The soap opera continued Thursday with Home Depot announcing it cancelled the June 24 open house at Mt. Gleason Middle School because LAUSD officials asked them to -- contradicting the district's own statements.
And the home improvement giant, as part of its shifting strategy, said it was submitting plans for a scaled-down store in Sunland-Tujunga, two-thirds the size of most of its stores. It also provided more details about its plans in an effort to overcome well-organized opposition in the community.
The No Home Depot activists disputed some of Home Depot's assertions, saying, "It is unfortunate that Home Depot is blaming the STA for their own mistakes, creating a 'hostile environment', and accusing us of preventing people from getting information."
This is fascinating community conflict that will play out a long time. The community has become well organized and blocked Home Depot's efforts at every turn but the company has enormous resources and clearly is committed to opening the store.
Stay tuned.
And the home improvement giant, as part of its shifting strategy, said it was submitting plans for a scaled-down store in Sunland-Tujunga, two-thirds the size of most of its stores. It also provided more details about its plans in an effort to overcome well-organized opposition in the community.
The No Home Depot activists disputed some of Home Depot's assertions, saying, "It is unfortunate that Home Depot is blaming the STA for their own mistakes, creating a 'hostile environment', and accusing us of preventing people from getting information."
This is fascinating community conflict that will play out a long time. The community has become well organized and blocked Home Depot's efforts at every turn but the company has enormous resources and clearly is committed to opening the store.
Stay tuned.
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Twice in recent years, Los Angeles Magazine listed Kaye among the city’s most influential people, specifically in the area of politics. Kaye has been variously described in the media as the “accidental anarchist,” “the Patrick Henry of the San Fernando Valley” and a “passionate populist.” He is now committed to
carrying on his crusade for a greater Los Angeles as an ordinary citizen. Previously, Ron worked at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Associated Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Australian as well as papers
in Fairbanks, Alaska and Yakima, Wash. He also wrote for Newsweek magazine, The Guardian in London and the National Enquirer.
From what I understand the proposed remodel was going to be a 'scaled down' version of a standard Home Depot out of necessity. They had to work within the footprint of the building in order to adhere to strictly 'tenant improvements'. It's like saying the proposed Home Depot will be 20,000 feet smaller than the Kmart because the Kmart had a mezzanine that wasn't used for customers and sales. It doesn't mean the footprint of the store is 20,000 feet smaller. This kind of spin gets tiresome.
I went the SH property owners meeting and it seemed a lot of the questions asked by audience were answered "I don't know", "I wasn't invovled back then", "I'm not sure about that".
If I understood correctly thse were questions asked at other meetings and the Home Depot rep still didn't have upfront answers.
Home Depot says their store hours (5am to 11pm) are the same hours that KMart use to be open.
Maybe on the day after Christmas....