Ten Lies Told by Measure A Developer

Ten Lies Told by Measure A Developer

The developer Paladin Partners is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to sell Measure A to Hawthorne voters. Why are they trying to mislead the voters with false claims?
Lie #1 Millions of dollars to schools
Not a dime to our schools. If you want to sell a project just say it is for "The Kids" or it helps support our "Police and Firemen". Remember all the money the lottery was supposed to generate for "The Kids"? All city sales tax goes DIRECTLY into general fund. Developer is asking city to take much needed money from general fund and give it to local schools. Hawthorne is not a rich city and is unlikely to give any money to schools.
Lie #2 Build a new high school on Hawthorne Mall site
Per Hawthorne School Superintendent and Hawthorne Mayor Larry Guidi, no school will ever be built on the mall site because of railroad tracks, underground pipeline and power lines. We don't build schools next to hazards such as these. Hawthorne Plaza has been purchased and plans are in place to bring it back to life. We want commercial business on Hawthorne Blvd, not a high school.
Lie #3 Only 18 people use the airport
Over 80,000 operations at our airport last year. 92 aircraft are registered to Hawthorne Residents and Businesses.
Lie #4 Airport only generate $38K per year
Our Airport grosses over $600K per year in revenue for our city.
Lie #5 Developer is building a Universal City Walk like project
Developer is proposing a shopping center, NOT a Universal City Walk
Lie #6 The FAA can't change the LAX flight pattern without the approval of the Hawthorne City Council
The FAA can change the LAX arrival and departure routes without first getting the approval of the Hawthorne City Council. The FAA is the sole authority on where and how high aircraft have to fly. Developer had to go to some East Coast university to find someone to back up THEIR opinion.
Lie #7 The airport is unsafe, three aircraft crashes in the past two years
Only one fatal crash in the last 25 years.
A couple of "fender bender" type accidents
Statically, flying is the safest form of transportation.
Hawthorne Airport has the best safety record of any airport in the LA basin.
Lie #8 2000 good paying jobs to local residents
Developers project would mostly generate low paying jobs such as cleaning motel rooms, selling movie tickets or stocking retail shelves.

Developer does not "Walk the talk". Instead of hiring local Hawthorne kids to pass out his flyers and knock on Hawthorne residents doors, he hired kids from cities as far away as Glendale to invade our neighborhoods spreading lies and mistruth. If developer won't hire local Hawthorne residents to help with his campaign, why should we think his shopping center would hire mostly Hawthorne residents? Developer can not force business to hire mostly Hawthorne residents. Anyone from any nearby city can apply and be hired.
Lie #9 Their shopping center is viable and will produce $3.8 million dollars to the city.
No one has independently verified the developers revenue figures and we all know developer would not lie about the benefits of their project just to get the contract. The Hawthorne Mall failed, a remodeled shopping center in PV is having trouble, the Sherman Oaks Mall was turned into office space and other area malls are having a problem keeping their major tenants. Most redevelopment developers ask for taxpayer money to help finance their project or some type of sale tax sharing arrangement. If the project fails, the local taxpayers are left holding the bag.
Lie #10 LAX Jumbo jets will not fly over parts of Hawthorne.
The SCAG (Southern California Association of Governments) Airspace Users Group has studied the effect on LAX flight paths if HHR is closed and has determined that it would improved LAX efficiency if it was allowed to reroute jumbo jet and turboprop aircraft over several South Bay Cities, including Hawthorne.
Several years ago an another developer wanted to bring gambling into Hawthorne. We were promised money for schools, jobs for residents, more police, etc. Through a Grass Root effort we were able to fight back and keep gambling out of Hawthorne.
Working together we can defeat Measure A
On November 6, Vote NO on Measure A! Remember a NO vote Saves Our Airport!

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