Home Depot drops bid to open store in Sunland-Tujunga

The long, occasionally ugly fight over a proposed Home Depot in Sunland-Tujunga is over.

Home Depot, which sued the city of Los Angeles over its plans for a new store in the San Fernando Valley, has given up on its legal fight and will drop its application to open a store on Foothill Boulevard. Word of Home Depot’s decision raced across some San Fernando Valley-based blogs late Tuesday night.

Home Depot spokeswoman Kathryn Gallagher made the official announcement this morning, blaming both the national economy and the city’s regulations for its decision: “The Home Depot no longer plans to pursue its proposed store in Sunland Tujunga. In conjunction with this decision, we have informed the City of Los Angeles that we are dropping our lawsuit against the City related to this project.

"Throughout this process, we complied with all laws and regulations in relation to the site and believe that lawsuit was just. However, given the steps the City is requiring for us to move forward, coupled with the current economic landscape, it simply no longer makes business sense for us to pursue this project,” Gallagher wrote in an e-mail to The Times.

Home Depot had hoped to open in an abandoned Kmart building. At the peak of the fight, more than 500 people showed up at the city’s hearings on the project, sparking debates over parking, traffic, day laborers and even immigration.

Opponents of Home Depot sounded slightly stunned this morning that they had won against the hardware superstore, which had retained some of the city’s most powerful lobbyists for its case. Throughout the Home Depot debate, they had voiced dismay at the expensive campaign used by Home Depot.

“This is a hard-fought victory,” said Abby Diamond, a board member with the Sunland-Tujunga Alliance, which opposed Home Depot. “We’ve put our heart and souls into this. It’s a great outcome. We just hope now that we can find a developer who will develop the site in a way that suits the community’s needs."

-- David Zahniser

Comments

[Taggart]

What a bunch of idiots the NIMBY crowd are... they didn't win, they lost. I bet that old K-Mart will still be an abandoned eyesore 5 years from now. Just what the obstructionist morons in that neighborhood deserve.

[Peter]

I always loved people like Abby Diamond. In their view, it's always better to have an ugly vacant lot than a production, viable business in place adding to the local economy. It's not like this was a monstrosity going up in a quiet residential neighborhood, this was going to be built in along a major thoroughfare in, quite frankly, an area of the city that could use some sprucing up.
The same thing happened in Burbank, when a minor reactionary force blocked a Whole Foods from being built. Opportunities lost forever in both cases.

[NIMBY]

To Taggart: You are right; we did get what we deserve! (Sounds like you don't live nearby. I'm glad!)

[Martin Frankel]

Neighborhoods do not need more traffic, congestion and problems. Sunland needs beautification not a dump like Home Depot. As far as Whole Foods in Burbank goes the streets near the store are two lane residential except for Alameda. Accidents and deaths have been noted at the exact interchange where the Whole Foods would have been located. Build Whole Foods in a commercial area along San Fernando Rd. with plenty of parking. Don't screw up great residential areas or those that are looking for improvement and another box store.

[LKitsch]

As much as they might want to claim 100% of the credit for HD folding, we all know that the tanking economy and horrible retail environment were what put the final nail in this project's coffin. It goes like this: as long as HD could forecast a certain level of sales at that location, they were willing to keep investing the time and money on fighting the local opposition. But as soon as they began forecasting lower sales revenues, they realized that the project was not worth the effort. It is exactly the same with any real estate development---if the market is strong, developers will be willing to go through the agony of fighting local opposition; if it's weak, they don't bother and just wait til better days come along.

[Kelvin]

Yes. The residents are simply anti progressive.

[Bonny]

These people were hilariously foolish to fight it from the start. I hope they enjoy that vacant K-Mart for many more years to come and continue having problems finding their citizens employment.

[Jim]

What a great outcome. If only every community worked as hard Sunland/Tujunga to ensure the survival of their deserted big box superstores. Given the current economic climate they should now be assured of looking at a vast empty building providing no jobs and no business tax income for the next decade.

[P J Evans]

"Build Whole Foods in a commercial area along San Fernando Rd. with plenty of parking. Don't screw up great residential areas or those that are looking for improvement and another box store."

Yes - just make sure that all the people from those residential neighborhoods end up driving miles to the big commercial areas, where the traffic will be gridlocked. Think of all the gas and air polltution created, and the wasted time! (Or make them take a bus, or more likely two or three, to get there, so they won't be able to buy anything they can't carry in their hands.) You don't want people to be able to do their errands in less than a full day; they might have time to do something *fun*. /snark

[Valley dude]

Oh Im so foolish for not wanting day laboreres hanging around peeing in the bushes ,leaving garbage everywhere and assaulting my truck for work every time I stop. You obviously havent seen how Home Depot spruces up an area. walk by the one in my nice old neighborhood on Roscoe and Canoga and see how much wealth and money they've enfused into the community. So much that they cant even afford to pay one day laborer to clean up the garbage and pee that surrounds the entire area. GO SUNLAD TUJUNGA Id rather have an empty Kmart than a bunch of illegals running around ruining whats left of the town....!!!!!

[LC]

LOCAL RESIDENTS have a say in what developments are to be built in THEIR neighborhood. LOCAL RESIDENTS need retail development that supports their needs, not one that serves as a springboard for exploitation by corporations (including developers) that do not pay the costs of traffic, air, light and noise pollution. I was sad to see KMart leave the space. It was convenient to have a big box store so close to be able to purchase goods from.

NIMBY, credit should be given to the community’s strategy of stalling HD. This allowed the current financial crisis to be effective. If they hadn’t voiced a strong opposition, HD would be built by now and Sunland would be the worse for it. It should be recognized that they had a strategy and the strategy worked.

Congratulations Sunland! I hope a better use comes from the old Kmart site. One the serves the community’s needs.

[Carol]

I have to agree in part with Valley dude. Neither Home Depot nor the LA City Council has done anything to provide toilets and a proper waiting area for day laborers outside the store on Sunset. It's disgusting and most unhygienic, men unzipping right there on the street and going against the wall.

[J.F.]

We have been living with a vacant lot for 4 years already. I would be willing to take 4 more years to get the RIGHT and SMART development rather than 40 years of an 24/7 industrial commericial warehouse store with all the negatives it brings. Re the taxes, Home Depot would have sunken local home values even further and hurt many of the existing businesses and in the big picture ultimately the RIGHT development will garner far greater returns in $$ to the city and to the well being of the residents of Sunland Tujunga. Why settle - we can and will do a lot better than that.... And yes, the economy was a major factor and I think folks know that but luck is where preparation meets opportunity. Finally, keep in mind that many experts had said that if Home Depot followed the rules from the start, they would have already been there. They chose to circumvent or sneak past almost every city rule meant to project us citizens but their plan did not succeed.

[Jaime]

First of all i am a home owner and resident of Sunland for 7 years. In those 7 years i have only seen a starbucks opened on foothill. The vons was remodeled but the big strip mall at the corner of foothill and sunland has never received a facelift and it sure can use one. The owners of that place dont care about it and have one entrance to the parking lot that is hazardous to the driving public. The rest of the blvd is a joke.

The K Mart is one of the biggest eyesors and will stay that way for a long time.

What the people who have always opposed HD should have done was work with them to iron out the major issues, yes day labors are a huge mess, and so is trash, but not working with the owners of that lot made things worse. All the money HD spent could have been better used to add security, trash pick up, control the parking lot, chase away the laborers, or even better how about trying to get them to develop the site differently. Yeah HD may not have cooperated but never know, maybe even a day laborer location could have been estabilshed with sanitary facilities, and controlled entrance such as checking id, etc. Too late now, thanks for the blight.

[JJ]

There's no debate. Home Depot would have improved that wasteland. Now they get to look at an empty lot. It's not local control, it's NIMBY whackos who are scared of non-whites moving in.

[victory]

Vally Dude, seems like everyone here just thinks of economy reasons for this being a bad outcome.Obviously none of them live near a Home Depot. As you mention, the day laborers, or lets just be truthful and say, the illegals, who wait out the front, standing around, slumped on the ground, littering, harassing women with foul language, smirks and perverted looks and making for a very uncomfortable place to be.

Women won't go near the place, they are harassed, anyone men or women in a truck, get rushed with illegals trying to get work, the streets will be littered, the crime in the area will go up, a fact. No residential neighborhood needs that kind of place in the area. It's not a help to the community, only a magnet for filth and crime.

[mk]

they should convert the lot into a park.

[RZ]

To Taggart, Peter, Bonny, Kelvin, and the rest who think Sunland-Tujunga is the big loser here:

This is the result that most of us wanted. We've already lived with that vacant lot, and trust me, it's better than having an unnecessary Home Depot there. Now at least there's a chance of having a Target or Kohl's or similar store move in that will be useful to the community, rather than adding the 8th or so hardware store in that area. We need a general goods store and now we might get it.

[Kind of sad really]

An eyesore for another 10 years at least, that old KMart. Think that won't affect your property values?

Good luck trying to get another developer to come in. No one in their right mind would develop in this economic downturn, especially at a site with NIMBY issues.

[angela]

We don't need ugly superstores driving out family owned businesses. Good riddance Home Depot. The days of growth at any cost and unregulated capitalism are over. We are not NIMBY's. We want a quality life, not to sell our souls for capitalist exploitation.

[angela]

Ugly vacant lot? Why not build a community center or nonprofit hospital or a community garden? With the profit at any cost crowd it is never about the community but only about money. Do you actually think the only two options are an empty lot or Home Depot?

" Without vision, the people perish" FDR

[S-T Resident]

Jeez, folks. Chill out. Now why don't all the H-D Opponents now put their time and energy into something really constructive instead of angry and hateful yelling. Hmmmm... let's see...how about courting some companies for business that you DO want to see there? Or is anger your only motivating force?

[Pro_Growth]

That starbucks is crap, or the strip mall where it is located IS crap. All the properties and/lots there for the most part are junk. That stretch from Sunland Park to Commerce is a completely auto-dependent full of parking lots & completely anti-pedestrian etc...and you complain about congestion. You are problems are beyond one lot ladies and gentlemen. The best thing from a neighborhood retail type development is Commerce Ave.

There's nothing really viable for any developer to build on that lot, considering what's around Foothill Blvd. Mix-Used Housing? Yeah right, people would be up in arms about the same issues on parking and "poor" people coming in. COSTCO? Nope, that breaks ground in Pacoima tomorrow (2/3 miles up the 210) Best Buy? Nope, that's going next to that Costco. Lowes? Nope. Nordstroms?? yeah right.

Vacancies beget Blight.

[Steve]

Congrats to the community! HD's slick attempts at circumventing the desires of the local residents and LA regulations has failed. You have to ask the question: why would HD continue to battle local residents with a project they did not want? 1) because they dont care about anything but making money. Period.

With that attitude it's no small stretch to imagine that HD would NOT have been a consciencious neighbor regarding the problems caused by illegal workers at HD. I see about 100 guys standing adjacent to the entrance everyday on Wilshire Blvd. downtown. It's a veritable GAUNTLET of guys spitting, littering, urinating, drinking, and taunting women in cars as they drive by on Wilshire. It's a disgrace and anyone who would want THIS in their neighborhood should have their head checked.

[Solan]

The bottom line here is if Home Depot actually stepped up to the plate and did something about the "ripple effect" it's presence has in such a community then this could have ended up much more positively.

The illegals immigrants hanging around urinating, defecating and aggressively harassing the patrons are a huge problem and blight on may neighborhood that has a Home Depot in it (look at N. Hollywood). I am a home owner and contractor that has first hand experience with this growing problem. I have been assaulted and spit at several times because I wasn't interested in hiring a "day laborer" from the parking lot.

Home Depot should proactively keep these illegals from coming on their property to begin with. Shame on Home Depot for not addressing this problem. Perhaps with a little back bone and a few concessions from H.D. then the residents of Sunland might have benefited from the increase in tax base.

[elf]

Martin Frankel above wrote: "Sunland needs beautification not a dump like Home Depot."

Ummm, Martn, did it occur to you that to beautify a neighborhood, you need lots and lots of things like lumber, tools, paint and other supplies? Doesn't almost everything Home Depot sells in one way or another end up being used toward maintaining and improving homes and neighborhoods?

[Dumb Move]

Next the residents will complain how the city doesn't bring in any retailers. They will also claim that the property is an eyesore an something should be done about it. haha! Poor judment.

I really think these residents had other motives and hid behind the "traffic", "over parking" issues. Those issues can be mitigated. Racism at its finest.

[Creekhiker]

First of all, for those of us who fought against Home Crapot, it was never about immigration. It was about the place having residences on THREE sides. HD NEVER used the Woodward address on any paperwork (as Kmart always had) because that addy would trigger an EIR thanks to the proximity (one block) to an elementary school.

Ultimately, it was about what ST needs. We HAVE a Home Crapot (not that I would be caught dead there) just six minutes away and a total of six HDs within a 30 minute drive. We also have four other hardware stores IN TOWN.

What we don't have a general goods store like Kmart and we will gladly welcome one here. It wouldn't surprise me to see the No 2 Home Depot crowd start petitioning a desirable store in the near future.

All I can say is GOOD RIDDANCE Home Crapot. I've been called a racist and a liar during this fight as have my neighbors and I won't be shopping big orange ever.

[Jim in Pasadena]

Congratulations to Sunland homeowners! HD attracts illegals and trash, not suitable for a bedroom community. You stood up to the bullying corporation and lobbyists and won. Better to wait and get something more suitable to your community.

[Ann]

WE WANT TARGET!
WE WANT TARGET!
(Target had WANTED the spot, but HD got there 1st...has anyone informed Target of this news? Let's hope the economy hasn't changed their minds.)
Kohl's sounds good too!

Congratulations to all who fought. Yes, the economy was the final nail and yes, we stalled for time and won. Yes, our part of Foothill needs sprucing up. No, Home Depot wouldn't have improved the area. On the contrary! And by the way, illegal or not, I don't want mass loitering by ANYONE, I don't care if they are from Mexico or Finland, it's a nuisance and for women, a little scary!

[JOECROW]

Did you really manage to keep out the "illegals" as people claim?..What a joke!! You're living in your own delusional world if you truly believe that, just take a good look around the Sunland/Tujunga streets!..you've been watching too many 50's sitcoms! Move to La Crescenta or better yet La Canada if you want to live in a monotonous bubble you so desire. ...then again, the Sheriffs are not very accepting to bikers and "meth heads" east of Lowell.

[frank]

If LA City and INS would enforce loitering/immigration laws, the store would be welcomed with open arms, as it is in communities where illegal alien cesspools are not tolerated

[BeefMasterX]

Wow! Angela has taken things to a new level. We have gone from the debate of whether an empty K-mart should be a Home Depot or not to equating capitalism as the domain of Satan.
Here is another angle from a Tujunga carpenter....for 20 years I have driven to Glendale, Monrovia or Sherman Oaks to spend my material money at a Home Depot. Those dollars should be spent in Tujunga, but the local stores cannot meet the demands of my projects at a competitive price. People like Nimby and Angela and Abby Diamond would be well advised to join the process by bringing a business deal to the table, instead of just throwing stones.

[Damien]

Sunland-Tujunga has a brighter future today as a direct result of the tireless effort put into the No 2 Home Depot Campaign by its founders and its support from the residents and stake-holders of S-T. This is a well deserved victory. The community stood united against H-D in an unprecedented way. S-T is a potential gem and HD would have destroyed that potential. They should be commended for demanding good planning/land use, and for holding the LA DBS and City Planning accountable during the permitting process. Also, Home Depot should be embarrassed for the way they conducted themselves and I hope they are forced to answer to their shareholders in regards to this whole S-T ordeal ($30M reportedly invested, work commencing while building permits were under review/subject to appeal, countless millions spent on PR, lobbyists, and phony support websites, accusations of racism against the community, etc). Good riddance indeed! That building is so out of code and the "improvements" made by HD have been said to have weakened its structural integrity, I hope that the city makes HD foot the bill to raze it.

[Ann]

untrue, Frank. We also objected to the sheer volume of big truckloads coming in and out, which would have been several times the truck traffic we had with K-mart. With the mobile home lot full of elderly folks and the elementary school both very close to this site, we were quite concerned about the truck traffic and the larger customers' vehicles attracted by any home-improvement store such as HD.

[JOECROW]

Can Sunland/Tujunga really get any worse than it already is? Come on get real...the anti-Home Depot activists really need to lobby for BASIC amenities in the area....like sidewalks and a decent sewage system. I guess that bunch is too busy trying to maintain their "Whites Only" establishments...the South WIll Rise Again huh! One way to solve the perceived immigration invasion is to force all the unemployed & retired folks that can legally work to stand out there as well, quit complaining, and compete with the "illegals" by offering more work for cheaper pay....rather than expecting handouts from the government!..LOL! That'll be the day!

[Blackbox]

This is a hard-fought victor???

haha, lol, these people are so insignificant it's funny.............

The USA is experiencing the worst economic situation since the 1930s, and this guys think they won the battle, and hard-fought at that. The other side walked away..................

[Taggart]

Most of Sunland is a dump anyway, I guess the vacant K-Mart really doesn't make it any worse.

[katty]

I am so happy about this decision. Home Depot is not what we need in Sunland Tujunga. What people that don't live in the area don't understand is that this is not a commercial area. It is half a block from an Elementary school and has houses all around it. Just think if those were YOUR houses. Would you want Home Depot in your backyard? I seriously doubt it. Sunland Tujunga is a small community with a Home Depot 6 minutes away in Sylmar. Not to mention all the local hardware stores we already have. We do not need day laborers a block from where our children go to school. There are enough of them that hang out at the poor Nursing home on Foothill. Have you seen the problem there. It's awful. That is something we do not need more of. Big thanks to the people who fought the good fight. That store front is better to remain empty and wait for a store that can better fit our small wonderful community.

[KarinaKarina]

I loved having the Kmart there on Foothill. Now it's gone and we have no dept. store, have to drive 15 miles now, so sad. No restaurants that are any good either and we're still considered living in the city.

[Cathy]

WAL-MART WE WANT WAL-MART! WE WANT WAL-MART WE WANT WAL-MART.............

[Bob in Los Angeles]

Dear Abby,

Your cause did not win the Home Depot victory. The economy has beaten you, and there is no one to move in now. Enjoy.

[Pro_Business]

" ..it's a nuisance and for women, a little scary!"
dude, Nobody walks on Foothill!!! That street is scary for anybody to walk, its not designed for humans but cars. The avg. speed there is what 40mph?! That's your real problem with crappy development in Tujunga..its a community you pass by, not a destination point for anybody besides meth heads.

"What people that don't live in the area don't understand is that this is not a commercial area. "

You're kidding right? Check the zoning. Suburbans complaining about cars/congestion is like crack/meth heads complaining about side effects.

[Vince]

How about putting a homeless shelter there?

[Martin]

Me and my wife bought a house in Tujunga a little over a year ago because of the affordabilty and community's effort in deciding what they DIDN'T want on foothill. Hopefully in a few years we'll have a development that everyone likes thanks to Home Depot finally giving up.

And to all those who don't live in the area and think of it as still a haven for methheads, NEWS FLASH meth is everywhere even in your own snobby suburban utopia.

[Angela]

Hey beef guy, there are plenty of places to buy lumber. There are many other independent hardware stores that don't treat their employees like crap like Home Depot does, but why not go with the wave of the future and start using recycled materials instead of killing trees to build homes?
The bottom line is that there are other priorities other than consumer ones in communities. Communities exist for many other reasons, not just shopping.
And as far as lack of businesses leading to blight? There are plenty of more rural areas like Tujunga used to be that don't have "blight."
There is no point in building anymore stores as wages have stagnated for years. The economy is going down folks and it has its roots in the Reagan years. The disempowerment of the middle class began there. It's time to reorder our priorities and change our economy to make it more sustainable.

[Manny]

The opponents of Home Depot did not win. The economy brought this project down. This would have been the best thing for our neighborhood (yes, I have lived in Tujunga for 20 years) as it would have been an affordable venue for people in Tujunga to fix up their homes. The argument of there being homes and schools nearby are foolish...anywhere you go in the country you're gonna have homes and schools near commercial area...and yes Foothill Bl is a commercial area.

These foolish activist's just want Tujunga to continue have the bad rap that it has had for years...as a dumpy, biker, redneck town. Anytime I mention that I live in Tujnunga I always get a negative reaction.

Now due to the economy this parcel will probably remain empty for years to come. Wait till all the homeless start camping out on the property. Foothill Bl in Tujunga will perpetually be a blight at this rate...

[Kathleen in Sunland]

I'm so tired of hearing people outside of our community buy into the pr that HD paid for in hopes of discrediting our battle -- objections to the project were NOT about day laborers or illegal immigration! They were about respect for the Foothill Corridor Specific Plan and a community's right to determine its shape. Those of you who call us names, who talk about meth heads and blight here, about the disaster of having no major business, you know nothing about this place. You know nothing about our history (founded as a socialist-utopian colony), our artists enclaves, our distinctive architecture (the boulder buildings that produced L.A. Historic Cultural monument #2 and gave rise to the modern preservation movement in L.A.), the semi-rural nature of the area (no sidewalks is not blight -- it's beauty) and the clean air (one of two places in the world with air perfect for healing respiratory illnesses -- ask the middle-aged asthmatics all over SoCal whose lives were saved here before the advent of inhaled medications). Not to mention the very rare and wonderful sense of community, of neighborhood, and neighbors who watch out for each other -- mine are Asian, Latino, Middle-Eastern and Jewish. These are the things that brought me here from Los Feliz six years ago, and I've never regretted it, or seen any blight as I look at the beautiful hills and mountains that encircle us or the stars in our inky skies, breathe in the sweet air and revel in the quiet, broken only by the tsicka-dee-dee of the family of endangered oak titmice that live in my yard, or the whoop of a great horned owl flying overhead.

Our victory over HD is righteous, and a model for communities all over the country who have gained strength and inspiration from our battle.

[nancy shannon]

Wow, I love all the comments from people who do not live here. We are definitely not a "whites only" community. We are not the Meth capitol either. What we are is a bedroom community that has its fair share of hardware stores and did not need a new one. We want/need a general merchandise store. We did not need large trucks using our residential streets to turn around. We did not need large trucks traveling half a block away from and elementary school. We did not need large numbers of day laborers harassing our kids as they walked home from school. Through this fight we also saw what HD was made of. They lied at every turn and tried to circumvent the process. We are not anti production/development. We know what we want and we will be just as passionate about that as we did about our fight against HD.

[NeedMyFix]

How about a drug/meth rehab center?

[Harry]

I've lived one block from the proposed Home Depot since 1963. I've watched the entire town go from a nice bedroom community to an illegal alien overrun, ugly town. The LAST thing Sunland needed was another reason for illegals to flock there. People can't go to the parks or walk down foothill Blvd anymore and feel safe. I'd rather watch weeds grow in an empty parking lot than watch an illegal alien urinate on the shrubs in front of my house while drinking a beer...

[Lou]

The Home Depot project never made sense, and was like putting another Starbucks on Foothill. There are two other HD's (Glendale and Sylmar) within a 10-15 minute drive and a Lowes (Burbank) within 15 minutes. There wasn't enough local business to support the KMART, and there were enough smaller shops (True Value, OSH, Do-It, Anawalt) that would be a lot more convenient to someone on the east end of the CV.

[Eddie Alvarez]

I am glad to see that my hometown still has no idea how an economy works. Target and stores such as them want to be in areas where there are other stores around them that will bring in walk-in business. Last time I checked, there was not a lot of walk in business from McDonalds or the ARCO. This will only hurt our economy in the area and the long term since we will not have tax revenue being brought into the system. For the most part no one really shops at our "mom and pop" stores for big ticket items for the simple reason that there prices are high, they have bad customer service, or they do not have the product. The Do-it Center has too steep prices for any body to really buy anything other than last minute items. The chamber of commerce needs to realize that while our little town is great and "mom and pop" shops make for a strong town.....we are not built like that. Montrose on the other hand is built with a strip just for that style of business where small shops can still thrive. Our town needs to come into the 21st century and embrace big business at some levels. We should allow a guy like David Caruso come in and buy up from the phone company to the ARCO gas station to develop that into a great shopping area, such as they did in Burbank with the old the Plant. I think something like this would be what everyone would be happy with.

[SevenHills]

It is interesting to see how many ignorant people there are informing me that my community lost by not getting a Homo Depot. Quite frankly, in my opinion I'd rather see an empty K-Mart property than the HD go in. However, they still hold the lease. So...let's see what happens with that part of the puzzle.

S/T is a very diverse community where my neighbors are of all nationalities and races. I pride myself in the diversity of my neighborhood and community.

[SevenHills]

Slightly of topic discussion but still hardware related note to Eddie Alvarez who posted above. Quite often the Do-It-Center has better prices than many other stores in the area including Orchard Suppy Hardware. When's the last time you went shopping at the Do-It-Center to check out prices and excellent friendly customer service? I was there last week.

[RZ]

"did it occur to you that to beautify a neighborhood, you need lots and lots of things like lumber, tools, paint and other supplies?"

elf: All of those supplies are already available in or very near Sunland-Tujunga through the Do It Center, OSH, Anawalt Lumber, Foothill Hardware, and the HD is Sylmar. We didn't need yet another hardware store for this purpose.

Eddie Alvarez: The KMart that was there before did good business, as did the one in Glassell Park on San Fernando Road (that one was always packed) but the overall company closed both down and opted to keep only the Burbank store which is between the two areas. Any Target in Sunland will do just fine.

[katty]

A Victory is a Victory no matter how you get it. The people of Sunland Tujunga did get a Victory and I can not thank everyone who worked so hard to make this happen.

To the people on here who claim to live in ST and don't seem to care about what happens to our community, I am sure there are lots of other areas that you can move to. Let the people who want to beautify our town do so in peace.

[Ivy G.]

I live two blocks from the old K-Mart site. I am THRILLED we defeated Home Depot from invading our neighborhood. I would much rather live with the vacant lot than have HD destroy the middle of town. If you don't live here you don't get it. They would have caused many small businesses to fold. We don't need another home building supply store. The value of our homes would have decreased and turned our area into a dump. Just like every other area HD has come into. That site should be used for development that serves the residents. If HD would have moved in, we would have put our house up sale and moved. The right use of the land will happen eventually and I can wait. Peace.

[Bud]

Sounds like the PR folks for Home Depot are in full spin mode!
Nice try!
No take your little bad project and go home.

[Doug]

I live a 1 block from the site, I'm glad the fight is over. But because Home depot did what it did by not respecting the communities wishes in the first place, I will never buy from them again.If I need something I can't find at the local stores, I will take me bussiness to Lowes..now we need to get a general type store (like kmart ) in there so the elderly and local residents can shop easily without having to travel into other surrounding towns.

[Eban Fels]

The Sunland/Tujunga area didn't need a Home Depot. There are plenty of hardware stores within a couple miles of the proposed home depot sight. Tujunga/Sunland needs a developer that will come in a and evaluate the community to decide how to create revenue, and jobs for the local residents, and furthermore, Developers need not create a business that will be in direct competition with the already struggling businesses of that area. Good Riddance Home Depot!!!!!