avisletters

Sample of Letters Sent To Avis Ridley-Thomas

Dear Representatives,

I received this email letting me know that the DRT (Dispute Resolution Team) is seeking further "dialogue" in
the matter of Home Depot attempting to circumvent the law and open a store that is, strictly speaking, not
allowed, in Sunland Tujunga.

I must say that this letter actually did more to damage your own reputation and the confidence you need from
the people of this community (that you will be a neutral force in this endeavor) then anything else you could
have done. The reason is simple. You have not done what you said you would do in the
first place and frankly you stated in your letter that further dialogue was wanted by so many at the first one. I
personally went around to the tables at that dialogue, as did my husband, and what we saw was absolutely
overwhelming. It was an overwhelming number of people that were there to express that this "dialogue" was
not resolving anything and they saw no purpose in just continuing to say the same things over and over while
no one is listening. In short there were maybe two or three that wanted further dialogue....out of the hundreds
that did not think this was doing any good. I'm sorry to be so blunt and crude but it seemed more like a feeble
attempt at "group therapy" rather than a dialogue though most felt more ire at the attempt than any relief.

Relief will come on the day that Home Depot concedes this was a mistake, apologize to the good people of
Sunland Tujunga, and sublets to a general merchant.

Please complete what you said you were going to do, earlier, first. Evaluate honestly and objectively, and
catalogue and send this to the council office.

Don't forget we were all there. Several hundred of us know the truth. We know how many came. We know how
many were opposed to HD and these people unanimously cried out that there is no way to mediate or mitigate
the indisputable facts of this case. Our resolve grows stronger, I hope yours does too.

They lied, they lied some more, they tried to hire support, they tried to"buy" the planning commission, they
tried to sully the reputation of our good community, and they
shamelessly tried to "buy" their way through the city council.

Your job, as you have stated, needs to be done. Please do that first.

Sincerely,
Tomi Lyn Bowling
Sunland Resident/Stakeholder
_____________________________

Dear Ms. Ridley-Thomas:

A friend sent me a copy of your letter dated July 14, 2008 to "Sunland-Tujunga Stakeholder" regarding
continued community dialogue about the proposed Home Depot store in Sunland. Frankly, I am disappointed
that this letter was only addressed to those people who attended the first meeting on April 26, 2008. Although
I was unable to attend that meeting, I, like many of my neighbors, are keenly interested in knowing of all such
meetings and are given the opportunity to voice our concerns about this project. At a minimum, this letter
should have been sent to all residents in the affected Zip Codes.

How can there be a second meeting when your report on the first meeting has not been given to the City
Council, let alone made available to all interested parties in the community? Your letter lists several potential
"interested parties," including "residents of Sunland-Tujunga who have expressed support for Home Depot."
What about the residents of Sunland-Tujunga who do not support the Home Depot project? Or, residents of
La Tuna Canyon, Shadow Hills, Lake View Terrace and even La Cresenta who may not support the project
either?   Should not their voices be heard as well?

Lastly, I am shocked at the short window you have given (seven days) in which to receive requests from those
interested in participating in the second meeting. Your letter states the need to "provide a reasonable period
of time to consider and respond to this request for your input," yet you do not give the community that same
"reasonable period of time" in which to develop the list? What is the rush, particularly when we don't yet have
a record of the first meeting? The availability of volunteers should not dictate the timeframe for this important
matter. If the current volunteer does not have the time, I will volunteer to assist your department! Actually, is
this not the basic function of your office that should be handled by staff members? This is 'vacation time' for
many people and setting unreasonable deadlines is not productive to the Dispute Resolution Process.

For the record, please include me on your mailing list for all future matters handled by your office on this
issue. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Gary Swinhart
Sunland

________________________________

Dear Ms. Ridley-Thomas,

I just learned of your request to have more community leaders involved in the Dispute Resolution Process with
regards to the Sunland-Tujunga community's opposition to Home Depot.

I am disappointed that the community was given only one week to respond to your request for additional
stakeholder groups. I am also confused as to why additional meetings are being planned when the
evaluation/summary of the previous meeting has not been completed. It seems to me that a complete
evaluation might clearly reveal the feelings of the community, removing the need for additional meetings and
saving time for all parties involved.

As the Executive Director of McGroarty Arts Center, the only community arts center in Sunland-Tujunga, I
didn't feel it was necessary to involve myself in this discussion. From where I sit, community opinion is clearly
united against a Home Depot store opening here. I make this conclusion based on comments from our staff,
Board of Directors, and the hundreds of families that come to our center each week (incidentally, our student
body represents the ethnic and economic make-up of our community according to the most recent census
data).

Your letter seems to indicate that community opposition to Home Depot is not clear from where you sit. I
would, therefore, like to add my voice to the Dispute Resolution Program in hopes of bringing clarity to this
issue as soon as possible.

I also recommend the involvement of the Apperson Street School PTA.

Best regards,
Claire Knowlton

Claire Knowlton
Executive Director
McGroarty Arts Center
_________________________________

Ms. Ridley-Thomas,

I received your letter regarding the Sunland Tujunga dialogue.    The organizers are to be complimented on
the manner in which the dialogue was conducted. The facilitator at my table was very helpful and kept the
dialogue moving.

At the end of the dialogue session each table presented their summary.   I do not recall anyone requesting
that the dialogue or mediation process continue.   One of the points made very clear during the summaries is
that an Environmental Impact Report needs to be conducted.   A full EIR is essential.   That isn’t something
that can be mediated. You don’t substitute an environmental ‘study’ for a full EIR.   You do not shortcut
CEQA.   This is an important quality of life issue for residents of Sunland-Tujunga.

It was our understanding that you would be completing an evaluation and summary of all of the
questionnaires, letters, emails, faxes, and telephone calls you received regarding this matter and that this
material would be part of the public record.   Do we know when this will be available?    It is important that our
City Councilmember Greuel has this information. The community also needs to be apprised of your evaluation.

Your help and assistance is appreciated,

Karen Zimmerman

_________________________________

Dear Ms. Ridley-Thomas:

I understand that as of now, there has been no evaluation or summary distributed of the April 26, 2008
"Sunland-Tujunga Dialogue" as was to have been done as indicated in a May e-mail from you. Until this is
finished and distributed to the office of Councilmember Wendy Greuel and the community, no further talks
should be scheduled. Additionally, the letter asking for additional names that should be represented in a
continuation meeting being proposed was just received yesterday--getting the information to you by Monday,
July 21, 2008, is not allowing enough time for people to respond. It is only fair to ALL stakeholders to allow
more time to compile names of other stakeholder groups, as well as having available documentation and a
true picture of what was expressed by the participants on April 26.

Your understanding and cooperation is appreciated. Thank you.

Donna M. Arcaro

_________________________________

Good morning Ms. Ridley-Thomas:

My name is Paula Warner and I am a 19 year resident of Sunland-Tujunga. Thank you for your letter of
yesterday regarding the possible further communications between the parties in this regard.

My first question to you is has your evaluation and summary of the Sunland-Tujunga Dialogue which occurred
on April 26, 2008 been delivered to Councilmember Greuel and to the Community of Sunland-Tujunga? As a
community member, I have not seen a copy of any evaluation done by your office.

My next question is do you plan on delivering an evaluation and summary of the Sunland-Tujunga Dialogue to
Councilmember Greuel and to the Community, and if so when?

I believe that no further talks with anyone can continue until such evaluation and summary from your office is
complete and delivered to Councilmember Greuel and to the Community.

Thank you for your time.

Paula Warner

_________________________________

Dear Avis,

Can you please give specifics regarding the following statement:

"A majority of participants expressed a preference for the Dispute Resolution Program to continue to convene
the dialogues"

I would just like to know the figures on this.

Best,
Tony Bowling

_________________________________

Received your letter and it seems obvious to me that the community is not working with a neutral arbitrator.
The next meeting should follow after the results of the first meeting is released, where about 300 of my
neighbors attended at Mt. Gleason Middle School. I think we all know what the results were but you need to
acknowledge them in public. Not releasing the results and rushing into a second meeting with little time to
respond gives the appearance that we are not on a level playing field. Are we?

The fact that you have stalled for months on releasing the results of the first meeting has made it possible for
Home Depot to meet with small groups in the community and continue to lie to the public when they tell the
chamber of Commerce, SHOPA, and other organization that there are only about 50 people in S/T who do not
want an HD. Is that what the Mt. Gleason hearing shows?

Yes, there are other groups that should be represented. You have conveniently left out the Sr. Mobile Home
Park on the other side of the West wall who will have to put up with the noise of the diesels and backup
beepers and the diesel pollution that causes cancer and respiratory problems. This goes for the South side
and the East side as well. You left out the local grammar school parents and faculty less than 500 feet from
HD who will be affected by pollution, traffic, and since S/T has been a haven for asthmatics since the early
1900s, you left them out as well.

Respectfully submitted,

W. Lloyd Hitt, Pharm D

Resident since 1946
Asthmatic
S/T Pharmacy business owner from 1959 to 1996
Member of the STNC
President of the Little Landers Historical Society
Member of the S/T Coordinating Council

_________________________________
Dear Avis Ridley-Thomas,
About this letter concerning the "dispute resolution program". I understand what it is you are there for, and
what you are trying to do. What you don't understand is that WE DON'T WANT OR NEED A HOME DEPOT
HERE IN OUR TINY LITTLE TOWN! You talk about having HD supporters at the next meeting. Are you aware
that the only supporters for this store had to be bussed in and paid for from other cities by HD's public
relations firm? I live here. I know a very large amount of my neighbors. I know quite a few people in my
surrounding area. What I don't know is of anyone who supports this stupid idea. You will have to excuse me if I
sound like I don't trust you. But with a community that has been this vocal, this united, and this opposed to
such an idea has someone in here trying to mediate, so the big corporation can have their way, well how
would you expect me to feel? If you personally had this happen to you, and you were facing the mess that this
WILL create, and the devaluation of your property and of your very city, would you fight it? Have you seen this
location? Have you seen it at 7:30 when children are on their way to school? I believe you should be ashamed
of yourself for even being involved.....
Are you aware that it is against the law to have this type of business within 400 feet of a school? Are you
aware of how many children use this avenue to go to school each morning? Will you feel OK when the first
child gets run over and killed or maimed by a truck trying to get in or out of their parking lot? I will personally
insure that you are made aware of EVERY SINGLE INCIDENT THAT OCCURS if this goes through. Then you
can tell me you were doing the right thing.
not very respectfully,
John Ciasulli

_________________________________

Dear Ms Ridley-Thomas,
Thank you for your latest communication, unfortunately there are several problems here with this "dialog". The
local Sunland-Tujunga groups such as the NoHomeDepot as well as The Sunland-Tujunga Alliance are still
awaiting the original dialog documents and bottom line there cannot be any dialog unless first, your own office
comes through with requested documentation from the first session and secondly; the Home depot comply with
the original request of proceeding with the EIR as well as Traffic studies to name a few of our requests.
Bottom line, as a stakeholder in Tujunga it is beyond me why none of the City employees, as well as the CA's
office cannot grasp or understand that dialog is impossible with a corrupt corporation as well in my eyes, an
extremely bias City. Bottom line, personally I am tired of seeing my tax dollars being wasted over a non-issue.
The State as well as the City are in a serious state of crisis and to me (in my very humble opinion) this is
obscene and wasteful.
Let's stop while still, maybe ahead and stop the damages while we still can. Bottom line, unless the HD
complies, which is impossible - no dialog is possible and all of us; including myself are being profoundly
insulted. (Again)
With respect & regards,
Barbara D. Johnson

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