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.