"40th Street Will Look Like The Champs d'Elysees"
Politics in Emeryville have produced quite a lot of hyperbole over the years. At the Tattler, we occasionally post quotable quotes from Emeryville personalities since where we've been can sometimes inform where we're going.
Back in the early 90's, mall developer Catellus Development Corporation was making its pitch to the people of Emeryville about how nice the proposed East Bay Bridge Center was going to be. Residents were told the mall might even attract a Home Depot as an anchor. A newly proposed boulevard, 40th Street, to be built to serve the mall, was also part of the development proposal. The developer's public relations team was tasked to sell the project to a skeptical public. At a public scoping session, corporate PR point man Pat Cashman told the assembled throng that the new 40th Street would rate as one of the world's finest urban thoroughfares. He told the crowd "40th Street will look like the Champs-d'Elysees".
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Mall developers outspent citizens groups 100 to 1 on the campaign and won by a narrow margin. Played the voters as a bunch of rubes.
ReplyDeleteYou're talking about the election where the mall was allowed to be built, some years ago. I don't remember what the final tally was but I do remember it was really close and the developer outspent the other side by a huge margin.
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