Members of Arcadia First! appear no less committed to their cause to prevent the development of the Shops at Santa Anita than members of Arcadia Wins! are dedicated to seeing the project succeed.
I had the pleasure of attending a meeting/open house of Arcadia First! members this past Saturday morning, Oct. 14. Having enrolled as a member in Arcadia First! last January before realizing it was a group created by Westfield, which hired a consultant who does not live in Arcadia or even the San Gabriel Valley to run the organization, I remain on AF!'s membership roles along with executives of SASA developer Caruso Affiliated and other SASA supporters who simply went to the web site and signed in to get more information.
We are all among the 4,200 members boasted by AF! Presumably all of those members were invited to Saturday's open house. A couple dozen people attended, including myself and the leaders of the group and their consultants.
I had rsvp'd in advance so as not to surprise anyone and give them an opportunity to request that I not attend since I must be seen as one of the enemies.
When I arrived I signed in and introduced myself and was pleased to be warmly accepted. I was also pleased to see the group carry on with their agenda with no inhibitions.
The hour was spent with AF! executive director Bernetta Reade mostly leading a free-flowing dialogue that involved a wide-ranging variety of topics and concerns and comments relative to the proposed Shops at Santa Anita. The tone and slant of the comments were, obviously, mostly directed at finding ways to stop the project. But for the most part there were sincere concerns expressed by good citizens who, like all of us, want to ensure the best future for our city, ourselves, our children and future generations.  
Arcadia First! can be commended for presenting mostly accurate information to their members last Saturday.
The problem is that even accurate information can sometimes be presented without other equally accurate information in order to give it a slant that may ultimately not be providing the full picture to the listener. (See related blog titled: Clarifying The "Facts") That is often the case when it is presented by people hired to push the agenda of a corporation while masking it as a sincere effort by concerned local citizens.
It was startling to hear an attendee on Saturday praise Ms. Reade for the work of she and Arcadia First!, which the attendee said was laudable given the fact that it was all being done on a grass roots level with volunteers.
Give credit to Ms. Reade for noting a few moments later that she was being paid by Westfield and other people in the community.
Although Ms. Reade corrected the woman's misunderstanding by saying she is paid, it's doubtful that the woman has any idea that Westfield has already spent millions of dollars to fund Arcadia First! and Save Arcadia and their media campaigns. Given her response when she learned that Ms. Reade is, in fact, paid by Westfield -- "Well, you should be!" -- it may well be that the woman would not be the slightest bit deterred in learning that the driving force behind the group she is supporting is a global behemoth retail corporation that understandably puts the best interests of its own businesses well ahead of the best interests of the city of Arcadia.
But Arcadia Wins! feels it's important that she and all others be aware of that information before drawing any conclusions or taking a position.
Our concern at Arcadia Wins! is that many of the other 4,200 members of Arcadia First!, very few of whom were at this AF! Open House on Saturday, and many residents who are not members of any of these groups, will assume, as did the attendee (whom one would think would be more engaged and informed on this issue than the average person), that the sole and primary motivation of Arcadia First! is to represent the best interests of Arcadia residents. In fact, the primary and probably only goal of Arcadia First! is to do what's best for Westfield. And not necessarily even what's best for Westfield Santa Anita, but what's best for Westfield's global operations.
Of course that message wasn't delivered at the Arcadia First! meeting. And we wouldn't expect it to be.
That's why you come to this web site.
Nonetheless, the AF! Open House was a welcome opportunity to hear the concerns of fellow citizens, as was the Planning Commission hearing in June on the Draft Environmental Impact Report (a hearing on the revised Draft EIR is set for Nov. 28). This is the kind of open dialogue Arcadians need relative to this ongoing issue of whether or not to approve the proposed Shops at Santa Anita on the parking lot of Santa Anita Park race track.
It is important for Arcadia Wins! to monitor concerns of all residents so we can help can present and get those issues addressed by Caruso and city leaders, as well as Westfield. We will not allay all objections but we feel strongly that the more Arcadians know about the all the facts, the more they will be in favor of the development.

Scott Hettrick
founder, Arcadia Wins!

 

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