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Liliana Dones's first e-letter to Mayor Manuel A. Diaz, December 27, 2004
From: Liliana Dones
Sent: Monday, December 27, 2004 2:48 PM
To: Diaz, Manuel A. (Mayor); Cc: Winton,
John L. (Commissioner); Balzebre, Frank;
Regalado, Tomas (Commissioner); Arriola,
Joe; Mitch@miamisunpost.com
Subject: Re: BIG BOX STORES DRAIN CITY
REVENUE, STUDY FINDS
Dear Mayor Diaz,
The Day after I recieved the email from
you saying that you will be meeting with
Home Depot at the beginning of the year
to determine their intentions, I read
with interest the article by Mitch
Pellechia in the Sun Post, which I have
included, in its entirety, below.
I was somewhat alarmed to see the
following statement from your
press secretary:
"Alejandro Miyar, Diaz’s press
secretary, said the mayor likes the new
Home Depot project because the former
Kmart shopping center has “fallen on
hard times.” The Home Depot could give
that area an economic jolt, Miyar
said."
Mayor Diaz, I am most fervently dismayed
at your taking that position, especially
after the article I sent you last week,
"BIG BOX STORES DRAIN CITY REVENUE,
STUDY FINDS" If anything,
Home Depot's economic jolt to the area
will be completely adverse,
killing the economic life of downtown
Coconut Grove, and bringing down
property values in one of the highest
tax paying communities in the city.
The former K-Mart shopping center has
not "fallen on hard times."
Both Milams and Walgreens want to expand
and improve their stores to better serve
the community, which is in greater need
of nearby groceries and drugstores than
nearby building supplies, yet both of
their requests have been turned down by
Kimco, the owner of the shopping center,
in order to make way for Home Depot's
takeover of the entire site (adding
multi-stories to accomodate parking).
City Manager Ariola seems to think it is
not worth fighting Home Depot.
Much smaller cities than Miami, such as
Santa Rosa, California, have done so
successfully. I beg you to please
rethink your position, and enforce C-1
zoning. Do not let your city, our city,
run rampant with money draining,
community destroying, impersonal big
boxes, particularly on this, the year of
its 100th anniversary.
Sincerely,
Liliana Dones
Mayor Manuel A. Diaz e-letter response 12/27/04
(Mayor Manuel A. Diaz response to Liliana Dones) In a message dated 12/27/04 3:29:02 PM,
ManuelDiaz@ci.miami.fl.us writes:
Liliana: This is absolutely not my
position. I did not speak to the
reporter, nor did I authorize a
statement on my behalf.
Apparently, not being able to speak to
me directly, the reporter chose to have
an “of the cuff” conversation with
Alejandro in respect of his thoughts on
the matter. This was a grave
mistake, and, as such, they should both
be admonished, one for misspeaking, the
other for inaccurately (and
unprofessionally) attributing a
statement to me. As I have
indicated to you previously, I do not
even know what “the new Home Depot
project” will look like. I
always make it a policy never to comment
before I have all of my facts.
That is precisely why I intend to
sit with Home Depot representatives
before opining on this issue at all.
You will note from the article that
Commissioner Winton is also unaware of
their plans. The bottom line is
that there is no need for alarm, nothing
has changed. Commissioner Winton
and I will meet with their
representatives, and we will hopefully
convince them to be good corporate
citizens, as we have in many other prior
instances.
Finally, threatening litigation without
even speaking first to the other party
in question is not the right way to do
business. It is difficult to
convince someone to be a good corporate
citizen when you “sucker punch” them
before they even say hello. As a
lawyer, I will tell you that litigation
is always an option, but should only be
used as a last resort, once all else has
been exhausted. I believe this to
be the preferred approach to pandering.
Regards,
Manny
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Liliana Dones's second e-letter to Mayor Manuel A.
Diaz, December 27, 2004
From:
Liliana
Dones
Date:
Mon, 27 Dec 2004 18:56:49
To:ManuelDiaz@ci.miami.fl.us,
Cc:jwinton@ci.miami.fl.us,
FBalzebre@ci.miami.fl.us,
AMiyar@ci.miami.fl.us,
Subject: The Sun Post Article
erroneous quote
Dear Mayor Diaz,
Thank you once again for your swift
response, and for clarifying the position
attributed to you in the recent Sun
Post article regarding Home Depot.
I am relieved to hear that you are not
just yet polishing the "welcome"
sign for them.
Like you, our group (the Grove First) also
does not wish to make comments without
first gathering facts. We have
been busy doing just that these many
weeks.
Which is why I believe that no amount of
convincing from you or Commissioner Winton
will result in their suddenly becoming
"good corporate citizens" a mere
3 miles away from where, clearly, they
have not been, and still are not.
I am referring to the 8th street location.
Just speak to Commissioner Regalado.
What you see on 8th Street and its
vicinity is what you will see here.
When they have had such complete and
consistent disregard of their surroundings
on 8th street, why on earth would we
expect for them to make Coconut Grove the
exception?
Here is an itemization of the attached
photos.
Truck rentals in parking lot; Workmen
working from trucks in parking lot; Tents
in parking lot;
Log home sales from semi-trailer truck in
parking lot;
Skids and carts strewn all over parking
lot;
Abandoned carts (big and small) all over
neigborhood; Heavy machinery (the kind one
is warned not to operate under medication)
left at random in parking lot;
Unsupervised merchandise (heavy bags) and
skids left stacked all over parking lot,
where they could fall over and cause
damage or injury; Paint, chemicals and
broken glass abandoned in parking lot,
where they could cause damage and injury
I believe a great number of the above
things photographed are illegal for them
to do, and the rest are, at the very
least, extremely discourteous and
offensive to residents in their vicinity.
Clearly the "Home Improvement"
store will do nothing to improve our
neigborhood. (And the above refers to just
the parking lot-- there are many more
issues as to why they are not "good
corporate citizens," but there is no
time to discuss this tonight).
Respectfully yours,
Liliana Dones
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