Updated 11:56 am: That's according to Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, anyway, who stood in the 1940s-era mall's parking lot in North Hollywood yesterday and told reporters "The president is fond of saying he didn't cause the recession, he inherited the recession...And that's true. But he made it worse and he also made worse the recovery...Valley Plaza has been scrapped in part because of the challenges of the economy." In March, developer JH Snyder defaulted on its loan and turned Valley Plaza over to lender iStar Financial after a decade of big plans, from shops to sound stages, that never managed to materialize. Unsurprisingly, local Democratic politicians were not happy that Romney had used their turf to illustrate his attacks. The Daily News reports that City Councilmember Paul Krekorian, who represents the area (and worked at the Valley Plaza movie theater in high school), called it "a cheap photo op" and said the stores had been closed since George W. Bush's administration. JH Snyder also disagrees with Romney--a rep tells the LADN "we don't place the blame on Obama or his policies." Romney retorted: "I'm glad a developer knows why the recession is so deep and the recovery lasting so long." iStar, meanwhile, says it's working on a new project for the site.
· Visit by Mitt Romney riles up officials [LADN]
· J.H. Snyder Loses North Hollywood Valley Plaza Site [Curbed LA]
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