Haskins says no to Seth Gordon and Home Depot
'Seth Gordon [who is in Home Depot's pocket] wanted to do fundraising for my campaign, and I told him I didn't want him to do fundraising for me and I didn't want his money,'' Linda Haskins said about her City Commission campaign.
Bitchy but true comment by Ana Menendez in the same article:
Bitchy but true comment by Ana Menendez in the same article:
"The company has encountered similar opposition in other communities, only to find stores filled on opening day. Home Depot is the big orange monster that many love to hate -- until it comes time to remodel the kitchen."
Story here.
posted by Tom Falco at 8:42 AM
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31 Comments:
You know, I honestly listened and backed the Grove First in their plight to rid our neighborhood of Home Depot. Ive been to the 8th street store plenty of times and it is a total garbage dump. But, I gotta say that after reading all these posts, being bombarded by whining emails, and thinking about the big picture, Id rather not be supportive. The Grove First tactics have become childish and way overrun with emotion. While their intentions may be good, its the means they go about doing business that reduce them to the same, if not lower, level as HD. I agree with many of the other posters here that the Max Strang design is the way to go to preserve Milams and provide some aesthetics to a now defunct building that looks like crap. Also, it may be unfair to use the 8th street location as a read on how the Grove location will operate... The 8th St. location is in a rundown, crappy neighborhood, thus a crappy store. Much different than the Grove.
As for Milams, I can only hope that they make efforts to improve their store for the community. Ever since Fresh Market came to town, Milams has jacked up prices on many items with the realization that the only 2 supermarkets nearby are them and Fresh Market.
It is far more important to improve the infrastructure and security in Coconut Grove than to bash a credit worthy retailer who is going to refurbish a run down strip mall. HD is willing to invest in our community. What are you doing to make Coconut Grove a better place to live? Screaming and bitching? You blew it when you refused to compromise when you had a chance to, with the Max Strang design.
Focus on demanding that our streets are safe and well lit. Rid our streets and parks of panhandlers. Demand the city gets off its lazy ass and develop our waterfront, after 10 years of "manana." That is the role of our commissioner, the mayor and the residents. It's called looking at the big picture.
Lastly, leave Seth Gordon alone. He is just doing his job. Your anger should be directed toward city hall.
CLL
Home Depot may not be the most sensitive company around but they are trying to build the store because their research shows that the residents of the Grove want it! They may be mean but they are very good retailers and they know where their customers live!!
Meanwhile the Sarnoff Gang just looks more and more foolish. Someone should outfit him with a clown costume and a big red nose!
Let's not be overly optimistic about Home Depot's motives. They are not "investing in our community" nor are they "just giving us what we want." We have a good hardware store a few blocks from their proposed location. They are doing the same thing that starbucks does: oversaturating the market to drive out competitors by taking a (temporary) loss. Just because people use it does not mean it is in the people's best interest. I mean, compare home depot to a crack dealer--just giving the people what they want.
That being said. If we are going to have a big box retailer I'd rather have a home depot than a k-mart.
What ever side of the issue you are on, come now and be honest. All Home Depots work alike, hire about 100 people and max profit.
How can you not compare the 8th street store to anyohter store. Here THE DEPOT has been under the watch-glass and no improvements to the operations of 8th street, not one. Only they did take down the "America's Wharehouse" sign.
I understand the GroveFirst point-of-view, and I am not happy with there choice of "what" was communicated to the public and when. But, in the end, why does HomeDepot not meet with the nearby residents for an honest disucssion of what be worked out?
This is the issue, only the "connected" are talked to and with, not the real locals. So I am sick and tire of all party's. Eitherway, somebody is going to make a buck, and the real locals will be ingonred.
So, I am going to give the BIG whatever to the pro Depot-Srange store, b/c NONE OF THE NEIGHBORS WERE EVER CONTACTED ABOUT THE DESIGN, only presente with the design. And I am loosing faith the the GroveFrist b/c they will not get to the bottom of C-1, and if the city is dragg'n it's feet then take to another level.
I know that many neighbors did meet with senior people at Home Depot - including almost everybody on Bridgeport.
Life is compromise and while the neighbors may not be totally happy, I've heard that HD did respond to their concerns
I thought the Strang design was a direct response to meetings with the neighbors (and their comissioners who represent them).
Ahh.... there was one meeting and the plans where shown, issues raised were never addressed.... Another meeting did occur, but that was closed, and not everyone was invited, on sub-set/select few. But, Home Depot has never contact anyone on my side of Bridgeport!!!! But Milams has sent out many mailings....
So, people have meet, but it's not like all the locals were contacted, really.
So that's my point, the Strange-plan is their plan, why not build the Strange store, but smaller, say 70k?? Profit max-out thats why.
The commisioner meet with Depot, but his staff was not open to the filling in the rest of the people, and the carrot of "monthly" meetings between the Depot and local residents never happened.
The points in the Class II are normal operations in C-1, and the other concerns were not addressed, and residents where never shown a draft of those operation parameters.
The past-commisioner's office did not respond to residents, honestly.
If anyone has been direclty contacted by Home Depot, it's news to me.
"The 8th St. location is in a rundown, crappy neighborhood, thus a crappy store. Much different than the Grove."
As a neighbor of the Home Depot store on SW 8th Street I resent that comment. I am obviously an opponent of the Home Depot hence my presence on this blog, but it didn't happen overnight. That section of West Little Havana was a nice little neighborhood once and my family has owned a home there for thirty (30) years. It was only after Home Depot came that the neighborhood became overrun with hookers, trash, noise, vendors, and trucks unloading everywhere but the loading docks. Complaints to the City for the most part are ignored, and worse, complaints to Home Depot's management are met with mockery. When we as neighbors went to Home Depot's store manager to request the Christmas tree cutting be moved from the west (residential) side of their parking lot to the east commercial side (Don Pan bakery) we were told to "go call Help Me Howard." You should be able to see this for yourselves with the spiteful way the residents of Coconut Grove have already been treated by Home Depot (telling you that the Max Strang design is now off the table as punishment). Reading these posts just makes me want to shake some of you people and shout "wake up."
You don't realize what you are getting with Home Depot. After a while everything they do that ruins the neighborhood becomes an accepted practice and the downhill slide starts. It's not the residents of our neighborhood who are dumping the trash on the streets. Additionally, you are not losing Walgreens and as far as Milams is concerned the store was never stellar. There are three (3) Publix Markets that are not far from the Grove in the Gables and the newest one is the best Publix I've ever been in. You should thank God you have someone like Marc Sarnoff and the people in The Grove First who can see what some of you can not.
You would be better off with nothing than with Home Depot on that property IMO.
But there WILL be a home Depot there. That is an absolute certainty.
The question is: will it be the relatively attractive Max Strang store with rules attached OR the really nasty store with no rules. There IS no other option. There probably could have been a real compromise if the GROVE FIRST hadn't taken their absolutist "give no quarter" stance.
I assume they learned that from some gadflies who devote their entire lives to tilting at Big Box Windmills....but those people don't have to live with the consequences of their wrong-headed advice.
WE DO!!!
I bet you wouldn't say that if you lived right next to where their proposed store will be. Those are the people who I really pity. And by the way, Home Depot is not, I repeat not definitely coming to the Grove at this point and those of us who are against them will never give it up. I think Commissioner Regalado said it best when he said that we make the laws and we can change the laws. There is nothing stopping the Commission from keeping Home Depot out of the Grove and we will find out what happens at the hearing, except for perhaps the possiblity that some of them have been paid off by Home Depot.
Well, then why don't you all vote for Linda Haskins who has lived in the Grove for a little better than a year - someone who was second in charge to Joe Arriola, controlled the purse strings, but now backs away from every bad decision that was made for the past 6 yrs she sat in that seat. What has she done for you lately? If you want another Manny clone in place, by all means vote for her. Marc has been a volunteer for the Grove advocating for everything from dog parks, to trash cans, to saving trees, to No Home Depot. Home Depot came along long before Marc decided to run for office. It is a quality of life issue. Kathy Harris probably lives in some elegant gated community in South Grove and sends her staff to Home Depot when she needs nails. Let's be real. We haven't had anyone representing us at the Commisison for a long time. For all of you so quick to put down someone, what have you done lately to improve the Grove, what have you volunteered for, and what have you done to make the Grove a better place?
Marc Sarnoff is a typical neighborhood crusader....full of zeal and fight but with nothing to offer when there are no dragons to slay. Not a bad guy in the beginning but who sold his soul to the Dark Side when he decided to cash in his standing with neighbors to seek elective office. His last bit of credibility went down the drain when he aligned himself with the disgraced former City manager Joe Arriola who is quietly running Marc’s campaign along with lobbyist Steve Marin. Political observers may recall that City Auditor Victor Igwe made a big issue of the $39 million in contracts awarded without bids to companies represented by Marin, a close friend of Arriola.
So who do you think people should vote for then? I agree that Linda Haskins wouldn't add a thing. It's time we got some REAL representation on the Commission.
Regarding Linda Haskins, it's common knowledge one Linda's campaign managers has hired someone who has promised to deliver one thousand Absentee Ballots for her election. For those who might remember this is how Joe Sanchez won his last election.
Here's the tie-breaker between those who might use questionable campaign techniques: I will go with the one (Haskins) who doesn't hold herself out as a reformer championing the neighborhoods who then aligns himself with the most corrupt insider ever (i.e. Sarnoff)!
I hate lying hypocrites!!!
If you hate lying hypocrites why would you vote for Haskins?
What has she lied about?
Linda Haskins gave a presentation to the City Commissioners where she promoted the $169 Mil taxpayer giveaway to Midtown Miami. (Midtown Miami is now for sale for $300+ Mil). Linda Haskins promised the parking would be free. Commissioner Teele said he would vote for the giveaway because the parking would be free. Miami Today wrote a story quoting Haskins. The parking is not free. It was never free. The public pays to park in the garage they paid for.
Isn't Linda Haskins too tied in with Manny Diaz? Didn't Manny Diaz appoint Haskins to Winton's seat? Who is Haskins campaign manager? Isn't it the same guy who runs Manny's campaigns? Isn't Haskins using Manny's campaign treasurer? Isn't Haskins using Manny's ad people? And isn't she raising money from the Home Depot attorneys and lobbyists? Isn't she accepting money from real estate developers who have pending projects? Awaiting commission approvals... Seriously...
I don't know anything about most of that crap but you'd have to show me where she ever misrepresented anything about the finances at Midtown. The so-called "giveaway" (a completely dishonest characterization) occurred because a private group had the balls to take the shittiest and most useless piece of land in Miami and invest hundreds of millions to make it a nice place to live and shop. The money the City ADVANCED them to pay for infrastructure will be totally repaid to the city from the taxes that will be paid on the improved land that never would have been paid on the useless land. Why do people who, by virtue of natural intelligence and professional training, ought to understand this very solid and routine method of financing development deals now PRETEND they don’t? What’s THEIR agenda? What do they hope to gain by misrepresenting this very smart deal?
Linda Haskins promoted the $169 Mil taxpayer giveaway to Midtown Miami developers. Manny Diaz asked Haskins to carry that bucket. It was pushed hard by behind the scenes lobbyists. The truth is that the developer did not need the taxpayer money. He had already announced the project was fully financed. And he sold a third of the site, now used by retail, to a Ohio company for almost what he paid for 100% of the entire site. The $169 Mil taxpayer funded giveaway was the icing on the cake. And now the developer is certainly enjoying his cake. He is trying to sell a minority interest for over $300 Mil. Don't you think the $300 Mil includes the $169 Mil from the Linda/Manny gang? And now the taxpayers get to pay the developer to park in the garage financed by quess who? The taxpayers. We have to agree with anonymous above. It was very smart deal. For the developer. Perhaps Dist 2 can elect a commissioner who is independent? And someone who will look out for the residents?
The City of Miami Commissioners with Interim Commissioner Linda Haskins just voted to settle another lawsuit by agreeing to pay an out of state company $750,000, plus the various costs to defend this suit over the past several years. This lawsuit started because the City legal dept, the Mayor, city staff including at the time Linda Haskins and all the Commissioners neglected to proof read the first page of a lease. And city staff allowed a bad deal to fester. It is time we put an end to business as usual. Vote for Marc Sarnoff on Nov 21st.
Linda Haskins and lobbyist Seth Gordon. Even though Linda Haskins stated to the Herald she told Seth Gordon not to raise money for her Seth Gordon was just caught sending out E-mails asking people to attend a fundraiser for her this week. Seth Gordon is E-mailing the Haskins approved invite. The E-mail is being distributed around the internet. Who is in charge of the Haskins campaign?
Another lie from Haskins. She stated to the Herald she told Gordon not to help her campaign... Now he is caught raising money for her?
I love the Grove as much as anyone and have fought for its preservation for more than 30 years. But District 2 is larger than Coconut Grove and what goes on in other parts of the District and the City effect what goes on in the Grove. It is important for the new Commissioner to understand the process and know that it takes three votes to pass anything. The person I will vote for will be the person who understands the process and is able to bring others along to his/her point of view. One person can make a difference on the Commission if they have the ability to work well with the other commissioners. Most of the problems we have today in overdevelopment are because of our Zoning Code. Miami 21 is addressing some of the worst problems in the current zoning code. The reason it is taking so long is that the City is bending over backwards to have community input. It will not please everyone, but as a homeowner I will sleep better knowing that some of the biggest problems will end once Miami 21 goes into effect. On another note, the Mid-Town Miami project is not a developer's dream. It provides much needed retail for people in District 2 as well as affordable housing. It is mixed use, a variety of heights and well designed. It also creates many new jobs, improves a blighted area and demonstrates principles of New Urbanism--creating a pedestrian friendly neighborhood that keeps people off the road. With these benefits is it bad to use some Community Development money to build new roads, provide infrastructure, etc. ? That is what Community Development is for.
Only one candidate has ever won an election and has the experience to lead by forging alliances. Marc Sarnoff is the elected Chairman of the Coconut Grove Village Council. Marc Sarnoff will definitely get his initiatives passed. Because Marc's initiatives will benefit and honor all the residents of Miami.
Miami 21. There have been no public hearings on Miami 21 for many months and none are scheduled. Obviously Miami 21 is having problems. The initial proposals upset residents, business owners and developers, yet no public hearings are currently scheduled to fix the problems.
Midtown Miami is getting panned. No green space, construction delays, no affordable housing included in final contract and now residents are upset they have to pay - to shop. Even the developer is trying to unload the mess.
Time to elect an independent commissioner.
And when will Linda Haskins answer the taxpayers questions on why she demands a taxpayer paid SUV and driver to drive her to campaign events? Doesn't she know the City is running a deficit?
Everytime a reporter ask Haskins about Seth Gordon she throws him under a bus. Yet there she was on Nov 17th and Nov 18th at Milams handing out propaganda arm in arm with Gordon. They looked pretty cozy. Oh, isn't he the Home Depot lobbyist?
Who does Haskins work for? Developers and lobbyists?
Time for a change.
We have seen Linda Haskins and Seth Gordon arm in arm at Milams. Perhaps, now that Haskins just got crushed in the election dispite outspending her opponent 5 to 1, Haskins and Gordon can go off arm in arm into retirement. To Iraq.
I guess the change just happened. Marc defeated Haskins 65% to 35%.
It appears Seth Gordon should be paying Sarnoff campaign workers for advice. Gordon's advice to Haskins didn't work out too well, did it?
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