Politics & Government

'Save The Dome' Responds to Abrupt Demolition

Martha Ross of the Save the Pleasant Hill Dome group says that SyWest's actions show "bad faith and malice."

The following letter is from Martha Ross of Save the Pleasant Hill Dome, responding to :

This is an absolute tragedy for the City of Pleasant Hill, and it's clear that SyWest Development acted so quickly because they knew the the momentum was growing, and that the community was rising up to say, no! to the loss of their beloved, iconic and historical Dome movie theater. Two council members at Monday night's appeal hearing were also emphatic in expressing their disappointment with this Dick's sporting goods project, saying it failed to live up to SyWest's promises to the city to bring a top-quality development to the community. They said the project was also inconsistent with a specific plan for that shopping center. 

Resident after resident stood up at Monday's city council meeting, pleading with their leaders, who were voted to represent them, to save the Dome and say no to Dick's sporting goods. 

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SyWest's actions also showed incredible bad faith and malice. SyWest assured the city that they had preparation work to do before bringing in the wrecking ball, so their actions are, in our opinion, deceptive. SyWest claimed to want to be good corporate citizens and to care about the community. Clearly, we view that claim as a lie. 

Meanwhile, we have serious concerns that the Monday, May 6 hearing of the Building Board of Appeals, at which SyWest's demolition permit was upheld, took place in violation of the Brown Act. It appears that members of the public did not receive proper notice about the hearing, including agenda packets with information to be considered at the hearing. We also have concerns that the city denied a Pleasant Hill resident and Save the Pleasant Hill dome due process -- possibly in violation of state and local law -- in appealing their May 6 decision regarding the demolition permit. 

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