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In article <t0qe4f$b1p$1@dont-email.me>
<governor.swill@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks Eric Garcetti.

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Six Los Angeles area Starbucks stores are
now closed, with the coffee giant citing safety issues.

The coffee company made the announcement last month that 16
stores across the country would shut down because of issues such
as chronic homelessness and protest vandalism.

On Sunday, a West Hollywood Starbucks was bustling, but 24 hours
later, it was a much different story. Signs were taken down,
doors were shut and discarded plastic cups hung around on an
empty patio.

"I just saw there's no coffee anymore, so I don't know where to
go," said Julie Robert, who is visiting West Hollywood.

Starbucks shut doors permanently at 16 stores nationwide Monday.
Six closures are in the L.A. area, including two spots off
Hollywood Boulevard in L.A. and one spot off Santa Monica
Boulevard in West Hollywood.

The West Hollywood location had been open since 1995.

"They've had incidents with homeless people harassing and people
doing drugs in the bathrooms and all sorts of stuff, so they've
had the cops come in a lot," West Hollywood resident Steve
Mullins said.

West Hollywood residents said the business had been a staple in
the neighborhood and some said the situation could have been
handled differently.

"During the pandemic, they had service through the door -- you
just come up and pick your stuff up, so they could've easily
done that," Mullins said. "So I don't see why they needed to
shut it down."

The locations of the Los Angeles area stores that closed are:

Santa Monica & Westmount, West Hollywood
Hollywood & Western, Los Angeles
1st & Los Angeles (Doubletree), Los Angeles
Hollywood & Vine, Hollywood
Ocean Front Walk & Moss, Santa Monica
2nd & San Pedro, downtown Los Angeles

Starbucks said vandalism, property theft and rising crime were
big reasons for the closures.

The closures took on heightened significance because of an
ongoing unionization effort at Starbucks' U.S. stores. More than
189 U.S. Starbucks stores have voted to unionize since late last
year, according to the National Labor Relations Board. Starbucks
opposes the unionization effort.

But Starbucks insisted the closures weren't related to the
unionization drive.

U.S. labor law doesn't prevent Starbucks from closing its stores
for business reasons. But it can't close a store - whether it's
unionized or not - in retaliation against labor organizers.

Other cities where stores have closed include Portland, Seattle,
Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. due to a high number of
challenging incidents, the company said.

https://abc7.com/los-angeles-starbucks-stores-closing-closures- unions/12091667/

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