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February 21, 2007
Burbank Says Neigh to Whole Foods
In a tight vote, the Burbank city council chose not to allow a Whole Foods Market sell their organically grown foods, beverages, and vitamins in the city.
Claiming it would add too much traffic and disturb the unique equestrian style around the proposed location at 901 W. Alameda Avenue, the council basically told health-conscious shoppers that they will have to continue to drive east to Glendale or west to Sherman Oaks to pay and arm and a leg for what we should be getting in the first damn place.
The market was proposed for Alameda Avenue - a busy four-lane road - and Main Street, a narrow two-lane road that empties into the Los Angeles Equestrian Center.We'd had thought that with the proximity from the proposed site to the Disney, NBC, and Warner Bros there would have been a good deal of powerful people who would have preferred that their assistants, interns, and underlings wouldn't have to drive all the way to Burbank to pick up all sorts of delectables. But maybe no one ever thought that a Whole Foods would be shot down in LA?The store, which was to include two levels of underground parking, was slated for a 76,000-square-foot lot. The projected car trips to the proposed store were cut to about 4,170 per day, down from 4,854 according to the most recent estimates. The number of car trips from the office building now on the site totals about 1,700 trips per day, city studies said.
"The Whole Foods Market fits this site," said Davies, the project's Westlake Village-based developer. - LA Daily News
photo by That Other Paper
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"But maybe no one ever thought that a Whole Foods would be shot down in LA?"
It's not LA it's Burbank, Huge Difference.
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what the hell.
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could you explain this "Huge Difference" pmaynez?
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Best. Headline. Ever. Neigh!
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GO TRADER JOE'S!
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yeah! trader joes is usually 2x cheaper then whole foods, not to mention better.
except whole foods deli/foods beat out trader joes'
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The yuppies tearing in and out of the parking lot in overpriced German sedans would have frightened the horses.
They could have picked a better location in Burbank than near the EqCenter - there are additional traffic concerns there because of the horses.
Burbank's not small. They just need to find a better location for a market that everyone knows is going to be high traffic.
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For once gonvernment looking after the interest of the community. Screw the entertainment execs. They will always ask for unnessary items. I feel bad for the PAs and Assistants the will have to continue to drive farther.
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Puleeeze. Traffic? Like there isn't already tons of traffic? I realize Whole Foods is as yuppie as it gets, but finding a selection of organic foods is not easy. Trader Joe's is limited. If I were owner of those neighboring businesses I'd be pissed off. All the customers that WF would have brought in would have helped other businesses. Instead of traffic, now we'll just get more pollution and highway traffic from having to continue to drive to Glendale or Sherman oaks. There must ahve been a better compromise than this.
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GO TRADER JOE'S!
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Hey, it's no skin off my teeth to drive the 5.2 miles to the Glendale store! That's a small price to pay to avoid the extra car trips and traffic at this very congested intersection. There are no crosswalks on Alameda between Main & Victory, and people walk (more like run) across Alameda all the time with average traffic speeds of 50 mph (posted limit 35 mph). I saw a lady hit and killed by a pizza delivery truck last fall; it will only get worse with the estimated extra 4,854 car trips a day. And why don't we rate a Whole Foods on an entire block like Glendale? I heard the developers say that they have looked in Burbank for 10 years for property and couldn't find anything better than Main & Alameda. Well, where there's a will, there's a way, as they say. We need a whole city block Whole Foods in Burbank, too. So property owners, stand up to the plate and sell your city block to Whole Foods for a good price. (Unless they are temporarily cash-strapped after buying Wild Oats).
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I am so glad traffic was such a concern. It is clear that the Burbank government had our best interests at heart. Whole Foods was such a clear threat to our way of life, how could I have not seen that for myself. I remember the tough vote by the community on this subject, wait was there one? Also, thanks to Disney, Alameda has become the 134 east to 5 north transition. But who would think to ease traffic by requiring all mighty Disney to have more staggered shifts so that you do not take your life into your hands crossing the street on a weekday afternoon. Maybe Disney just has a little more juice than Whole Foods.