Home Depot

I've been closely watching a local ballot initiaitve fight in the city of Thousand Oaks, Calif. Why? Well, this is a relatively new type of business vs. business ballot fight that are popping up all over California. The outlines are similar. Typically, a company comes into town and wants to build-open-redevelop something. A local business or longtime business objects. They may fight in a planning commission or the city council for a while, but eventually, the two sides take their dispute -- usually over something technically small, like a rezoning -- to the ballot.

In Thousand Oaks, the battle is local but is being watched nationally because one of the players is Home Depot, which wants to open a center there. On the other side is the owner of the Do-It Centers, a local chain of hardware stores. The  business community is divided, with many local businessmen siding with Do-It but the chamber of commerce on Home Depot's side. I'll be leading a Zocalo LA panel discussion about these types of fights on May 27 at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles. It starts at 7;30 p.m. Among the confirmed panelists are the political consultants for both the Do-It Center and Home Depot sides of the Thousand Oaks fight.

There is a flood of new ballot measures on local development headed for municipal ballots in California. News of four such measures is below. I'll be moderating a Zocalo LA panel on this phenomenon on May 27 at 7 p.m. at the Autry Museum in Griffith Park in Los Angeles.

Voters in LA county will decide whether to charge themselves a global warming fee.

The Conejo Valley teachers union sides with Home Depot, and opposes a ballot initiative backed by a local chain of hardware stores that would limit big box development in Thousand Oaks.

A classic Santa Monica battle over a proposed ballot measure that would limit the size and imprint of commercial development.

Here's a report on a new local ballot initiative filed in an attempt to limit growth in Grass Valley. (That's in Nevada County, northern California).

And a bonus item from Arizona, cultural colony of California: Paradise Valley can't approve a Ritz without a referendum.