Self-storage receives increasing attention from mainstream media outletsand not always favorably. As industry professionals, we should be aware of how self-storage is presented to the public. Media Watchdog is devoted to policing and summarizing general news coverage.

Facilities Offer Stylish Space
Dayton Beach News-Journal, 9.6.06 

As self-storage centers continue to multiply in Volusia and Flagler counties in Florida, operators are building bigger, brighter and more elegant compounds to compete for business. Mid Florida Storage, a $3 million facility in South Daytona, presents the image of a law firm or a doctors office. Eagles Nest Storage in Flagler Beach draws sightseers with its old European-village style.

Ranch Buffered by Storage
The Aspen Times, 10.25.06 

A Basalt, Colo., storage facility is helping a cattle ranch survive. The store is so close to Basalt, it acts as a buffer for the ranch from the houses in a nearby subdivision. Ranch owner Billy Grange has fielded numerous calls in recent years from land developers who coveted the familys 246-acre spread outside town. The ranch has been owned by the Grange family for more than 100 years. Since the neighbors are all storage sheds, they make good neighbors, said Grange.

Mayor Breaks Tie on Storage Permit
The Daily Journal, 10.3.06 

A seemingly routine special-use request for a mini-storage warehouse split the Manteno Village, Ill., board and resulted in a rare tie-breaking vote by the mayor. General Development Corp. of Kankakee, Ill., plans a self-storage operation at the Diversatech West industrial area. The villages planning commission last month recommended approval for the special-use request, although trustees balked at what some considered an inappropriate use of land in a commercial park area.

Shreveport Storage Business Booming
The Shreveport Times, 10.24.06 

In Shreveport, La., junk rules, said Stacey Erickson, resident manager for Storage Trucking on the Shreveport-Barksdale Highway. The facility is one of many storage businesses locally that include 26 self-storages, 162 moving and storage companies, and 14 furniture-storage businesses. Americans obsession with things is driving a booming storage trend and locals are seeing its potential for profit. 

Carson, Calif., Conversion Complete
The Daily Transcript, 10.23.06 

San Diego-based Veralliance Properties has completed construction on Avalon Self-Storage, a 137,670- rentable-square-foot facility in Carson, Calif. The facility represents more than $15.5 million in conversion costs from an industrial warehouse space, according to Daniel J. Ryan, a principal. Veralliance is also constructing an approximately 144,000-rentable-squarefoot self-storage project in Bressi Ranch in Carlsbad, Calif.

Woman Begs for Return of Late Mothers Ashes
San Bernadino Sun, 10.31.06 

Thieves emptied a self-storage unit in Adelanto, Calif., taking everything Jamellah Sulcer owned including her late mothers ashes. You can have everything else. Just give me my mother back, the 26-year-old woman implored. The burglar stole her computer, furniture and clothes, and the bronze urn of ashes. Sulcer had stored her belongings at U-Haul Self-Storage facility on Foothill Boulevard in San Bernardino because shed planned to move. When she went to get clothes from the unit she found nothing but mousetraps. Photographs of her mother were also stolen, leaving Sulcer with three wallet-sized photos.

Crime Caught on Facility Video
WRCB, 10.25.06 

Chattanooga, Tenn., police are looking for a man wanted in connection with a burglary early October at a Mini- Max Self Storage facility. Storage surveillance video from that evening shows the model of the getaway vehicle, the crime in progress as well as two alleged criminals, a man and woman. The man used cutters to cut the locks on two storage units, and loaded the items in a Jeep.

FBI Uses Storage Units to Bust Bad Chicago Cops
Chicago Sun-Times, 10.26.06 

Units at two local self-storage facilities were recently used in sting operations conducted by the FBI and Internal Affairs Division to bust bad cops. After receiving complaints about officers who allegedly invade homes and steal valuables, the Chicago Police Dept. is making efforts to remove undesirables from its force.

In June, undercover agents rented a unit at Grand-Pulaski Self Storage and stored a black bag containing $20,000, according to an FBI affidavit. They then instructed an informant to share the information with two suspected officers as well as a civilian intermediary, who supposedly asked the informant for leads on good targets.

The officers allegedly went to the storage unit with a search warrant and two unidentified PD members. Surveillance agents claimed to see them enter and exit the unit with bolt-cutters. When they left, the money was purportedly missing. 

In August, the FBI put more than $18,000 of fake drug money in a storage unit and again told its informant leak the info. According to authorities, the suspects and four unidentified officers went to the unit with a search warrant and grabbed the cash. They proffered $7,000 as evidence and allegedly kept the rest. The suspects have been arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit theft.