Thank you, Steve, for the great "bla-bla-bla" about my "blog-blog-blog"! It was some of the best advertising never paid for.
Because of Mr. Marconi's suggestion, I would like to welcome all the new readers to this blog. I want remind folks reading this blog about it's nature and give new readers a little better heads-up about what they are getting into.
Mr. Marconi identified me by my birth name. If you ever see "M Richards", (please remember he hates a period appears after the "M") that's me also. M is the entertainer in me, Mark is the boring guy.
I claim to be a "San Pedro" boy, but I grew up in unincorporated L.A. County and while I was away from the area seeking fame and fortune, (that means U.S.A.F., working a blue-collar job and most importantly, marrying and raising the greatest sons in the world), My "ancestral home fell within the limits of Rancho Palos Verdes.
If you hate "Speed Humps" I accept a tiny bit of credit for trying to slow everybody down in the Mira Vista neighborhood. If you really hate the four-way stop at Trudie and Highmore, then I have to take a fair amount of credit for that one, too.
I am one of the members of Janice Hahn's Community Advisory committee concerning the "Ponte Vista at San Pedro" project. Our committee's goal is to advise Ms. Hahn, Mr. Bob Bisno, the developer of the project, the Los Angeles City Planning Department, and others, on ways to make whatever is built within the Ponte Vista site, the best overall for the entire community. At least that is what I believe right now. Our mission started one way and has since been morphed to look like something else, at least according to several of us on the committee.
The purpose of this blog is to provide information, strongly request input, welcome discussion, encourage debate, and to some extent, share my opinions.
During the first meeting of the "task force" which became a "Community Advisory Group", then became a "Community Advisory Committee", we were all charged with being objective to all sides of the issues. If you read through this blog, I explain a little bit more about my objectivity.
I do not believe that 2,300 homes, with 7,343, potential new residents, and up to 5,500 more vehicles, is a good idea. I don't own a business within a five-mile radius of the site, so I probably won't get any of the millions of dollars of revenue that might be generated from such a giant project.
I also have grave reservations about placing a 2,025 seat senior high school on land within the Ponte Vista site.
I want a road between Western and Gaffey, and continuing up the hill between the refinery and the warehouse to new ramps on the Harbor Freeway IF ANY HOUSING OR LARGE SCHOOL IS BUILT WITHIN PONTE VISTA.
I have done my studying since I became concerned about the old Navy housing site. Included in this blog are facts generated by the developer's writings, the oppositions' writing, Web sites, and other sources that are as objective as I believe I can be. I do reserve most of my subjective thoughts about the home development and/or school development.
I am seeking readers who want to contribute to the debates. This is a free blog and I don't need financial contributions. I very badly need the comments generated so far to postings and I am seeking contributors to post their opinions, facts, feelings, and information on this blog. I don't believe very many people reading this blog are truly objective in these matters. I don't claim to be, and I don't think you are, either, or you would have stopped reading a long time ago. (see, M is quite long winded in the key-tapping area).
I would very much like to read posts place on this site from folks like Chris Yang, Brittany Swanson, and others who may share opinions with me. I also encourage folks who have a different set of opinions to post on this site. www.pontevista.com is slanted toward the concept of 2,300 homes. I am sure there are a number of people who might want to post on this site who have similar opinions with the Bisno Development Company. The only posts I would not include on this blog are personal attack pieces to anyone on any side of any issue.
I tend to comment on comments left by others. I don't know if that is a good thing. I think for a bit of time I will only answer questions or respond to requests for information as a commentator. Let's see how that goes.
Your opinion counts. If you live here, work here, or have interests in the area, you have a stake in the future of northwest San Pedro and eastern Rancho Palos Verdes. Just because I was first to get the address of pontevista.blogspot.com doesn't mean I'm the only one who should contribute.
You can always Email me at mrichards2@hotmail.com with your posts, comments, or anything else.
Thank you for reading one of the many very long posts and welcome.
7 comments:
though few comments are posted, i suspect your words are being read in the community. by way of confirming this, you might want to consider stat tracking. this is standard practice for websites, and the functionality may easily be added to this blog. i myself use statcounter.com, and find it extremely helpful.
fyi i myself share your concerns, and am particularly worried about the traffic we are creating on western.
Mark, thanks a ton for stepping up to the plate and providing a forum of communication on this subject. Although I can appreciate what the Hahn taskforce is doing, I can only hope that the purpose of the taskforce is not to give up on blocking Bisno's attempt at a zoning change. I fear that the group is just providing guidance on how to make the 2,300 home proposal more palletable. The zoning change is central to everything surrounding this issue. If the zoning remains unchanged, then the controversy is over. Real simple. I'd like to know more about who ultimately makes the decision on the zoning change, and who we need to influence (besides Hahn) to give us a better chance of winning the battle. Also I'd like to see ideas of how we can go about influencing the decision makers...petitions, picketing etc. The impacts of this problem go far beyond traffic on Western. Thank you very much.
Anthony Katnic
The 1998 and 1999 San Pedro Reuse Committee decided what was supposed to happen to this property if the REI project didn't go through. It was in the plan that the property would be zoned R-1. The Los Angeles City Council voted in favor of this plan. BISNO! US SAN PEDRO NATIVES DON'T WANT YOUR 2300 UNITS! WE DON'T WANT YOUR 5000 CARS! WE DON'T WANT YOUR 7000+ PEOPLE!
Thank you Mr. Katnic, for your thoughts. I think I will create a posting about the hows and whats of the zone-changing issue.
As I learned from serving on the committee, there are several ways a developer can have his/her development dealt with by the powes that be. Mr. Bisno is using the "Specific Plan" approach which allows him a set of guidelines that other ways do not. Mr. Bisno is paying for this type of application process and he is funding our committee HOWEVER, and let me make this perfectly clear, our committee is not swayed by the funding Mr. Bisno provides for the group. The "Specific Plan" approach Mr. Bisno is using gives him special treatment, but he has some requirements associated with that treatment, he follows.
Mr. Bisno's biggest obstacle is the L.A. City Planning Department. Mr. Bisno submits his application to them and they begin work studying everything about the development. When the "Specific Plan" is finalized, it must be approved by the L.A. City Planners, the members of the L.A. City Planning Commission, and finally the majority of City Council Members.
Our group is charged to act in the best interest of the public to advise both the developer and the Planning Department, along with Ms Hahn on ways of improving the plans for the entire community. We are, in one sense, your window into the process.
The L.A. City Planners say they are swayed in their decision-making process by the will and actions of members of the public. They claim the more the input from the public, the more influence we all have.
May more picketing, protesting, lawsuits, and civil disobedience be necessary for the majority of the public to influence the decision makers? I think maybe yes, but it is far too early in the process to even seriously consider any actions other than learning and supporting the actions of our committee that is seated to bring the best possible outcome for all of us.
Please support us in our mission. Please contribute your comments and postings to this blog.
Please join groups that you feel support your position on any and all matters related to the 61.53 acres we know as "Ponte Vista". Please remember that the L.A.U.S.D. wants a 2,025 seat senior high school. There should be lots of groups on all sides of that matter, too.
And most of all, please remember that without a new road between Western and Gaffey, every vehicle going to and from anything built in Ponte Vista, the public park, and the new Mary Star High School, must travel on Western Avenue.
MW
Thanks for the imformative response Mark. One last question... Is there anyone out there who is thinking of/planning for the next moves such as organizing protests/petitions and such? Again, not to minimize the efforts of the committee, but I just would want to make sure we are not caught sleeping when the time is right to make noise. Once the City Planning Dept makes their decision, it sounds like we are more than likely out of luck. Shouldn't we be sending a clear message to the Planning Dept now? It just seems that Bisno is currently having his way with City Planners. His plans probably don't even consider the option of R1. Hopefully his power of "persuasion" doesn't take hold, before the public can make their power be known. Again thank you very much for looking out for San Pedro.
Anthony K.
Howdy again Mr. Katnic.
There have already been some protests against Mr. Bisno's plans. I do not belong to, or know of any particular group, at this time that is formally organized to protest on any side of the issue.
This blog is open for posting contributions on all sides of the issue and if folks feel one way or the other about Ponte Vista, they are welcome to "rant" or "rave" here. Just keep it respectfull.
Your earlier comment led directly to one of my longer posts concerning the process. I hope you find it educational.
I also want you to note the many times protests, picketing, input can occur during the long process. We are still sort of at the beginning of the process. I wrote suggestions in that post on when, how, and where you can demonstrate your opinions.
I think at this time, there have been just informational type protests dealing with the project. I bet more are in the planning stages. I was at work on 10/6 and didn't get to swing by the Ponte Vista site to see if there were any protestors outside the senior event sponsored by Mr. Bisno.
Some of the most demonstrative folks might live the closest to the site. The Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council is having their general meeting this Monday night at the Peck Park Community Center at 6:30. I don't know if anybody in that organization actually has formed any protest group, but I think that is a good place to mingle with many folks who share your concerns.
I am not now, nor can I be a member of the NWSPNC, so I am just opinionating here.
There may be a group of folks who live in the Rolling Hills Riviera or Peninsula Verde areas that have formed a group. I don't know of an organized group within my own Mira Vista neighborhood. But I am sure if they aren't out there now, there will be some groups formed further down the road.
You sir, have every right to form a group of your own. You can post on this blog just like folks who may want to see a 2,025 seat high school placed at Ponte Vista. If groups are nonviolent, respectfull of others' rights, and have a message about whatever is going on dealing with the Ponte Vista site and the neighboring areas, they are all welcome here.
MW
Just wanted to say hello and to let you know I have been reading your blogs and I am pleased to see someone who cares. I am a former resident of San Pedro, left in 2001 and currently reside in Hemet, Ca. I grew up in San Pedro, lived in the projects on 1st and Mesa in the early 60's and early 70's and I went to Barton Hill, Dana, and San Pedro High, graduated in 1979. I have seen our town go thru alot of changes and have seen alot of places I use to go to as a child and teen vanish and some still remain the same only thing hasnt change is how people care about this town. My heart will always belong to Pedro.
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