The Boycott of Target Express in Ocean Beach Is On

Community Forum by “No Target in OB”, Oct. 11, 2017.

By Frank Gormlie

Members of the “No Target in OB” group hosted a forum Wednesday night, October 11th, and the message from all the presentations is, the boycott of Target Express in Ocean Beach is on, baby!

About 40 people crammed into the meeting room of the OB Rec Center to view a good power-point presentation by Kim McGinley with updates and messages the group wants to get out to the community about why a boycott is necessary.

McGinley pressed the message, “it’s not a done deal yet,” in regards to Target leasing the space in the building that now holds the Antique Center on Newport Avenue. She then ticked off all the ways a Target Express moving into OB violates the OB Community Plan, mainly the Plan’s provisions for “small scale, locally-owned businesses”. And she added the point local businesses spend money in the local community and don’t send profits to some chain headquarters.

A member of the group, Jeannie, then made a call for volunteers to take Petition boards and collect signatures of friends, family and neighbors. Signature-gatherers from the group circulate the petition at OB’s Farmers Markets, and it’s “a lot of fun,” Jeannie said, “and you get to meet your fellow OBceans while you’re at it.” About half a dozen people volunteered to take the petition boards.

Petitioners have gathered just about a thousand signatures, Jeannie told the gathering. It’s also online, Kimmy added.

“Boycotts work,” McGinley said as a slide of articles of successful boycotts of Walmart appeared on the screen.

At one point, Kathy Blavatt rose up and showed everyone a traffic diagram she had created of issues with a new Target on Newport. There’s 4 schools in the immediate area, she said, and all the kids and their parents walk to them. Plus all the other pedestrians use the sidewalks and alleys. She raised fears that Target customers would take the free parking provided for the new building at the OB Library. She shared a rumor that the current vendors inside the Antique mall were told they have “until January 1” before they have to leave.

Blavatt also wondered outloud, “why didn’t the OB Planning Board ask for a traffic study?” The unspoken response is that the Board  doesn’t believe it has such a jurisdiction over commercial buildings coming in on Newport.

Kathy ended her spiel with a pitch for the owner of the Antique Center, “to cut up the building,” in order to lease out the separate spaces – this won a hearty round of applause from the audience.

McGinley then led a broad discussion of the Target situation while another member of the group handed out “To Do” check-list with suggested actions to the audience. Some of the suggestions included, “sign the boycott petition”, “spread the word”, “hang a ‘No Target in OB’ sign in your window, car, or wherever”, and “write a letter to Target corporation”.

The discussion continued. One man didn’t like the “wannabe Obceans” that move in and “who don’t even understand what it means” being an OBcean and care for the community. He was concerned that small businesses would be forced out. A woman echoed some of his points, and said “there are OB people who want to open businesses in OB but can’t compete with large corporations.”

Another woman asked, “Can we get a law passed to ban corporations from renting in OB?”

Kathy Blavatt answered, “there’s lots of corporations who have targeted OB like Seven-11.”

From the back of the room, a businessman asked whether OB businesses are against Target moving in, for he added, “a lot of businesspeople work and live here.” It was Steve Lombardi, the well-known local architect. He asked the organizers, “can you improve getting businesses to sign the petition?” and said, “the businesses are as loud as the people.”

The discussion devolved at one point into the prices charged by local businesses versus what the big stores sell the same products for, and how some people can’t afford to buy something that’s $5 over the price at Target; Starbucks was brought up how they undercut local coffee houses with lower prices.

The OB Mainstreet Association came in for some criticism, as the group supports Target coming in, and it was pointed out one of the Antique Center owners is on its board of directors.

“We need to go to the city council,” one woman in front said,” and show them Kathy’s [traffic issue] diagram.”

Colleen of the Green Center warned the crowd, “we need to outreach to the merchants,” then she added, “Target is talking to them, reassuring them ‘we’re not selling your products’.”

Shana made the point, “after all the local businesses are driven out, Target will raise their prices.”

Rio jumped in and said, “Starbucks is not open because of cheaper prices but because it’s the brand.” One of the best quotes from the evening was Rio’s “I’m getting tired of people trying to show how big their OB is,” to some laughter.

Then a young man with family beside him rose in front of the audience and described how he and a partner have tried to work with the realtor, Tony Franco, to buy the building. His name is John Bellis and he explained that they had a plan to tear the old building down and construct a 3-story mixed-use building with commercial space on the bottom floor. The new building would be modeled on the plan for mixed-use that the OB Planning Board came up with.

“Six and a half million is a lot,” he said (the going rate for the building), but also added he would expect to spend a projected $20 million on the new construction. But Franco backed out of the potential deal, he said. Some grumbling emerged from the crowd. John said he hadn’t given up and wanted to approach the property owners.

More talk about OB businesses and where they stood. “Businesses are neutral, ” Rio said, and struggling and cannot afford to pick fights with Target or the OBMA for their support of Target.

As the discussion drifted into more dissing of the OBMA – how they don’t go to local businesses for local services and products (they didn’t go to the James Gang, for instance, to print out their T-shirts) – to talk about BIDs – business improvement districts, people started leaving the meeting. It had gone on for nearly an hour and half.

But the plain fact is – the Boycott is on – and Target Express is in the sights of OBceans.

For more petitions, signs or info, go to the OB Green Center, 4843 B Voltaire or visit the website or email them notargetinob@gmail.com