"Egg on Your Face"
Rosemary Sauer: May 13, 2007
The following is an excerpt from an open letter to Vestar from Rosemary Sauer. Click here to read the letter.
"I know that Wal-mart is smart for you guys, but I challenge you that you are taking a bird in the hand, and that if you spoke to residents you would find a great desire to shop and dine in UNIQUE places - not necessarily 5 star or "upscale" - but unique. I know that the Nordstrom/upscale concepts are thrown around freely here, but truly if you LISTEN, what we want is what drew us and potentially many other highly financially capable shoppers to the area: Unique and inherent desert beauty. Nowhere in the country is there a more amazing view so close and unspoiled as the Catalinas. When developers get this, they will be amply rewarded as was your competitor, the La Encantada developers, Westcor."
"Mr. Malin - do you want the same egg on your face here, in Tucson, as you got in Buckeye?? Need I remind you what you said yourself during that debacle: "Our credibility is now in question." At what point sir, do you separate 'our', meaning Vestar's, credibility from your own? At what point do you consider what a tenant like Wal-Mart does to the property value of residents like us and our children? When do you lie awake at night thinking of the crime that you have brought into our neighborhoods by selling out to Wal-mart..."
"While, like I said, I come from a family in development, I don't pretend to be an expert on commercial development - but I do know Oro Valley. Oro Valley is truly as unique as its residents. I want what is best for my community and I think if you truly want to be profitable and maintain some semblance of PR, you will rethink this WAL-MART idea."
Read: Blogger Talk
From time to time, we receive comments from bloggers that are worthy of posting in their entirety. Unfortunately, we can't always do this directly on the blog. So we are posting them here.