Local businesses deserve a better fate

Local businesses deserve a better fate

Isn’t it curious that many of the same city officials that put the kibosh on The Promenade and The Commons for Agoura as if by magic now think Home Depot is a swell idea.

Has anyone noticed that large empty building that looks like an airplane hanger right off the freeway at Ventu Park? For those who hadn’t already guessed, that empty building is the "Old Home Depot." It’s an eyesore and it’s been like a ghost town for quite a while.

It seems to me that with a Home Depot in Newbury Park and Woodland Hills, the notion that everything in between will support another store of that size just might be wrong. What might be the reason that Home Depot would opt for that particular site?

Is it possible that their research has indicated to them that once they have put Do-It Center, Agoura Building Materials and Roadside Lumber out of business, they can just close their doors and Agoura residents will have to drive to Newbury Park or Woodland Hills? If this happens, what will we do with the empty behemoth at the base of Ladyface Mountain?

Projects like The Promenade and The Commons would have been far better suited to Agoura, but those in charge didn’t think they fit in. The limits set forth by "Yes on H" would allow for many larger stores the size of say, a Circuit City or a Whole Foods Market or other types of business that would be appropriate for this community.

Sixty thousand square feet is a very large business, possibly even a "skating rink."

Notice the blatant lies on the "No on H" campaign literature. A close inspection reveals that the endorsements by leading citizens are printed repeatedly multiple times on the ad to give the impression of more support and fill up the page. They say that we will lose control of Agoura.

Well, who has more of a stake in keeping Agoura’s economy robust? The owners of the four local businesses who stand to lose everything, two of whom are Agoura residents, or the CEO of Home Depot who lives God knows where? And what of the Kanan interchange and the tax base to pay for its renovation that we are hearing so much about?

If Home Depot decides to close up shop after Do-It Center and the others local businesses disappear, in what condition will that leave your tax base? Perhaps Home Depot will opt to sublease it to a competitor like Lowe’s. Further, whatever gains are made to improve the efficiency of the Kanan interchange, the massive increase in traffic generated by a Home Depot will surely be greater.

Somebody is spending enormous amounts of money to persuade you to ignore your own common sense. The risks of allowing such businesses in Agoura are far too great to justify any possible short-term benefits.

As such, I ask you to protect my beloved Agoura from outside corporate interests. I am just a homeowner here and have no affiliation with the local businesses that I mentioned, other than that I shop there. I sincerely hope I don’t soon see the day when I have to bare the humiliation of driving by an empty airplane hanger at the foot of Ladyface Mountain on my way to Newbury Park or Woodland Hills, and then on the way back, to pay my new utility taxes.

Larry Brown

Agoura Hills

Neither The Commons nor The Promenade were proposed for the city of Agoura Hills.