At its February 17th meeting, the Downey City Planning Commission is scheduled to consider the approval of a new Starbucks to the congested Firestone/Lakewood intersection. If approved, the location would become the 9th Starbucks in Downey.
On its website, Starbucks lists eight current locations in the City:
Downey Landing
Florence/Paramount
Firestone/Lakewood (same intersection as proposed development)
Imperial/Paramount
Imperial/Bellflower
Lakewood/Telegraph
Ralph’s on Firestone
Macy’s at Stonewood
For its 9th location within the City, the company proposes to take over land currently occupied by a Carl’s Jr. It is proposed that the new lot include fewer parking spots, with some seating spots nested within a snaking drive-thru.
Starbucks is notable for having faced mounting criticism from groups in Los Angeles County, especially following its termination of Gabriel Ocasio Mejias for attempting to organize a union. He told Labor 411: "That was their way to get rid of me, for drinking water, because they know I was one of the strongest organizers. They targeted me specifically to create fear for my co-workers of joining the union." Starbucks is noted for its decades of union-busting history.
The Planning Commission is accepting public comments on the Starbucks proposal. They can be reached at pcpubliccomment@downeyca.org. The public can join the meeting at 6:30 PM on February 17th, 2021 by logging into Zoom ID: 970 3928 3866, Password: 816296.
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