<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default"><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4">Dear Editor, Mendocino TV:</font></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><br></font></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4">A good place to start is to answer some of the points you made in your below post, one by one.</font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35);min-height:15px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><br></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4">First, opposing the strip mall is not arguing for higher food prices, nor against our own best interests. It's arguing against a cheap, unhealthy national chain that sells stale, outdated packaged food at a discount. It is not called "Food Outlet" - it's called "Grocery Outlet." They have 23 stores in the greater Bay Area, 25 if you include Santa Rosa. Mendocino County already has two "Grocery Outlets" - one in Willits one in Ukiah. Lake County has two. At last count, the corporation has a total of 210 stores.</font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35);min-height:15px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><br></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4">Grocery Outlet is not a "family run business"- unless billionaires are part of your family. It started out in 1946 by Jim Read, and was previously known as "Canned Foods Grocery Outlet," selling surplus canned food at a discount, through sweetheart deals with Del Monte and other canneries. The corporation is still run "in family" - by third generation brothers-in-laws of the Read family. They market and sell their chain stores with a deceptive sales pitch that claims each store is run by an "independent operator," but this is a sham. They recruit and tightly manage a young, gung-ho married couple to be totally indoctrinated into their corporate model, and run the store by the strict Read family rules. Period. What happens when life plays it's hand, and the brainwashed "independent operator" falls out of favor with their corporate over-seers? We don't want to find out.</font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35);min-height:15px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><br></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4">As a footnote: Canned food is NOT good for you. Studies have shown that the BPA in canned foods is linked to reproductive abnormalities and a heightened risk of breast and prostate cancers, diabeted, and heart disease.<font class="Apple-style-span" size="4"> </font>If you think the few bucks you save at a Grocery Outlet will offset your cancer treatment, you are sorely mistaken. See: </font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35);min-height:15px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><br></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Verdana"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><span style="font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4">Consumer Reports - </font> </span><a href="http://tinyurl.com/y9vtb2y">http://tinyurl.com/y9vtb2y</a></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Verdana"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><span style="font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">Mayo Clinic -</font> </span><a href="http://tinyurl.com/o4n9xo8">http://tinyurl.com/o4n9xo8</a></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Verdana"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><span style="font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="4">The Oregonian -</font> </span><a href="http://tinyurl.com/lffxz3u">http://tinyurl.com/lffxz3u</a></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35)"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4">Wiki - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisphenol_A</a></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Verdana;min-height:16px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><br></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Verdana"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4">William Patton, owner of the Boatyard Center is playing monopoly with the Mendocino Coast. Just because he wants to cash in and pawn the heart and soul of the south end of Fort Bragg doesn't mean we should let him. He recently installed a "Dollar Tree" store in the Boatyard. If there is a more trashy purveyor of useless plastic crap, I have yet to see it. The Dollar Tree corporation now has an unbelievable 13,000 stores nationwide, with over $18 billion in yearly sales. A monument to mindless corporate greed, trickled down to splash on us local peons.</font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Verdana"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><br></font></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Verdana"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4">No thanks.</font></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Verdana"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><br></font></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Verdana"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4">---------------------------------</font></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Verdana"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><br></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Verdana;min-height:16px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">"Editor" wrote:</font></p><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Verdana;min-height:16px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"><br></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Verdana;min-height:16px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4"></font></p><p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4">I understand that there are opponents to the project. I just haven't</font></p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4">
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">heard a cogent argument against the development. It seems as if there</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">are some in our community that would continue to support higher priced</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">food and would argue against their own best interests.</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">Food Outlet is a family run business and their prices are half to one</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">third the price of either Safeway, Purity or Harvest. What's wrong with</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">this picture. Please explain it to me.</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">William Patton, the landowner, graduated from Ft Bragg High School and</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">developed the Boatyard Shopping Center. Can't get more local than that!</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">The land is zoned correctly. Where was the opposition when the City</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">zoned the property. I'm not necessarily supporting it. I just cannot</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">come up with a valid argument against it.</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">If I don't like something I'll file my vote the old fashioned way, I</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">won't spend my money there. I cannot understand others forcing their</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">purchasing decisions upon the rest of our community. There is poverty in</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">our town and I believe many would welcome a chance to save on their food</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">expenses. What is wrong with that?</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">Arguments for:</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323;min-height:15.0px"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323"> * Jobs</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323"> * increased tax base</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323"> * Competition</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323"> * Zoning compliance</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323;min-height:15.0px"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">Arguments against</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323;min-height:15.0px"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323"> * Grass is prettier than a shopping mall</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323;min-height:15.0px"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">Please, someone articulate a simple reasonable opposition viewpoint</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">other that, "It's Bad / Not Pretty" and I'll consider bringing them into</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">the studio to speak to the issue. Please....... anyone?</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323;min-height:15.0px"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">--</p>
<p style="margin:0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;font:13.0px Arial;color:#232323">Editor</p></font><p></p>
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<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0px;margin-left:0px;font:normal normal normal 13px/normal Arial;color:rgb(35,35,35);min-height:15px"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="4">###</font></p>
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