“We won!” shout Home Depot opponents

It was obvious while reading the No Home Depot Campaign website on Thursday morning that co-chair Joe Barrett couldn’t keep the grin from his face as he made the long awaited announcement.

“We won!” he exclaimed. “We’ve waited three years to say this and these words sound so sweet today. We never gave up, we stayed focused, we did our homework and we just beat one of the largest corporations in the world. Today proved that a small community can come together and fight a common threat, that all the money and all the lobbyists in the world cannot bend the law for selfish gain, and that our City Government does work when we take an active role and participate.

“Our thanks go out to the L.A. City Council who braved an onslaught of lobbyists in recent weeks and today made the right decision. We especially thank [councilwoman] Wendy Grueuel for being an amazing voice for our community. We will try to analyze today’s events in the coming days and we will be planning a huge celebration party that will take place very soon.

“Thank you Sunland-Tujunga for sticking together and standing with us in the long – but oh so worth it – battle. We cherish this community and always will.”

Although Barrett himself wasn’t able to attend the meeting Wednesday, his co-chair Abby Diamond did and she was extremely tired, but also very happy with the outcome. “I began this as an interested neighbor and saw a need to get things done, to mobilize people and to talk to the City Council about our problem,” said Diamond. “As a grass roots group, each person does what he can.

“I ended up working with Joe on strategy and ended up being the main writer of all our letters, reports, fliers and research as to what had to be done to reach our goal. Today was a result of all that hard work and hard-won small victories.”

Diamond also stated that the No Home Depot Campaign had enormous help from attorney Mark Sellers of Jackson, De Marco, Tidus and Peckinpaugh of Westlake Village. “They have done a lot for us and we have shared the cost of their fees with the Do-it Center.”