It is time for me to pull off the ski gloves and get back into the battle.
We just returned from Incline Village and Reno where my wife and I got in some skiing with her sister and brother-in-law, and we also gave too much money to electronic gaming machines. While on vacation I checked this blog and Life on the edge. I must admit I got a bit too carried away with world politics and lost some focus on what is really important on this blog.
So what do I see when I drive home? A magazine with two pictures of Mr. Bisno. There's his face was on the cover of "San Pedro" magazine, which is from the folks at the Long Beach Independent Press Telegram. It is something like "More San Pedro", but it is probably not as well known now. Josh Stecker, the editor of the magazine was doing an issue about the most interesting people in San Pedro and the harbor area. There was even a page devoted to a photo and a blurb inside the magazine about Mr. Bisno.
I hope you noticed the picture of Mr. Bisno taken in his Century City office. Did you see the thing that folks who wanted to take a number to complain? The #1 tag was supposed to pull the pin on a hand grenade, so according to Mr. Bisno, perhaps folks who complain to him should all be blown up. I'll stay clear of world politics with this item.
There is something still troubling about having a (primarily) Northern California developer who has a home in Beverly Hills and an office in Century City, being identified as a very interesting person in San Pedro. Maybe infamous might be a better term than interesting.
Mr. Bisno thinks he knows what is best for you and me. Do you think he does? If you do, perhaps you would be interested in buying my share of the moon I bought for myself and my first wife when I was in college and was entertained enough by "Mr. Moonman" to give him two bucks for two acres of the moon. I could let my one acre of the moon, which I have a certificate for, be sold to you for what I think is a reasonable price.
But now, with the new year beginning, there are more serious things to deal with. The fight to keep our homes and surroundings as wonderful as we have them, is heating up. It is time for all of us to really ramp up our efforts in questioning, challenging, and opposing plans to bring too many homes into Ponte Vista.
R1 supporters and folks who want a reasonable number of homes built at Ponte Vista need to organize, find representatives who will listen to them, and take greater steps toward finding solutions to meet their needs.
There are two upcoming meetings of Ms. Janice Hahn's Community Advisory Committee, that should be attended by all folks who have concerns about changing the current zoning and the many problems that will occur if Mr. Bisno builds even half the number of homes he wants to build at Ponte Vista.
On Thursday January 11, with a special starting time of 7:00 P.M., at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, in San Pedro, the committee will discuss several matters, including following up on various traffic issues that haven't been covered well enough for the members of the committee.
The committee has written many questions that it is seeking answers to by different experts within the City government. Two neighborhood councils have hired folks to answer their own traffic questions and question the findings of the Ponte Vista DEIR. Perhaps the committee might get to hear from these independent researchers during this meeting.
There will also be a public comment portion of the meeting, as there is with every meeting. Folks who want to ask the committee members questions for answers later are welcome to comment on anything they wish.
I hope there will be R1 petitions at that meeting to hand out so folks who want one more chance to sign them before January 18, will have a chance to do so.
On January 18, 2007, at a site not yet determined, the committee will host its first Open Forum or Public Forum, or whatever you want to call it. This is a meeting where the public is listened to by the committee members, Mr. Bisno and some members of his staff, some city representatives, some members of the Planning Department, and (HOPEFULLY) Ms. Hahn.
It is my feeling that this forum is where folks who don't like the idea of building 2,300 homes at Ponte Vista should come together with some kind of protest, so policy makers will get a hint at how many folks oppose Mr. Bisno's plans.
Here are two Web sites you can visit to download an R1 petition or contact someone about protest groups. These are for the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council and the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council.
http://www.cspnc.com/
http://nwsanpedro.org/
Personally, I would love to see stacks and stacks of filled out R1 petitions brought forth to the committee, during the January 18 Open Forum. I think it is important to show Mr. Bisno, his supporters, the committee members, and civic leaders, that there are folks who are not supporters of Mr. Bisno's plans. The committee was supposed to be impressed by the stacks of supporter cards Mr. Bisno's staff brought to the November meeting. Wouldn't it be a hoot if the stacks of petitions were twice the depth of the supporters' cards?
Besides the two upcoming meetings, in January, there is a very important date everyone should remain aware of in January.
January 30, 2007, is the last day to create and send in comments to the Ponte Vista DEIR to Mr. Jonathan Riker at the L.A. City Planning Department. Mr. Riker's address is elsewhere in this blog and can be found on the Web sites referred to earlier on this post.
Folks who don't care enough to stand up to Mr. Bisno and his plans, could be run over by a developer who calls many of us "ranting elitists" for seeking to keep what we have worked so very hard for, and don't want to see Western Avenue become overwrought by excessive volumes of traffic.
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