Arcadia Wins! Blog

New Traffic? Must Mean Shops at Santa Anita Will Be Wonderful, Right?

This entry was posted on 4/10/2007 11:30 PM and is filed under uncategorized.

I have followed both sides of the decision with interest and read all the opposing arguments which seem to boil down to two things only:

* Traffic issues. Let's be clear... Traffic will be generated by both the third extension of Westfield's mall and the Caruso development. According to Arcadia First, Caruso's development (and puzzlingly only Caruso) will generate millions of extra cars. How can that be? Presumably because the Caruso development will be so much better than the Westfield one that millions of people will want to come and enjoy it -- otherwise, why aren't they coming now? Caruso's development is obviously going to be wonderful! AND Caruso is contributing $10 million to easing traffic - (I have not seen anything much from Westfield as to their contribution towards traffic; just $millions wasted on misrepresentation.)

The we come to...

* Gambling. There is no gambling property planned within the mall so why does Arcadia First continue with this misrepresentation? Gambling is offered within the current racetrack building only and is merely being shifted to its own more private area making the racetrack more suitable for family use. It is therefore not an issue and as such is a complete fabrication.

The benefits from Caruso however are compound -- extra revenue, a wonderful town center, upscale shopping and a beautiful and impressive way to dien outdoors facing our historic landmark, enabling everyone to savour and experience it. We don't have any of these benefits currently and Westfield cannot provide them either.

The alternative is nothing -- it will be some other type of commercial venture with probably consdierably less appeal.

Opportunity is there on a plate -- grab it while you can!

Nicky Hunter -- 91006

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4/20/2007 5:55 PM Dexter - Arcadia 91007 wrote:
Hi Scott,

Thanks again for running this forum and bringing up some excellent arguments in favor of the Shops at Santa Anita. I am a resident of Arcadia and they do provide some good points for thought. I feel like we're caught in the middle of a corporate struggle between two giants with enormous resources. In the middle of that, the voice of the common lowly Arcadia resident gets lost the the clutter of dozens of mail pieces and door hangers and DVDs every month.

I think you've stated before that you don't get any money from the Caruso group, and if so, a website is one way to get heard. I happen to disagree with your view (I don't want another mall in Arcadia), but I respect what you're doing.

The problem is, without Westfield, there is nobody with the resources to match Caruso's deep pockets in opposing a new mall. It's no secret that Westfield doesn't want the competition of a second mall, but I could care less about Westfield's problems. I care about what's best for Arcadia.

In my opinion, even if traffic mitigation measures are taken, I don't want Arcadia to become a major shopping hub in Southern California. I believe that this will be detrimental to the quality of life here. I am worried that the plan will successfully generate more visitors to Arcadia.

I'm sure that Caruso's mall would be beautiful. The Grove is a thing of beauty and it's awful crowded. As for Westfield, I have mixed feelings... if it continues to be successful, then we will truly have lots of outsiders attracted to Arcadia. If Westfield falters, we'll have a second tier, low rent eyesore of a business failure. I'm not sure which is worse. (I suppose I'll also feel badly for all of the mom and pop owned stores in Arcadia -- including some who are inside Westfield and some who are elsewhere -- who will feel the brunt of new commercial development, but nobody really cares about them... people just care about the big corporations like Westfield and Caruso.)
Thanks again Scott for your website and allowing me to post a dissenting view. I passionately disagree with your ideas, but I'm glad that someone is out there putting forth an independent voice for the sake of the citizen (and not the big commercial mouthpieces).

Editor's note: the author lives on Huntington Dr., west of Baldwin, and walking distance to the mall.

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4/21/2007 9:41 AM Scott - Arcadia 91006 wrote:
Dexter,
Thanks for your thoughtful and open-minded comments.
As a fellow Arcadia resident I share many of your noted concerns and I agree that the best interests of Arcadia as a community are of paramount concern over any retail development.
That being said, my overriding concern is what happens to Arcadia if we don’t get Caruso’s Shops at Santa Anita development? What happens to the race track? What happens to traffic, which is getting worse by the day?
Maybe I’m a Pollyanna, but I believe all of those issues are addressed extremely successfully with Caruso’s development and better than any alternative, including the do-nothing approach. In addition, there will be many other peripheral benefits that are even more important to me than whatever retail value there may be, like the state-of-the-art school district office space and more space on the high school campus for classrooms, and a performing arts center that students and the community can be proud of with a high-profile marquee right in the middle of a great retail complex.

Secondarily, you ask which is worse, Westfield faltering or being successful and attracting more visitors. I would say Westfield faltering would be much worse as it would have a horrible ripple effect on the economic underpinnings of Arcadia. It’s critical that the Westfield Santa Anita mall continue to prosper, and I believe they will do even better with competition from Caruso as they have already shown by improving traffic flow within their parking lot after their first expansion, and the recent addition of computerized parking space monitoring like Caruso has at The Grove, and now planning a nice Caruso-like outdoor retail expansion.

Thanks again for engaging in a civil dialogue with an open mind. We all have a shared interest in achieving what's best for the future of Arcadia while preserving what has been best about the past.
Scott Hettrick
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