City Attorney refers to Sunland-Tujunga as a "Special Interest Group" and considers the Community's input "irrelevant to the case".

Evidently not irrelevant enough to prevent the City Attorney from ordering mediation between Home Depot and the Community.

The Dispute Resolution Team of the City Attorney's office will have 100 facilitators on hand to meet with what they expect to be 1000+ residents at the April 26th meeting.

The Community is going into these mediations virtually blind.

All inquires to Avis Ridley-Thomas, the woman in charge of this dialogue (yes, it's Mark's wife) have been stonewalled, or have been form letter type responses. No one knows who is allowed to participate (please no bussed in supporters this time, Home Depot), what the format of the meetings are, and even more disturbing, why Home Depot is allowed to back out at any time if they don't like the way things are going and Sunland-Tujunga is not.
Either we show up and participate or Home Depot will work out something with who ever does show up (paid or not, resident or not).

Fair? Of course not. Dog and Pony show? Absolutely.
Confused? You are not alone.

Let the games begin.