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city rejects Home Depot and the other retail stores, in other words ifthe zoning is.rejected, ". it wiU be
<br />sending the wrong signal to retail business and showing that North Olmsted no longer wants to be a
<br />major retailing center, and the new stores wiU go elsewhere, taking their jobs and tax dollars with
<br />them". Mr. Skoulis asked where is it written that North Olmsted ever wanted to be, ever asked to be,
<br />ever had a plan to be,, a major retailing center. No one ever asked the residents, no admiuistration ever
<br />pass a resolution or created a plan to make North Olmsted a regional shopping center; this is only the
<br />developers doing. If anyone had asked the citizens, if the citizens had had any input into the way they
<br />wanted to develop North Olmsted, they would have turned everything down. They had talked to a lot of
<br />people in the last few months since the last planning commission meeting on this issue. They have not
<br />found a single person, either a resident or a businessman, who wanted this rezoning.; no one is-in favor
<br />of tlus rezoning, nobody wants it, to his knowledge, except the developer. Why does the developer
<br />want tlus rezoniug. The real message, if tlus laud is rezoned, that would go out, would be that a
<br />precedent would be set and property owners everywhere, along Brookpark Road and throughout the
<br />city, would have a right to ask for a similar rezoning, and how could they be refused. If this developer is
<br />granted this request, in spite of the fact that he has already had a rezoning, and has been given more
<br />than a reasonable use of his land, and in spite of the fact that we have a Master Plan that says this land
<br />should not be rezoned again, unless you want to build multiple dwelling units. If the land is rezoned that
<br />would mean to the developer that this is open season. They would be down here in droves trying to get
<br />rezoning on their property, developers would be coming in and buying property and trying to get it
<br />rezoned and how could they be turned down, if this one is allowed. There would be no part of the city
<br />that would be safe from developing, because a precedent would have been sent. Mr. Gil Platikin, Senior
<br />Vice President of Grubb and Ellis, made the statement that when Strongsville's South Park Mall opens,
<br />there wiU be a tremendous impact on several shopping centers including Great Northern, since it is a
<br />state-of-the-art facility (South Park Mall). Mr. Skoulis quoted an article from the Sun Herald, Thursday,
<br />October' 31, 1996 which quoted Mark Bressler, the manager of Great Northern Mall, it said:
<br />"According to Bressler, a difference in the number of shoppers at his mall since the opening of South
<br />Park has not been noticed" so well, in fact, that he made the statement that "by Christmas time, every
<br />store in the mall will be filled including 12 remodeled or totally new stores". They have not even been
<br />affected. They (the developers) are saying once South Park Mall opens and the competition that they
<br />are going to have from South Park Mall, Westgate Shopping Center, and other areas, that this area,
<br />Great Northern Mall and all the others are going to go down the tubes. That is a myth, it did not
<br />happen, they are doing fine. Mr. Platikin also said North Olmsted answer should be to bring in more
<br />"big boxes" and players and other retailers would follow and the existing vacancies would be filled.
<br />Apparently, Mr. Platikin has no idea of what a Home Depot is and how they operate. I3is group has
<br />done much research, on many things, but particularly on Home Depot. There are no Home Depots in
<br />Ohio, so no one here knows what it is, including the planning commission. During the research, they got
<br />the names ofpeople on both the east and west coast that have been fighting "big box" stores, Wal Mart
<br />on one end of the country and Home Depot on the other. They have learned a lot about "big box" stores
<br />and Home Depot from these two people. In particular, Ben Casanareo, who is the president of Diablo
<br />Timber Company in Napa, California. Mr. Skoulis got his name through Mr. Normau, and called him,
<br />and the neart morning he received an inch thick packet from Ben Casanareo, a history of Home Depot,
<br />how they operate and what they do to their competitors. They call Home Depot Wal Mart with a
<br />hammer. They call them-predators. Why? Because they dehberately try to put their competitors out of
<br />business. That is why they are so successfiil.lVlr. Casanareo gave Mr. Skoulis permission to quote him.
<br />Home Depot has a ground "0" concept, that is, any competitor within a two mile radius will be out of
<br />business in a year. They deliberately put their competitors out of business by underselling them, even ii
<br />they have to sell below cost, whatever it takes, they wiU do it. They have-a national campaign that states
<br />we wiU beat anybody's price by 5%. That means anybody can go to another store and even get a phony
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