County counsel hits back in LAFCO letter

Mema wrote:

Nice one sided article. I think every business in this county should close their doors, every home owner should walk away from their house, and every renter move out of county and let the ground go back to mother earth. Then maybe the hippies will be happy.
DON'T SPEND YOUR MONEY INSIDE THE CITY LIMITS OF UKIAH. TEACH THEM A LESSON ABOUT TAXES!

just the facts wrote:

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The DDR attorney tried to bully LAFCO and County Counsel slam dunked her because the high priced DDR
lawyer had ALL of her facts wrong.

UDJ tortuous writing wrote:

<quoted text>Easy for YOU to say! I wonder why UDJ's writers have to make such heavy weather of it. I'm a literate person and I had to read this article two and a half times to figure out who said what when & to whom. Actually the last time around I found myself rewriting the article in my head just to prove that these facts could conform to the ordinary rules of syntax. Clear and concise reporting would set a standard for the community and perhaps discourage some of the less-enlightened commentary that some feel entitled to spew.

just the facts wrote:

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Ok, the writng and reporting is not always as crisp as it could be. That is a function of the economics of the newspaper business these days. Newsprint is slowly but steadily going the way of the whale oil lamp. And the finances of the parent company of the UDJ are as shaky as those of the junk bond rated DDR.
But the facts of the story are clear. The DDR lawyer tried to bully LAFCO by making a bunch of false claims and County Counsel factually refuted everyone.
Just like DDR is making a lot of false claims about its proposed shopping center and who will pay and who will benefit.
The bottom line is, we will pay to fix the problems they create and they will benefit, taking their profits home to Ohio and Germany.
(DDR is 20% German owned. So much for "shop local and keep the money here.")

call me Mr Doomass wrote:

But I just cannot, for the life of me figure how Costco or Target is going to send the "competors" down the toilet. What exactly is sold at Costco that isnt already sold at some of the other Ukiah chain stores like Safeway, Walmart, FoodMax and Food Outlet ..... even the Dollar Store is a nationwide chain.
The only thing I can see that Costco might disrupt is the "mom & pop" bookstore like Mendocino Bookstore ..... because people are inclined to buy a book from Costco doing their grocery run, not because its cheaper but because its convienent.
Are the anti-growth people so stupid and blind not to see this???
Hows about we not allow Costco to sell books as condition to set up in Ukiah .... would that solve the arguements and allow the enevitable to move forward?????

pay attention wrote:

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You don't seem to understand that Measure A will allow the Ohio based multi-national corporation to do or build whatever they want with NO environmental review and NO conditions. And 800,000 square feet of new retail is way over the top for this area. That is the threat. It is NOT about Costco, that is already allowed in the Airport business park and other locations.
Costco will come here when they want to. No one is or can stop them. But we don't need to sell out our future to the mega-corporation that cares nothing about our quality of life.
Do you want to get stuck paying $20 million to widen North State Street and the overpass to six lanes? I don't. Vote NO on Measure A.

MRUkiah wrote:

You Hippies and Liberals are so anti growth it makes me sick... It will create jobs and bring more money to the county that is already failing open your eyes put down your bong.

eyes open wrote:

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What kind of jobs will be created? Are you aware there that the corporation promising the mall and jobs is deep financial trouble and will very likely sell that property to the highest bidder, opening the door for just about anything to take its place. There is NO promise of a mall. There is NO promise of jobs. Once DDR has their hands on this property the citizens lose control of what happens to it. Common sense says they WILL sell it; they have no money to develop it. do your research...and stop being so trusting. Take your own advice and open your eyes!

Get Real wrote:

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Must be nice to have all the time in the world to sit at a computer and reply to each and every post that you can, throwing out your adjective-laden, false impression diatribes in order to try and persuade another gentle reader that the DDR proposal is SO bad for Mendocino County. Yes, those dam jobs, those dam tax revenues. What ever will the county do? Oh, I don;t know --- maybe BALANCE THE DAM BUDGET??!!
DDR wanted to go through the "normal" process, but the supervisors told them up front that they were not going to approve their project. What great leadership we have here. They will have to make the improvements that are needed (and that will NOT be a six-lane freeway down State Street, so quit the dam fear mongering. The State Street project will happen regardless of DDR. State Street is a traffic problem already. Maybe DDR is what we need to really fix it right, since they will have the resources to do it right.

Get Real wrote:

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Uh, hello. First of all, it is not proposed to be a mall. That is one of the misleading propagandist terms to make people think it is something completely different. A Costco, Target, Trader Joes... they are shopping opportunities that will need people to work in them. Last I looked, those were called 'jobs'. DDR, just like the vast majority of retail property owners, have a decreased asset value due to the economy. So do I. If you own property, so do you. Quit trying to put unfounded fear into people's minds just because you may be opposed to the project.
I know I would like to see choice retail like Costco, Target, and light industrial businesses, and professional offices. All produce JOBS and TAX REVENUE.

just the facts wrote:

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The DDR project is purely conceptual. If Measure A passes they will have a blank check to do whatever they want, including build a mega mall.
Tax revenue? The development will require an extra $550,000 annually for County emergency services, paid for by you and me, the taxpayers.
Any other revenue this turkey may generate will be consumed fixing the problems it causes, like the need to widen the freeway overpass and North State Street at a cost of $20 million or more.
Vote No on Measure A. We can't afford it.

just say no wrote:

Just say no to corporate domination. Just say no to the corporate thug that wants to intimidate us with there legal team and million dollar budget trying to convince us their "conceptual" project is a good idea.
It is not right to exempt a potentially huge project from any environmental review or public hearings.
It we are foolish enough to vote this in, we won't find out what all the problems are until its too late. And the developer does not have to pay to fix them. That is just wrong.
Vote NO on Measure A.