Home Depot pictures tell the story
A reader sent me these pictures. They were taken Saturday, October 21, 2006 at the Home Depot on SW 8th Street.
As the reader states: "Even if Max Strang had designed the Home Depot on SW 8th Street these pictures would be the same. These pictures are a direct result of the operation and management of a Home Depot Store in the City of Miami and have nothing to do with the design of the store. "
I have to agree, this could be the Grove in a year or so.
As the reader states: "Even if Max Strang had designed the Home Depot on SW 8th Street these pictures would be the same. These pictures are a direct result of the operation and management of a Home Depot Store in the City of Miami and have nothing to do with the design of the store. "
I have to agree, this could be the Grove in a year or so.
posted by Tom Falco at 8:43 AM
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27 Comments:
Clearly correct. What a mess. No matter how many trees are preserved, no matter who would design it, Home Depot is an Industrial Warehouse. The kind of customers a Home Depot attracts such as contractors only encourage the kind of dumping pictured here. The most disturbing picture is the trash with the Home Depot sign on the side walk and the trash can with graffiti which say it all when it comes to the attitude of Home Depot's management and their sense of community.
I though the trash can was a love note to Marc Sarnoff.....
If you go to any Home Depot Operation in South Florida it's the same thing. That is why it is rediculous to put so much emphasis on "if only we had gotten the Max Strang design". It wouldn't matter because within six (6) months there would be dumping, vendors, trucks unloading everywhere, and customers of Home Depot parking off-site and walking to their property which is totally inappropriate for Coconut Grove.
All this is nonsense. I'm a home remodeler and have been to every conceivable type of Home Depot in several cities. Some are clean and tidy. Others are pig pens. What you get is determined by whether a store serves the consumer market or the construction trades. As a community, our mission should be to make sure the Grove store is a consumer store and not a trade store. I think that's Home Depot’s and the City’s plan. It just makes good business sense for them to segment the market.
In response to the last poster, at only meeting Home Depot made with locals on Bridgeport, we asked why not make the store for consumers and not stock building supplies. Kevin from Home Depot replied that they would stock everything the 8th Street store, and Home Depot stocks stores based on purchase histories in local to regional areas.
So, how would you propose to have a consumer based store, when the proposed store is huge. Additionally, we asked why not build a store like Expo, and he again replied the Expos are on their way out.
Honestly, a nice well made/designed small Home Depot could be wonderful, but the 8th Street store is basic data on how HD operates in our area. And, HD is not interested in a small footprint, they want the big store to make a strong profit. What else would you have us to base our decision of support on…these pictures are real. I have seen worse in that parking lot (old car batteries, a case of broken beer bottles, auto body work… it’s treated like a surface dump). The 8th Street store is not run well, and I wish City Government would help those that live adjacent to it. I think it comes down to a lack of code enforcement by the City.
-Bill Anderson
The Home Depot stores in my home town of St. Pete, Fla. are very neat, so I don't think that it's a corporate culture issue. (But, of course, the City of St. Pete also has things like functioning sidewalks and timed traffic lights -- unheard of in Miami.) One might argue that many of the conditions at the S.W. 8th St. store are a function of the attitudes of the local demographic, as well as the fact that every small pseudo-contractor in Miami lines up there first thing after getting off the boat.
Whether this would be significantly different in Coconut Grove is a prediction that I wouldn't venture to make.
As a neighbor of the Home Depot Warehouse on SW 8th Street I can tell you we have tried everything to get these problems rectified without success. The NET is useless and as sympathetic as our Commissioner is to the problems, nothing is being done. Imagine what would happen if you get a Commissioner who is insensitive to the problems caused by the proposed store.
As neighbors we have made numerous complaints about a variety of operations practices and environmental conditions to Home Depot's Home Office in Atlanta which go unresolved and even simple requests are ignored. If you think the City of Miami is going to enforce any agreements that are made with Home Depot or any codes you can forget about it, and of that I am certain from my own experience.
Looking at the pictures above there is one of a fruit vendor leaning against a pole. The pole was put in along with others many months ago along SW 31st Avenue for parking meters that never arrived. Many of the poles have been either cut off at the sidewalk or bent down to the concrete, and this was not done by residents. Another noteworthy picture is the one of trash on the sidewalk with a Home Depot merchandise sign in the middle of it (note where it says "warehouse" on this sign). This sidewalk is not on Home Depot property yet these signs as well as other debris litter the entire neighborhood. There is trash everywhere and nobody is picking it up, least of all the City of Miami. Home Depot has never used the loading docks behind the building and instead opts to unload from the front of the store or from SW 31st Avenue or SW 9th Street.
Simply put, you people who are indifferent to a Home Depot coming to the Grove better wake up fast and smell the coffee. I would like the person who posted above who stated he was a contractor to show me one "nice" Home Depot store in South Florida. In my neighborhood we are still wondering how the City of Miami allowed a Home Depot to park itself right in the middle of a residential neighborhood but before we knew it there it was. The difference is we didn't have anyone to fight for us and there was no other example because most Home Depots are not so close to people's homes.
The pictures are an accurate depiction. The atmosphere is bleak.
Everything you need is at Shell Lumber. If they don't have it, they will get it. PLUS, free, good coffee, popcorn, candy, and balloons for kids.
The prices are more than fair at Shell Lumber. I used to try and save money by going to 8th Street, only to regret it. It's not worth the extra time and the whole experience is depressing.
Did I mention the free popcorn?
Hey! How much is the owner of Shell Lumber pumping into Marc Sarnoff's campaign? Is that want this is all about? Shell is afraid of competition and willing to do whatever it takes to drive a competitor away? That's not very American!!
The person who wants to know if Shell Lumber is afraid of competition needs to stop sniffing glue and look at the facts. Shell Lumber has nothing to do with Grovites not wanting a trash dump in the middle of the highest tax base in the city. Grovites SUPPORT this city and if they don't want a warehouse in the middle of a residential neighborhood the city should respect that request. The commission was given 13,000 signatures of people who opposed H/D in Coconut Grove. HELLO! H/D will employ a hundred people in there who probably don't even live in the district and most likely don't vote. It's time the Commissioners stopped serving big business, developers and other flash-in-the-pan Johnny-come-lately's and listened to the residents who pay their salaries, vote and support this city. Marc Sarnoff is standing by his community which is more than I can say for Linda Haskins who is accepting campaign contributions, parties and who knows what else from H/D and their lawyers. Does she really think the residents of District 2 are so brain dead that they actually believe she's not going to vote for H/D if she's elected. And as for Frank Rollason, the fire tax was instituted during his watch. Now he's telling the voters he's going to get them a full refund. I'm wondering how he's going to do that when 7 of his cronies have already stolen it. The last thing we need on the commission is someone previously employed in government. And we sure as hell don't need a H/D in the heart of the tax district that supports this city.
Pathetic whiners. You lost. What are you going to do now?
The fact that the 8th Street store is so awful... is precisely why I want a new, clean and convenient Home Depot in the Grove.
Why does the racist bastard above assume the employees of a future Home Depot wont't live in lilly white Coconut Grove? Because they couldn't afford to? Because the decent White Folk of Marc Sarnoff's Coconut Grove won't allow them to? WHY?????
I can't believe you would whine about Marc Sarnoff who has done nothing but try to help our community; unlike Linda Haskins who is a Manny Diaz follower and who says Johnny is her Commissioner, she was CFO of the City while all those bad decisions were being made and she never stepped up to the plate but now blames everyone that was ever there or is there now. Get a grip guys. If you want more of the same, then Linda Haskins should be your choice. Just don't complain later.
I'm puzzled by the vitriol aimed at Mayor Diaz and suspended Commissioner Winton. They are both outstanding individuals who, like all of us, have had a few (very few) lapses in judgment.
When he was elected seven years ago Winton was a breath of fresh air on a City Commission that was then embroiled in political intrigue and foolish behavior. He was forthright and compassionate, able to sensibly balance conflicting interests and totally committed to the public good. In the span of those seven years, we know of a tiny handful of truly questionable decisions (as opposed to decisions where one might merely disagree). It appears that everyone in City government shared some amount of blame for the Fire Fee debacle. And his offish behavior the airport was of course shameful. But placed into the context of his entire public life, it was a minor blemish.
And as to Mayor Diaz, I believe he has been an outstanding mayor whose one overriding error (and error may not be strong enough a word) was in appointing and then keeping Joe Arriola as city manger. As city manager, Arriola was arrogant, pompous and inept and abused his staff and everyone around him. Beyond that, however, everything Diaz has done has impressed me as thoughtful and progressive.
I couldn't agree more. Most people have completely forgotten the incompetence and 'leadership vacuum' of the Mayor Carollo era!
Most of the people who live near the SW 8th Street store LOVE that there might be a Home Depot coming to the Grove. Then about half of the dirt, sleeze, noise, and trash will be in the Grove and no longer in their neighborhood decreasing a huge burden.
A new, clean, and convenient Home Depot in the Grove? Just look at the pictures above and tell me how long it's going to be new and clean. And when it turns into the SW 8th Street Store, who you gonna call?
Granted he is not an HD employee, but the picture of the guy leaning up against the post totally personafies the work ethic of HD employees and many others in the city of Miami. I love the trash can pic too...classic.
Anyone who calls Coconut Grove lily white knows nothing about the Grove. Coconut Grove has always had an African American community in the heart of the Grove. Have you ever heard of the Goombay Festival?
South Miami and Coral Gables refused to have a HD because their residents didn't want it. Coconut Grove has a population of 16,000. 13,000 people signed a petition saying they didn't want a HD. Is anyone in the city listening? I rest my case.
Don't base your case on phony documents.
They are full of duplicate signatures, phony names, non-residents and many are the same people who later -- after they learned the facts -- signed another petition IN FAVOR of the project.
It's all bull. You would have to be crazy to live in Coconut Grove and want Home Depot to open there. That remark was probably posted by someone who works for Home Depot.
Is it too late to add Len Scito to the ballot? I like this guy! LEN-NY LEN-NY LEN-NY!!!
I don't agree with the statement that the City of Miami is growing and therefore Coconut Grove must change too. That is a lot of hogwash. Zoning laws are supposed to be protecting us from that. In these days of imminent domain (and don't think it can't happen here) and politicians ignoring the will of the people they are supposed to be representing, if we want to keep our neighborhood nice and protect the value of our homes we can't allow City Hall to take advantage of us. Just my opinion.
I have great respect for Len Scinto. I have seen him volunteer often and he has the courage to sign his name.
Home Depot is a bully. Support Marc Sarnoff.
Nobody complains when Home Depot and it's employees refurb bad areas or build for the less fortunate. Most HD's are clean and have respect for the locality that they are located in. Kind of hard in this area.( crime, street vendors, vagabonds, employees cars being vandalized)
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