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groundwork coffee company
I’m
Richard Karno, founder of groundwork
coffee company.
A
couple of weeks ago, before one
of the many cancelled hearings, I wrote a little
speech.
I
wanted to talk about how groundwork
is a local LA company, established before the first
Starbucks opened in the entire state of California.
How
I’m an LA native and about how proud I
am to be a member of the group that won the
bid to supply real LA style food and drink
at LAX.
But
that’s just boilerplate. I’m not
the issue here.
The
real issue here is how from the
moment the competition ended and the winners were
announced, this entire process got hijacked and
twisted by an army of lawyers, lobbyists the PR
flacks.
This
has become a soap opera, an embarrassment
to this city and its residents. It shows how a
good idea can quickly become corrupted by money
and influence.
I
implore this council and this board
to take back this process and to govern. To make
a decision today, based on what is right for the
city of Los Angeles, not the guys in suits standing
at the back of the room.
Thank
you.
* * * * *
The
collective proposal that groundwork
is a part of has been approved for
movement to the LA City Council. The
initial round consisted of approval
by the Airport Commissioner and
the Board of Airport Commissioners.
The
package, assembled by SSP
America (“the food travel experts”),
includes the following
LA-based and locally
grown businesses:
*
LA Mill Coffee – (wholesale
coffee roaster and
coffee
shop/restaurant
in Silverlake)
*
Border Grill – Susan Feniger
and Mary Sue Milliken
*
25 Degrees – (“old
school Hollywood” Bordello-style restaurant
at Roosevelt Hotel
in Hollywood)
*
Nick & Stef’s
Steakhouse – Joachim
Splichal, downtown
LA
* groundwork coffee
*
Park’s Barbeque – the
LA based first “franchise” restaurant
outside of South
Korea’s Chundamdong District
*
Nancy Silverton’s Spuntino
*
red mango – all-natural
nonfat frozen yogurt
*
Geisha House – Japanese
Restaurant, Sushi
Bar and
Sake Lounge
*
M Café – Contemporary
Macrobiotic Cuisine
*
Bertha’s
Soul Food – Los
Angeles institution
since 1965.
*
La Serenata de Garibaldi – 20
years in Boyle Heights
*
Market Café – Patina
* Panda Express
*
Peet’s Coffee & Tea
*
Buttercake Bakery
*
LaBrea Bakery
The
approved package
listed above will now be presented
to the Los Angeles City Council
whose approval and passage
will happen within
4-6 weeks. At that point it will end up
on the desk of Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa.
All
members of the City
Council have a voice
in this process, HOWEVER, a special “Board
of Referred Powers”, consisting of five councilmembers,
hand selected by Council
President Eric Garcetti, is comprised of the following five
VOTING council members:
Councilmember Tony
Cardenas (Chairperson)
Councilmember
Bernard
Parks (Vice Chair)
Councilmember
Ed Reyes
Councilmember
Bill
Rosendahl (who’s district includes
Los Angeles Int’l
Airport)
Councilmember Janice
Hahn
The five LA City Council
Members listed above are the
voting body and should be HEAVILY
TARGETED for letters, email,
petitions and personal meetings,
plus, of course, Eric
Garcetti.
The listed SSP America
package
of food and beverage establishments is an
ALL
OR NOTHING proposal.
Individual establishments CANNOT be picked from
or removed from the package.
HOST MARRIOT, who has managed corporate food
and beverage service at LAX for over forty years,
DID NOT GET APPROVAL on any of their proposed
packages which consisted of chains, fast foods
and the existing LAX status quo outlets.
HOST MARRIOT has engaged the services of seasoned
lobbyists to
overturn this process.
It will be a highly politicized
vote.
This was from a blog
article in
the LA
Times on
April 15th
outlining
the proposals
and process
and overhaul
of food
and beverage
vendors
at LA discussing
SSP
America
and this
list of
proposed
LA-based
businesses
and this was on
the front
page of
the Time
on April
16th..
THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE THAT WE CAN FORESEE IS
THAT SSP AMERICA
IS A FOREIGN BASED COMPANY (London)
REPRESENTING A
PACKAGE OF 100% LA-BASED LOCAL
COMPANIES.
LINKS
Los
Angeles
times -
7-27-10 Read Me!
Global News Wire -
4/20/10 Read Me!
KCRW
- Warren Olney's "Which Way L.A.?" Read
Me!
Protests
received by L.A. City Council
regarding
Food/Beverage Concession Read
Me!
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