E-Mail from Glendale Mayor John Drayman to Barry Allen Regarding the 06-22-08 Vanguard Weekly News

“I enjoyed the edition as usual. The write-up on Trader Joe's was incorrect, so if this was a Vanguard error, I know you will want to correct it. At no time did I say that studies had already been done by the MSPA that concluded Trader Joe's should be chosen as a tenant at the former Ford Dealer site. If you watch the replay, you will see that this contention is wrong. What I stated was that another retail survey regarding the Shopping Park was, in my view, an unnecessary waste of funds because two previous retail studies have already been conducted and paid for by the MSPA. Both of these indicated the same thing, namely that the balance of retail throughout the Shopping Park would most greatly be enhanced by a retail anchor at the west end of the BID. Your, or the writer's, contention that the city should make the determination as to what that retail anchor might be is, in my opinion, correct. To this end, the city spent a full month conducting public outreach in the form of a public forum with the property owners, a public forum with the business owns and a public forum with the residents of the area and any other interested parties. These were conducted at the Montrose Branch Library Meeting Room, the Citibank Community Meeting Room and the Sparr Adult Recreation Center respectively. The planning department, which carried out these forums, also distributed and conducted written surveys for three weeks at the Harvest Market at a city-manned booth, over the Internet via the City's Website and through one-on-one interviews with a dozen community leaders of every conceivable area of opinion. This is the outreach which produced the name Trader Joe's. In fact, that was one area of almost complete agreement. But, the bigger point is that the Trader Joe's notion did not come from the surveys to which I referred nor did I state that. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to let me know. PS: I continue to read Vanguard with interest. Although my opinions sometimes differ from those expressed in the publication, it is illuminating to hear viewpoints from across our city."