{"id":2766,"date":"2012-10-02T21:49:57","date_gmt":"2012-10-03T04:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/?p=2766"},"modified":"2012-10-02T21:49:57","modified_gmt":"2012-10-03T04:49:57","slug":"caught-on-tape-forrest-city-president-dargossi-calls-47-of-stapleton-residents-entitled-douchebags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/?p=2766","title":{"rendered":"Caught on Tape: Forrest City President Dargossi Calls 47% of Stapleton Residents \u201cEntitled Douchebags\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>At a $50 per plate dinner which included business leaders, local politicians, and influential community leaders, Forrest City President Phil Dargossi said in a speech that, \u201c47% of the community we are never going to make happy. That group is a bunch of entitled douchebags. What we are worried about is that 53%.\u201d The statement was caught on tape by a lowly block captain that happened to be invited to the dinner, and later posted on Youtube. Once it went viral, Forrest City and Dargossi immediately went into damage control.\n\n\u201cThe statements made at the dinner were taken out of context and were misunderstood,\u201d said Dargossi. \u201cWhat I intended to say was that 4 to 7% of Stapleton residents are douchebags. My math was off, and when I said I am worried about the 53%, I intended to say 95%. I am very sorry for any confusion.\u201d Dargossi and Forrest City have endured a lot of criticism in the last five years, most notably for their mishandling of the Eastbridge Town Center, 26th Avenue Park, and their inability to come through on diversity promises.\n\u201cI whole-heartedly regret my statements, but regret that someone taped them even more,\u201d said Dargossi. \u201cFrom now on, I will have to really be careful about expressing how I really feel about things, as you never know when someone may be recording it, writing it down, or even remembering what I said.\u201d Dargossi has received some pressure from the community to step down or at least step away from the Stapleton project after these statements. \u201cWe kind of knew that is what he thought of us based on how he has treated us,\u201d said resident Greg Hays. \u201cBut, once you say that out loud and confirm it, it is time to get out.\nForrest City says they have no plans in letting Dargossi go. \u201cPhil has been a great asset to our company,\u201d said Forrest City spokesperson Janelle Ayers. \u201cWe know he will move passed this and become a stronger leader than he is now. We fully support him, and wish him continued success with our company.\u201d Dargossi and Forrest City have postponed future informational dinners and luncheons, but plan to resume them in four to six months.\n]]>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-issue-40","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2766\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}