Thread: More Escondido news

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http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/10 ... 0_4_06.txt

Rental ban protesters boycott Abed's business

By: PAUL EAKINS - Staff Writer

ESCONDIDO ---- Opponents of an ordinance approved Wednesday night by Escondido City Council that will ban landlords from renting to illegal immigrants took the fight to Councilman Sam Abed's doorstep today.

At about 10 a.m. Thursday, protesters began gathering at a Mobil gas station owned by Abed on the northeast corner of the intersection at East Valley Parkway and Midway Drive as part of what they said would be a two-week boycott of the business.

Standing on the sidewalks along both streets in front of the station, the protesters held signs that read, "Sam Abed is dividing the community" and "Owner Sam Abed is intolerant," and encouraged drivers entering the gas station not to buy gas there. Abed was one of three council members, along with Marie Waldron and Ed Gallo, to vote in favor of the rental ban measure during Wednesday's meeting.

"This is economics class for Mr. Abed," said Daniel Perez, a community activist who organized the boycott. "We're going to tell him, this is what happens when you remove half of the people in the city."

While the protesters received many honks of support from drivers passing by, several people stopped to buy gas at Abed's business.

Some said they hadn't realized why the protesters were on the corner and they had mixed feelings about the ordinance. However, one woman said she didn't really need gas, but decided to stop to buy some after seeing the signs because she supported the council's decision to pass the ordinance.

I saw Mr. Abed on Lou Dobbs tonight in a clip from the meeting and what is important to know is that he is probably a first or second generation immigrant himself. He spoke English well but with a considerable accent. I noticed in the article that they called him several things, but not a "racist". I suspect this is why.

However, one woman said she didn't really need gas, but decided to stop to buy some after seeing the signs because she supported the council's decision to pass the ordinance.

Hey, I'd be the first to join the lady if I lived in that community. Seems to me, the protest should actually do more to improve business vice hurt it.

Hmmmmmmmmm
Didn't the Russians {Lukoil} buy up Mobile?

The Russians are coming... with another Lukoil gas station
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
BY TOM JOHNSON
Star-Ledger Staff
The gas station down at the corner is taking on a bold new look.

The latest player on the block is Lukoil, a Russian oil company that holds the second largest oil reserves in the world behind only ExxonMobil.

In the past 16 months, Lukoil has been rapidly converting hundreds of Mobil service stations in the region to its own distinctive brand. Its tanker trucks seem to be all over the roads, and its storage tanks are visible from the New Jersey Turnpike.

Instead of the traditional blue and white signs of Mobil, the Lukoil stations are painted red and white, often with huge signs burnished with the company's bright red logo. More than 240 locations around New Jersey have been converted, and by the end of next year more than 800 stations in the state and neighboring Pennsylvania will have taken on the Moscow-based company's brand.

The conversion, averaging about 10 a week, began in the Philadelphia area and has been slowly moving northward, with several stations along the Garden State Parkway already flying the Lukoil flag. It is all part of an aggressive effort by the Russian company to establish a toehold in the very competitive Northeast gasoline market.

"They're looking for an outlet in the U.S.," said Bill Dressler, executive director of the New Jersey Gasoline Retailers Association. "It's a very lucrative market."

Lukoil leaped into the market in 2000 when it purchased Getty Petroleum Marketing and boosted its presence when it purchased 800 Mobil stations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania two years ago. The deal came after the Federal Trade Commission ordered Exxon and Mobil to sell all of the latter's stations between Virginia and New Jersey as a condition for allowing an $81 billion merger of the oil giants to proceed.

"It was the opportunity that attracted us," said Dave Wallace, Lukoil's director for the region. "The stations were high-volume, high-visibility and great locations."

At this point, Lukoil doesn't ship crude oil into the United States or operate refineries, but buys product from other major oil suppliers. Longer term, that is expected to change, executives said.

"Russia is finding oil every day. They are going to be players whether Lukoil is here or not," Wallace said.

Page 2 of 2
The marketing transformation, however, has not gone without a hitch. A number of dealers have balked at the switch, including more than two dozen former Mobil dealers who have filed a lawsuit against Lukoil, arguing the conversion illegally terminated their franchise agreements and the changeover has damaged their business.

"The pricing is way out of line," said Craig Copeland, who runs a station on Route 35 in Middletown.

Copeland said his volume has dropped to about 70,000 gallons a month from 120,000 gallons since Lukoil took over delivering oil to his station.

"I'm one of the highest (price) guys on the street with the lowest margin," said the 48-year-old Copeland, who has been running a station for 17 years. "I have a repair business that is subsidizing my gasoline business."

Lukoil's Wallace declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said the conversion to the Lukoil brand name is going well. "We've developed a great strategy through this transition. It just takes time to build brand equity."

Many of the dealers Dressler talks to said otherwise.

"Who is Lukoil? The public does not know who Lukoil is," he said. "If you listen to the dealers, they're not happy. They're not getting a good wholesale price, which they need to be competitive."

But some dealers are trying to make the arrangement work. Ardas Sariyan, who runs four stations in Bergen County, said he has seen his volume drop off, but is encouraged by other aspects of the arrangement with Lukoil.

"I'm upset, too, don't get me wrong," said Sariyan, who owns a station/convenience store on Route 4 West in Hackensack, directly across the highway from another Lukoil dealer. "But I am a businessman and I look at it, how can I improve my business?"

One option he is exploring is replacing an underused car wash at a station in Englewood with a Dunkin' Donuts. He also sells propane tank refills for outdoor grills at his stations.

"It's very important to look at this outside the box," Sariyan said. "You have to educate your customers, so they know that this is the best facility; the cleanest facility."

Lukoil also launched its own credit card with a special rebate that allows customers to purchase gasoline at a discounted price for the first few months, a deal which has helped boost business, Sariyan said. The company has signed up 27,000 cardholders in the U.S. since the launch, according to George Wilkins, brand manager. "We've tried to develop tools to help (the dealers)," he said.

If the company starts importing and refining it here, it could help to bring down prices and make their businesses more competitive, Sariyan said. "I think they are on the right track," he said.



Tom Johnson may be reached at tjohnson@starledger.com or (973) 392-5972.

Doesn't this town have laws against loitering and illegal gatherings? It would seem to me if they are all standing on the corner, urging drivers not to use the station for gas, that this is an impeadment of the owner's right to do legitimate business. They are in the way.

As for Russia and China doing business in our country..We're only asking for trouble. JFK's stand on communist nations was that we should not have open relations with them. They will only try and bring us down. I don't trust Russia, who plays war games with China. China, for all I care, can go take a flying leap.

Well, ROCK, if they enforce the LOITERING laws the ILLEGALS will get the ACLU to sue for RACISM. Didn't ya know?

LAWS ARE ONLY FOR AMERICANS

Loitering applies to everyone. Force them to go elsewhere. We can't be afraid of the ACLU stepping in everytime.

Here is the latest in our main newspaper today. If you click on the link the pic the Tribune used of a little boy holding a protest sign. On Rick Roberts talk radio (760 KFMB am) this morning people were highly critical of a little boy being used to further their cause. Plus the paper just had to print it right? I have more to say re this radio show but will add separately.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib ... 6folo.html

Legal fights could delay immigrant housing law

By J. Harry Jones
STAFF WRITER

October 6, 2006





DAN TREVAN / Union-Tribune
Christion Razo, 4, sat in front of Councilman Sam Abed's Mobil station on East Valley Parkway as he helped family members protest yesterday.


Suspicion may be mutual in new rental climate



ESCONDIDO – Long before the illegal-immigrant housing ordinance passed by the City Council goes into effect, legal challenges are likely to be brought that could stall its implementation indefinitely.
The American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties, in conjunction with lawyers representing various immigrant-rights groups, is evaluating what to do.

“There will be a lawsuit; I'm almost certain of that. This is not going to go unchallenged,” ACLU Legal Director David Blair-Loy said yesterday. “It's abundantly unconstitutional and illegal.”

The ordinance, which would penalize landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, will return to the council in two weeks for a perfunctory second reading and would go into effect 30 days later.

Blair-Loy said he hesitates to discuss legal strategies, but challenges to similar ordinances in other parts of the country have won injunctions.

Blair-Loy said that despite Escondido City Attorney Jeffrey Epp's contention that the ordinance is legal, there are so many things wrong with it that he could spend an hour listing them.

“I think (Epp) did the best he could do with the lemons he was given,” he said. “I just don't think the courts are going to drink his lemonade.”

Blair-Loy said the ordinance is pre-empted by federal law and interferes with federal immigration policy. He said it also violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, under which the government cannot deny public education to children of undocumented immigrants, which would result if tenants are forced to leave their homes.

Escondido is the largest city in the country and the first in California to approve such an ordinance.

Under the ordinance, residents, businesses and city officials can file written complaints with the city. Complaints based “solely or primarily on the basis of national origin, ethnicity, or race shall be deemed invalid,” the ordinance reads.

After complaints, landlords would have to provide documentation to the city of their tenants' immigration status. The city would then ask the federal government to verify the documents.

If the tenants are found to be illegal immigrants, landlords would be given 10 days to evict them or face suspension of their business licenses. Repeat offenders could face misdemeanor charges and fines of up to $1,000. Voting for the ordinance Wednesday night were council members Sam Abed, Ed Gallo and Marie Waldron, who proposed it; Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler and Councilman Ron Newman were opposed.

Yesterday, in front of Abed's Mobil station on East Valley Parkway, a small group of protesters picketed.

Organizer Danny Perez said he plans to be walking the sidewalks there for the next two weeks until the second reading of the ordinance Oct. 18. “This is a little class in economics for Mr. Abed to show him what will happen if half of the people are gone,” he said.

Protesters held signs in English and Spanish saying such things as “You Don't Want Our People, We Don't Want Your Business.” The station's manager said he hadn't seen a decrease in customers. “People are stopping to get gas, and they don't need gas,” he said.

Debra Rosen, chief executive of the Downtown Business Association, said she understands both sides of the issue but worries about how Escondido will be perceived.

“One of my big concerns is the (city's) image,” she said. “This is national now, not just local. What does this do for the brand of Escondido, and all the branding we've done for downtown?”

Pfeiler said yesterday that she had many people come up to her yesterday expressing regret, and asking if this is really what the city wants the outside world to know about it.

Claudia Bremermann, manager of The Villages at Mission, said the law probably will reduce rental income at her 190-unit complex.

Bremermann also said it's not yet clear what information she will need to collect at her complex, on Mission Avenue across the street from Mission Middle School, in the city's poorest neighborhood. Called Mission Park, it has thousands of apartments and was a focus of the ordinance because of its population of illegal immigrants.

This morning while listening to the Rick Robert's talk radio show 760KFMB am Escondido Councilman Sam Abed, called in and he was very impressive. Wish you all could have heard him. Anyway, he wanted to thank Rick and his listeners for the support. Also, due to the publicity of the protestors at his gas station his business has doubled. So another backfire! He is a legal immigrant from Lebanon. His brother has been trying to become a citizen too for many years. He said it is such a long drawn out process but his family does it the legal way. He also said just the medical questions to make sure his brother is healthy are pgs long. Wasn't able to hear all the talk but heard something re graffitti he's been hit with but not sure where, perhaps the station? He says also this is just the beginning in Escondido. He is passionate, sincere and perhaps more so because he did immigrate the LEGAL way. If anyone wants to send him an email of support:

sabed@escondido.org

As for the suits that probably will follow Rick Roberts said something like - Think about it, legal experts are used to find legal ways to support illegal people. Amazing and crazy isn't it?