Marc Sarnoff's Home Depot letter
Here is a letter to the editor in today's "Neighbors", written by Marc Sarnoff:
COCONUT GROVE HOME DEPOT FAILED TO FOLLOW THE LAW
This will serve as a response to the fears that Home Depot will retrofit into the former Kmart and we will lose Walgreens and Milams.
First and foremost, Walgreens purchased the Oil Can Change on the corner of Bird and U.S. 1, so there is no concern for the drugstore -- it will be 150 feet away. Walgreens has always wanted a drive-through pharmacy, and Home Depot never allowed sufficient space for that.
Home Depot will not be retrofitting into the Kmart space because of its failure to comply with the law passed well in advance of the filing of the retrofit plans with the city. The law is plain and clear on this. There is no argument for grandfathering the Kmart Certificate of Use, because the Kmart Certificate of Use lapsed more than six months ago and Home Depot did not attempt to maintain the use.
The Max Strang plan, which ''few'' have chosen to call the community plan is the only pending permit Home Depot has arguable rights to for utilization of this site, and it must overcome the zoning board's denial of the city administration's granting of the permit. The Max Strang plan may become the community plan when Home Depot does away with the use of contractors and their day laborers and when they respect the trees intended to be destroyed that were appealed by the Treeman Trust. There are other necessary accommodations that must be made, including the proper storage of inflammable liquids as well as the storage of pesticides and other toxic material next to Bridgeport Avenue. The fire last Sunday morning at Grove Gate, which received little publicity, clearly illustrates the need to protect the neighborhood from the storage of the explosive materials as well as the potentially lethal toxic materials.
What if Home Depot were operating and these inflammables caused a cascade effect and brought toxic materials over the wall of Home Depot? There are moms and dads on Bridgeport with infants and toddlers who deserve a heck of a lot better of this so-called community plan, a plan that fails to address the storage of significant quantities of the toxic substances.
You may remember reading of the fire at a Home Depot in Boston that brought a cloud of toxic material to the neighbors for days. We do not want to risk that in the Grove.
There is still work to be done, but, all of you out there, please take stock that Home Depot failed to follow the law. Why? Those reasons could be anyone's guess.
Keep in mind the Oct. 12 fundraiser for Linda Haskins, which Home Depot lawyers hosted where they raised more than $250,000.
When they began to retrofit, the city failed to make them follow the law. A judge will easily find they failed to follow the law and they will lose their permit to retrofit.
MARC SARNOFF
COCONUT GROVE
Editor's note: Marc Sarnoff is a candidate for the District 2 Miami City Commission seat.
COCONUT GROVE HOME DEPOT FAILED TO FOLLOW THE LAW
This will serve as a response to the fears that Home Depot will retrofit into the former Kmart and we will lose Walgreens and Milams.
First and foremost, Walgreens purchased the Oil Can Change on the corner of Bird and U.S. 1, so there is no concern for the drugstore -- it will be 150 feet away. Walgreens has always wanted a drive-through pharmacy, and Home Depot never allowed sufficient space for that.
Home Depot will not be retrofitting into the Kmart space because of its failure to comply with the law passed well in advance of the filing of the retrofit plans with the city. The law is plain and clear on this. There is no argument for grandfathering the Kmart Certificate of Use, because the Kmart Certificate of Use lapsed more than six months ago and Home Depot did not attempt to maintain the use.
The Max Strang plan, which ''few'' have chosen to call the community plan is the only pending permit Home Depot has arguable rights to for utilization of this site, and it must overcome the zoning board's denial of the city administration's granting of the permit. The Max Strang plan may become the community plan when Home Depot does away with the use of contractors and their day laborers and when they respect the trees intended to be destroyed that were appealed by the Treeman Trust. There are other necessary accommodations that must be made, including the proper storage of inflammable liquids as well as the storage of pesticides and other toxic material next to Bridgeport Avenue. The fire last Sunday morning at Grove Gate, which received little publicity, clearly illustrates the need to protect the neighborhood from the storage of the explosive materials as well as the potentially lethal toxic materials.
What if Home Depot were operating and these inflammables caused a cascade effect and brought toxic materials over the wall of Home Depot? There are moms and dads on Bridgeport with infants and toddlers who deserve a heck of a lot better of this so-called community plan, a plan that fails to address the storage of significant quantities of the toxic substances.
You may remember reading of the fire at a Home Depot in Boston that brought a cloud of toxic material to the neighbors for days. We do not want to risk that in the Grove.
There is still work to be done, but, all of you out there, please take stock that Home Depot failed to follow the law. Why? Those reasons could be anyone's guess.
Keep in mind the Oct. 12 fundraiser for Linda Haskins, which Home Depot lawyers hosted where they raised more than $250,000.
When they began to retrofit, the city failed to make them follow the law. A judge will easily find they failed to follow the law and they will lose their permit to retrofit.
MARC SARNOFF
COCONUT GROVE
Editor's note: Marc Sarnoff is a candidate for the District 2 Miami City Commission seat.
posted by Tom Falco at 7:43 PM
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18 Comments:
Don't hire Sarnoff as your lawyer unless you want to serve a life term for a parking violation.
He must have studied law in Kazakhstan State U.
This is ridiculous. If Sarnoff believed his own bullshit, he'd shut up about the whole thing and just go to court and pick up his "automatic" victory.
Since he isn't doing that, it's clear he has no confidence in his own screwy, obvious-to-only-him legal theory...
I see it this way.
There are three options:
1. No Home Depot
2. Cute Home Depot with Milams
3. Ugly Home Depot without Milams
If it was up to me, I'd want to eliminate the worst option: THE UGLY HOME DEPOT.
How do we do that?
Have the City approve the CUTE HOME DEPOT which makes the UGLY option go away.
Sarnoff can then work his legal magic and sue to block it.
If his legal theory is correct, he wins and there won’t be any Home Depot.
Cool.
But if he's wrong and he loses, we'll at least have the comparatively BETTER Home Depot.
Why won’t Sarnoff do this?
I do not want the depot, but I do not think the "cute" depot is the answer either.
Why can't the "cute" depot be downsized, or why aren't the depot people meeting with the locals? If Home Depot was in the business of compromise, then talk to the people who live next to the site. Well, they have not. At least Milams sends out letters.... This is my worry, for everyone who is supporting the Max design, it's not a "community design". I live next to the site, and my community was not truly consulted.
So, the real issue is what real legal battle will occur or not? Mark is local, and he thinks the Grove First has legal footing, so now when will action (legal/courts) happen?
I wonder why Home Depot is trying to post-pone the hearing on the Class II?
-Bill Anderson
Toxic chemicals is a new one I hadn't heard before. It unfortunately suggests that Marc is grasping for straws.
This is the key graph from his letter:
Home Depot will not be retrofitting into the Kmart space because of its failure to comply with the law passed well in advance of the filing of the retrofit plans with the city. The law is plain and clear on this. There is no argument for grandfathering the Kmart Certificate of Use, because the Kmart Certificate of Use lapsed more than six months ago and Home Depot did not attempt to maintain the use.
This paragraph would not carry the day as a legal brief. That is for sure. His argument is rather conclusory, and he does not explain why HD cannot simply apply for the same Certificate of Use that Kmart had.
But if he's right, then there is a chance that there will be no HD in Grove Gate. Does anybody know what Marc's talking about?
At some point we all have to learn that "wishing doesn't make it so."
Of course there "could be" a more perfect solution. And maybe you could all have magic powers! Wouldn't THAT be great!
But the fact remains, we have the three options listed by "Bewildered."That's IT! We can't wish better options into being.
And it seems obvious that the best way to get what we want (NO Home Depot or, at worst, the one with Milams) is to have the City Commission approve the so-called "community plan."
"God Bless the Children"....except when childish naiveté places my home and neighborhood at risk! Marc Sarnoff could write greeting cards for Hallmark with his mastery of schmaltz and hyperbole, but he’s totally lacking in facts, logic and knowledge of the applicable law.
It comes down to “what does the law allow?”
We are being asked to place a very large bet (our homes!!) on one of two legal teams.
On one hand we have the team consisting of Sarnoff, a personal injury lawyer with zero experience in zoning and land-use matters practicing out of his home office in a residential neighborhood.
On the other hand, we have the Home Depot legal team led by some of the most talented and successful land use and zoning specialists in the state who represents clients like Walgreens, Lennar, Target, City Furniture, Marriott, Peebles Development, Williamson Cadillac, and BP Amoco.
I’m all for bootstrapping it and giving a rookie a chance when the penalty for losing is manageable.
But I ain’t gonna trust this amateur hour legal team with my home and neighborhood.
You can't be serious about Sarnoff's legal background! I've heard him speak about land use and zoning issues and he sounded very knowledgeable.
On the other hand, we have the Home Depot legal team led by some of the most talented and successful land use and zoning specialists in the state who represents clients like Walgreens, Lennar, Target, City Furniture, Marriott, Peebles Development, Williamson Cadillac, and BP Amoco.
I wouldn't trust them as far as I coud throw them and this isn't very far. What a bunch of creeps!
You don't have to like or trust them to realize that they'd kick your puny lawyer's ass in a legal showdown...
I don't LIKE Arnold Schwarzenegger but I'm NOT going to call him out into the ally because I KNOW what would happen.
It would be UGLY!
It also occurred to me that this letter contradicts some comments that Marc made at a homeowner's association meeting, a few months ago. Basically, he said (playing devil's advocate), What if HD is blocked from using the Strang design, decides to move into the Kmart building and, eventually, boot out Milam's? He didn't pose it in a "It'll-never-happen" kind of way, but rather in a cautionary, "Be-careful-what-you-with-for" kind of way.
This letter seems inconsistent with that.
Honestly, arent we all wasting our breath at this point??? Ive gone from "giving a damn" to "couldnt care less" in a matter of weeks. Everyone just vote and move on with your lives for crying out loud. HD is not likely to be stopped, but Im guessing if anyone has a chance at stopping them, its Sarnoff. Although, I still think he is up on his soapbox shouting all the right things that people want to hear. Much like the last presidential election, its clear that there is no candidate that is a clear cut above the rest, so just pick what you believe to be the lesser of the evils and move on. At least these people wont be sending our friends and family members into a war. As we have learned, democracy lets the people voice themselves but seldom considers what they are saying....
Dear Bewildered:
As Joan Rivers would say "Oh, Grow Up!" there is no such thing as a "Cute" Home Depot.
As for "Anonymous's awe of the Home Depot Dream Team lawyers-- if they are so good why didn't they convice the Zoning Board or HEP board?
And a final reminder to all: it is not the Grove First who decides the fate of Milams. That is part of the Home Depot's divide and conquer PR tactic-- and a rather transparent one at that! Only Home Depot can decide the fate of Milams. It is within their power to lease the Kmart space to another venue, as they have done in many cases throughout the country.
Neither the Zoning nor HEP boards are composed of judges. Life is different when the rule of law governs. We can huff and huff all we want about the way things should be and what we want, but that has no effect on a judge.
I like the Grove. It has much beauty. I believe almost all the pro-Home Depot "info" comes from paid lobbyists.
Personally, I would like to see a commissioner who does not put the Home Depot attorneys and lobbyists on her fundraising committee.
Where does one find that much pigheaded self-righteousness? To believe that any viewpoint contrary to ones own is illegitimate requires an almost superhuman vanity and an infantile fixation on self.
Compliments from lobbyists notwithstanding, I would still like to see an independent candidate elected commissioner in Dist 2.
Bravo. We hope everyone can see through the high paid hype mucked out by the Home Depot/Haskins gang. We need to elect someone we can trust. Someone who spends years volunteering. Someone who is independent. I voted for Marc Sarnoff.
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