Odds and Ends 143

Well, it is surely late in the day to finally be posting this.

There's really nothing new that I can report to you concerning Ponte Vista at San Pedro.

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There is just over one month left until winter begins.

The comments by the Outreach Team earlier this year about bringing out the new plans and illustrations for Ponte Vista in the 'fall' seem to have slipped.

This is not unexpected by some of us. Perhaps something MAY come out by early spring.

Please do not hold your breath, though.

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On a personal note, I have taken on the chores and responsibility of being the Stage Manager for the Relevant Stage Theatre Company's production of "The Christmas Carol".

This production is different than Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" and features caroling during and between scenes of the classic story of Scrooge, Tiny Tim, and Bob and Maggie Cratchit.

Please visit www.therelevantstage.com for information about this wonderful show.

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The biggest news this week along Western Avenue is that work continues on Amalfitanos' Bakery.

The other smaller news is that it looks like P'Sketti has finally ended the experiment of having a drive thru Italian Restaurant in a community full of Italian Restaurants.

Having sampled dishes from so many restaurants in the area that serve Italian dishes, I think we can all agree that P'Sketti's food was nothing to write to Italy about.
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This blog dealt a few weeks about about a supporter of Bob Bisno's who went on to get elected to the city council of Rancho Palos Verdes.

I hope he serves the residents and businesses in that city well.

There are two other former supporters of Bob who are wonderful patrons of the art and deserve special mention for their thoughtfulness to OUR community.

Herb and Arlene Zimmer did not agree with those of us on our side of the issues surrounding Ponte Vista at San Pedro.

Herb and Arlene actually live in Rancho Palos Verdes.

The couple can be found attending concerts and theatre all over San Pedro and they have been gracious enough to donate to the arts in OUR community.

Herb and Arlene own a local print shop and if you need printing work done, you probably can't find friendlier folks to provide you printing needs.

Arlene and I served on Janice Hahn's Community Advisory Committee for the Ponte Vista at San Pedro Project.
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Ms. Angela Romero has a marvelous Web site dealing with her walks through the San Pedro community.

Her blog is San Pedro Block by Block and you can find it at: http://www.sanpedrobxb.com/.

She has already placed her feet on every street in northwest San Pedro, including S. John Montgomery, inside the fences of Ponte Vista.

You can read the archives of her blog to read about her adventures in northwest San Pedro.
She is currently strolling the area closer to Mary Star of the Sea as she heads ultimately to the coast.
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Odds and Ends 142

Let's start with some good news for many of us.

The lights are on and progress is happening at the site of the new Amalfitano's Bakery on Western Avenue.

Perhaps by the time the development team of Ponte Vista and their Outreach Team are ready to bring out the new plans for the project, they will be able to use great goods from the bakery to offer folks visiting the offices on the site.

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The least experienced candidate dealing with Rancho Palos Verdes matters and government received the most number of votes for two seats on that city's council.

That same individual was also helped by supporters who do not live in Rancho Palos Verdes to produce the costliest campaign of the seven candidates who ran for the two available seats.

This same person and several of his supporters worked for and with Bob Bisno.

Mr. Anthony Misetich will take one of two seats on the council in December.

I know that there will be plenty of eyes and ears open to the actions and words of Mr. Misetich as he serves on the city council.

The other newly elected member of the council is Mr. Brian Campbell.

He is an honest gentleman who will be a good addition to the council and he will serve Rancho Palos Verdes' residents and businesses well.

Mr. Campbell has experience as a developer and has a great deal of knowledge concerning Real Estate matters.

He and I have already talked about some issues relating to life on the east side of Rancho Palos Verdes and neighboring San Pedro.

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The lights have been out at P'Skettie for several days now, but the place still has tables and chairs visible through the windows.

The signs stating that the site is available remain up.

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During the Director's Report at the November 12 or November 19 meeting of the Los Angeles City Planning Commission, there may be an update concerning Ponte Vista at San Pedro.

There is nothing else on the agenda of the November 12 meeting that involves Ponte Vista.

I think the "yada-yada" and "bla-bla-bla" will be reported on, which means that the plans are going along with the development team continuing to work with the Planning Department staff towards someday coming out with more information about the project.

My thoughts are turning to the idea that something may finally be revealed in the first quarter of 2010.

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If anyone believes that the interest in or the steering committee of R Neighborhoods Are 1 has disappeared, please understand that the sleeping giant rests and can be awakened at any time.

The organization's steering committee is made up of a group of people who remain in contact on a variety of matters and can spring into action on just about one moment's notice.

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This post ends on a sad note.

Mr. John McTaggart, one of the seven candidates running in our city's election, passed away one day following the election.

He placed third in the vote count.

Mr. McTaggart served our city for 20 years on the council and was our Mayor four times.

Mr. McTaggart was continuing his service to all of us on three different committees.

The Daily Breeze has an article on his passing and more importantly, his life of service to communities and residents.

Rest in Peace John McTaggart....you done good.

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Click on image to enlarge.

Anthony Misetich supported Bob Bisno's plans to build 2,300 condos at Ponte Vista at San Pedro.

I have edited the March, 2007 Ponte Vista Newsletter to illustrate Mr. Misetich's membership on one of Bob's Advisory Boards.

Should anyone wish to view an entire copy of the newsletter, please Email me and I will send out a .pdx of the newsletter.

No matter what reason Mr. Misetich uses now, his membership on an Advisory Board for Bob Bisno's project should tell you something about his real support for Rancho Palos Verdes residents.

Mr. Misetich obviously did not take the time to interview Rancho Palos Verdes residents like I did to try and determine their thoughts and feelings concerning building a massive housing project right across the street from R.P.V.

Mr. Misetich may continue to claim that he was only supporting the plans so that senior housing could be built there.

There are two problems with that claim.

First, in my interviews with many seniors who live higher on The Hill, they all indicated to me they knew of no interest in living in senior housing in San Pedro, no matter where it was or what it looked like.

I interviewed several prominent seniors who live on The Hill and I could find none of them, or their friends who told me there was any interest in moving into Ponte Vista's senior housing.

So it seems that the seniors that Mr. Misetich wanted senior housing for, don't live in Rancho Palos Verdes, the city he wishes to represent.

Secondly, I support SOME senior housing at Ponte Vista. But nowhere near the number of units Mr. Misetich and Bob Bisno wanted.

I can support any number of units of senior housing as long as they are part of a total number of 831-units.

The Gardens has 1100 units on 80 acres. Ponte Vista's 61.53 would allow for an equivalent housing density of no more than 831. How is that not reasonable?

But supporting the number of senior units Bob wanted meant that far too many units would have needed to be built and that was just plain wrong!

I have a more detailed post at: www.eastrpv.blogspot.com with information also about a possibly deceptive mailer Mr. Misetich helped pay for.

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The L.A.P.D. used the abandoned housing at Ponte Vista for training this week. That is a good thing and we all need to continue to be nice to Ted and the Outreach Team for allowing first responders training areas that are more realistic than other places to train.

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I haven't taken the opportunity to visit the Outreach Team's offices to see if and who is still around during this downtime in the project.

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It appears that on November 11, there will be another status report to the Los Angeles Planning Commission concerning Ponte Vista at San Pedro.

In the past I have tried to get more information prior to the reporting out, but I think the project is still pretty much on hold and I haven't heard if there is anything really new to report.

If I find out something in the next few days, I will write.

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Not Noticing the Missing

I bet you may be like me and didn't really notice that all the signs and phone number for Ponte Vista at San Pedro are gone from the project's site.

The banner for the high school is still strapped to the fence, but the billboard has been gone for some time, as expected.

Ms Elise Swanson's voice can still be heard on the Outreach Team's voicemail at 310-241-0699.

I did see at least one police agency training on the site and that is wonderful that first responders continue to train there.

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The Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council has published its Autumn, 2009 Newsletter and you can find it at: http://www.nwsanpedro.org/.

Mr. John Greenwood, the former Chair of Councilwoman Janice Hahn's Community Advisory Committee has an article in the newsletter concerning Ponte Vista at San Pedro.

It is a very good update that gets us up to just about now when nothing really seems to be coming from the developers or Outreach Team.

But that is not to contend that nothing is happening. I hope to see artist's renderings of some of the new plans for the project and some more details about the number and types of units being considered in the new plan.

Autumn last until about December 21, so there is still plenty of time to read now highlights coming out from the Outreach Team.........if there are any.

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The newsletter also has an informative article about the old Kinder-Morgan site and how cleanup is going.

A developer is still wishing to build 134-Patio Homes on the 11-acre site.

Just so's you know, that would be a dwelling density of about 12.18 dwelling units per gross acre.

A dwelling density of 12.18 dwellings per gross acre at Ponte Vista could allow for up to 750-units at the 61.53-acre site. That is below The Gardens which has a dwelling density of about 13.75 dwellings per acre.

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The condominium units at Five Points are now for sale.

The least priced units appear to be 2-bedroom units on the intersection side of the project and the billboard lists the prices beginning in the "Low $300K" range.

Of course, the prices of units overlooking the park and lake and refuge are priced much higher.

The largest units for sale appear to have 4-bedrooms and up to 3.5 baths.

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If you live in Rancho Palos Verdes or know folks who live there, please vote or encourage your friends to learn about the candidates and vote for candidates of their choice in the November 3 election.

Eastview residents provide nothing more than a miserable turnout at elections which involve our city and we can't even vote for Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District candidates.

Eastview residents need to show their might and will to try and be completely immersed in the school district where 80% of our school-age children go.

We don't have a real say and the only way to demonstrate power, will, and might is to show up in large numbers for the two City Council seats and provide precinct numbers that show to the City Council that we are a concerned group within OUR city.

That is the only way we can also demonstrate to the School District Board members that we are willing to fight to become immersed in such a great school district.

Our City Council has very little pull over what goes in the School District. But if we shout loud enough and vote in great numbers, it may show the new Council that we wish their support in our endeavours to have our tax monies pulled from LAUSD and provided to PVPUSD and to have the ability to vote in School District elections.

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For more news about candidates in the upcoming election, please visit www.eastrpv.blogspot.com.

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I haven't read the sign posted in the window of the space where Amalfitano's Bakery will be. It appears from a distance that it is a legal form dealing with construction plans.

Odds and Ends 139

I don't have any new information about Ponte Vista at San Pedro this week.

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The final forum for candidates to the upcoming City Council election for the city of Rancho Palos Verdes was held this past Wednesday.

Information about that event can be found at: www.eastrpv.blogspot.com.

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