Bluff Park, Alabama Forum

Bluff Park, Alabama Forum
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General Category >> General Board >> Shades Mountain Plaza - Piggly Wiggly Side
http://bluffparkal.org/bpforum/YaBB.pl?num=1421271460

Message started by Bluff Park Forum Admin on 01/14/15 at 3:37pm

Title: Shades Mountain Plaza - Piggly Wiggly Side
Post by Bluff Park Forum Admin on 01/14/15 at 3:37pm

Open Letter From BluffParkAL.org to owner's of the Shades Mountain Plaza - Piggly Wiggly Side*

To Chris Gauldin
cgauldin@gauldincorp.com
Regarding: Shades Mountain Plaza

Mr Gauldin,
Members of the Bluff Park Community and Hoover are concerned with the condition of Shades Mountain Plaza, specifically the building and parking lot containing Piggly Wiggly, the Bluff Park Post Office, El Gringo Mexican Restaurant and Roberts Discount pharmacy.

Issues mentioned in both email and social media include but are not limited to pot holes, dangerous driving conditions in the parking lot, paint pealing on buildings and poles, graffiti, weeds, overgrown landscaping, trash and furniture dumped within the plaza.

The community was very vocal last year when Walmart neighborhood market was looking at a vacant lot near the plaza. The community did not want to see that type of large “box” business in the neighborhood. Bluff Park residents support the businesses of Bluff Park and want to see them develop and thrive in the community. Revitalization and upkeep of the shopping centers are an important component of that. Many feel that parts of Shades Mountain Plaza are getting overlooked on maintenance and this hurts not only the value of the property but the appeal for any future businesses looking to make Bluff Park their home. Are there any updates you can give the community or projects concerning the plaza for 2015?

Below are several photographs taken by residents that illustrate some of the issues mentioned. If the responsibility to address any of the above issues does not fall on your company would you please let Bluffparkal.org know so that we may make the proper contact.

Thank you for your time
Bluffparkal.org

*PLEASE NOTE: Shades Mountain Plaza is owned by three different companies. The Piggly Wiggly side is one, the side with Wings Plus V is another, and the back part with the map company is the third. None of them are related, so they can only do things on their part of the property.

Title: Re: Shades Mountain Plaza - Piggly Wiggly Side
Post by Bluff Park Forum Admin on 01/15/15 at 8:24pm

As of 7:45pm on 1/15/15 we have not received any other responses besides the first one from Mr. Gauldin.

We have sent him two follow-ups.

We don't believe that it's the responsibility of the residents of Bluff Park to maintain the shopping center. The other shopping center owners seem to do a good job of maintaining their properties. Mr. Gauldin doesn't seem to care.

In our nearly 9 years of having the BluffParkAL.org web site, we've found that keeping things in a civil tone has always been the way to go. Unless there's no response. We will post the e-mails we've received from Mr. Gauldin, as well as the information about Mr. Gauldin that is available to anyone on the internet. Perhaps some of you may want to drop him a line to express your opinion on what his side of Shades Mountain Plaza looks like.

Following is the e-mail exchange between us and Mr. Gauldin, in its entirety:

First e-mail, sent on Wed. 1/14/15 at 3:55pm:

To Chris Gauldin
cgauldin@gauldincorp.com
Regarding: Shades Mountain Plaza

Mr Gauldin,

Members of the Bluff Park Community and Hoover are concerned with the condition of Shades Mountain Plaza, specifically the building and parking lot containing Piggly Wiggly, the Bluff Park Post Office, El Gringo Mexican Restaurant and Roberts Discount pharmacy.

Issues mentioned in both email and social media include but are not limited to pot holes, dangerous driving conditions in the parking lot, paint pealing on buildings and poles, graffiti, weeds, overgrown landscaping, trash and furniture dumped within the plaza.

The community was very vocal last year when Walmart neighborhood market was looking at a vacant lot near the plaza. The community did not want to see that type of large “box” business in the neighborhood. Bluff Park residents support the businesses of Bluff Park and want to see them develop and thrive in the community. Revitalization and upkeep of the shopping centers are an important component of that. Many feel that parts of Shades Mountain Plaza are getting overlooked on maintenance and this hurts not only the value of the property but the appeal for any future businesses looking to make Bluff Park their home. Are there any updates you can give the community or projects concerning the plaza for 2015?

Below are several photographs taken by residents that illustrate some of the issues mentioned. If the responsibility to address any of the above issues does not fall on your company would you please let Bluffparkal.org know so that we may make the proper contact.

We have shared this letter with the community on our forum and will gladly post your response once we receive it. The post can be seen at http://www.bluffparkal.org/bpforum . We currently have about 3500 visits to our site weekly.

Thank you for your time
Bluffparkal.org

Response from Mr. Gauldin, received on Thu. 1/15/15 7:45am:

It is being addressed.

Sent from my iPad

Chris Gauldin
Gauldin Investment Company
P. O. Box 381473
Birmingham, AL 35238
205-447-5550

E-Mail sent from us to him on Thu. 1/15/15 11:26am:

Can you expound on the statement "It's being addressed" ?

So far this issue has garnered about 5500 views, and there's a mother in Bluff Park who is soliciting the help of other moms and kids to go clean up your side of the shopping center as a "community project". Do you believe that a private citizen should clean up a business? Plus, if anyone gets hurt while cleaning up the shopping center, it would make for an interesting news story.

Tell us what you mean by your comment. So far we have not published your reply, mainly because it came from your iPad and you were probably not in a place to type a longer response, which we can appreciate. We are also pretty sure that you'd like to have the community enjoy shopping on your side of the SM Plaza.

We look forward to your reply.

Thanks,
bluffparkal.org

No response, so another e-mail sent from us to him on Thu. 1/15/15 at 3:46pm

Mr. Gauldin,

Allow me to bring you up to speed since your e-mail reply seven hours ago.

At this time there will be a large group of residents descending on your side of the SMP on Monday morning. They will be armed with garbage bags, gloves, and will be bringing their children to help. They are looking at this as a "community project". This thing has gathered some unbelievable momentum, and has the possibility of not ending well, especially with the hazardous conditions in the rear of your property. BluffParkAL.org is not involved in the cleanup project, and we are attempting to dissuade them from doing it, however, they are determined.

We (BluffParkAL.org) have their attention right now and a simple response from you could avert this. But it needs to be positive, it needs to be quick, and it needs to say that not only are you "going to address" it quickly, you will also detail what will be done to the property. Frankly, between you and me, it really does look bad. I go there daily, and today I took a good look around. It really doesn't look like it's in Bluff Park. Detroit maybe, but not Bluff Park.

Also, to be fair, and to provide full disclosure, you should know that the media and city leaders are looking at the posts. You could come out looking really good in this if you do the right thing.

Please feel free to call me at the below number should you wish to discuss it. We will post your reply as soon as we receive it.

Thanks,
bluffparkal.org

No response.

Here's what we know about Mr. Gauldin.

He owns the Piggly Wiggly side of Shades Mountain Plaza

His web site is: http://gauldincorp.com/Back.html

We know he was against the Neighborhood Walmart coming to Bluff Park and was planning to attend the Planning and Zoning meetings.

He can be reached at 205-447-5550, or 205-201-1175, although he didn't answer any of the numbers today when we tried to call him.

Title: Re: Shades Mountain Plaza - Piggly Wiggly Side
Post by Bluff Park Forum Admin on 01/16/15 at 9:37am

We received another response today Fri. 1/16/15 at 7:51am:

The issues you have mentioned have and will be addressed. Thanks for your concern.

Sent from my iPhone

Chris Gauldin
Gauldin Investment Co., Inc
P. O. Box 381473
Birmingham, AL 35238
Office and Fax 205-447-5550

Title: Re: Shades Mountain Plaza - Piggly Wiggly Side
Post by Packer16 on 01/17/15 at 11:24am

I have dealt with Mr. Gauldin's representatives before. I'm not surprised by the responses.

Title: Re: Shades Mountain Plaza - Piggly Wiggly Side
Post by Packer16 on 01/26/15 at 10:54am

Curious if you have seen a concrete response from Mr. Gauldin to the concerns raised about his property?

Title: Re: Shades Mountain Plaza - Piggly Wiggly Side
Post by Bluff Park Forum Admin on 01/29/15 at 10:56am

Nothing from him since our last posted e-mail.

Based on observations of the Plaza, the potholes have been filled, and some of the trash has been cleaned up thanks to local residents.

We'll be following up on this soon with a special article on this site.