This idea is not mine, but a combination of ideas from an "anonymous" comment contributor, a bit from me, and comments made by a few folks I have met during my sit-downs by the table full of petitions.
What about making Ponte Vista an exclusively senior development with a wonderful assisted living establishment, right there?
Long before "That MONSTER", Seaport Luxury Homes, began construction, a 164 bed assisted living project was planned for the Fitness Drive site. I don't know why those plans never came to be, but maybe, something like it could be considered for Ponte Vista.
My dad lives at Los Palos Convalescent Hospital, on 6th. Street. Los Palos is next door to Seacreast and there are very few convalescent hospitals and homes in our area, I feel.
There are some really nice homes for senior citizens needing at least some assistance in the greater South Bay area, but there doesn't seem to be many places in our local area to find safe, nearby, and comfortable homes for our aging population, I believe. When Dad needed to find a "retirement" home, we were lucky enough to find that Los Palos had improved over the years to be a place we could feel comfortable with having dad well cared for, Los Palos didn't always fare to well in some folks mind over the many years it has been in the unincorporated area of L.A. County.
How about a Canterbury type of assisted-living development on part of the 61.53 acres of Ponte Vista? How about a less expensive type of assisted-living home right next door to it? How about a full-service convalescent hospital next door to that, all having a large common parking area and far enough away from Western Avenue to not have folks living in any of those three businesses/homes having to listen to the noise along Western.
There could be a larger Senior Housing section than what Bob is currently planning for at the site and a really nice senior community center could be centrally located on the site to be accessible to everyone living or being cared for at Ponte Vista, to be able to easily get to.
There does seem to be a number of senior citizens in the area that do want some kind of a Senior Housing development right along the lines of what Bob wants to build. There doesn't seem to be a large enough amount of assisted-living places to live at, in San Pedro, it seems like many of our more well-to-do elders have to go to the Canterbury to find the closest up-scale living arrangement near OUR community, There doesn't seem to ever be enough room at the Palos Verdes Villa on Summerland at Western for the many local residents who need assistance in caring for themselves in their daily lives, like my mother, it appears like Los Palos, Seacrest and other places like that are almost bursting at the seams, why can't we think of a place where all of our senior citizens can live in a place that is comfortable, has plenty of amenities and living choices, and is still near enough to their families to not have lots of folks drive many miles to visit their loved ones.
Nothing has officially been decided for what will be approved of being built at Ponte Vista. I am floating this idea on this blog to see what kind of reaction we all might see. I didn't come up with this plan and it would take quite a bit of doing to even get it into the site office of Ponte Vista.
What do you think about this idea?
4 comments:
Come on Mark! You know that "anonymous" was me. See?? I can be swayed off non-age restricted condos by another plan which makes sense. Having a Canterbury-style assisted-living and a convalescent hospital would certainly be a good use of the land. It is certainly an idea which deserves more examination!
Tom Field
Sorry Tom, I didn't know.
I think creating a beautiful and fully functional place for seniors in all stages of their lives might be just the thing that could work at Ponte Vista. It is certainly worth talking about and pushing a certain developer to think about.
I used to do phone work at Leisure World (Seizure World) in El Toro/Laguna Hills. Besides the very many senior condominiums near the San Diego Freeway, there are convalescent hospitals, assisted living apartments and a variety of housing types perfectly suited for our aging population.
As we "boomers" get older, there will certainly be an increasing need for all types of housing for senior citizens. It looks like we have a perfect site to build a state-of-the-art, beautiful, and (hopefully) not too expensive development having a wide variety of options for those of us who are aging faster than we would like to.
It would probably be crass for me to mention the extreme proximity of a site that becomes the final resting place for many members of OUR community.
This idea, coupled with the fact that no human can possible guarantee that owner-occupied condominiums won't become rentals and leased out units, at least for a portion of them, make this discussion at this late date, no only interesting, but very, very needed, IMHO.
Bob Bisno could win, win. OUR community could win, win. Our seniors and their families would win, win.
Keeping our families together is old world and valuable to many of us. Both of my parents are in places where I can visit them and they are very close to our home and my sister's family's home.
Now Tom, whoever you really are, How might we sell this concept to folks on the far sides of the R1 and 2,300 arguments?
I am trying one aspect that there is no way to guarantee that non-age resticted units would not become rentals or leased out units. Adding the positive proposal for an all-senior development answers a lot of questions, make new ones, and probably should be explored by everyone.
I do strongly believe that I need to speak to the CAC on Tuesday night about these ideas. before they do something I will regret they do.
Might this actually be the best outcome for all of us in OUR community?
MW
I wish you luck with this idea. An area near my own home was cleared out and I hoped desperately they would put in something useful to the community, like you're thinking with your area. Instead it turned into a used car lot, the 7th on a half mile stretch of road.
Thanks and your comment is very welcome.
The idea for an entire senior development is not mine, originally, but I thought about it and found it more that sound enough to post on this blog.
Since creating the post, I have gone to the R1 side of the issue.
I think if more folks would like to consider this type of a development, they would have my ear and would not face any negative thoughts on my part. Even though I need to have no non-age restricted condos built at Ponte Vista, I would be much harder, in my opinion, to think that many senior units would be rented out to folks other than seniors.
There seems to be senior units sitting unsold as close as Torrance that may be able to draw more interest at this time.
Pushing through an all-senior Ponte Vista would possibly create a unique living site for the South Bay and the rest of the L.A. area.
It was and still is an interesting idea and something I wish more folks would at least, explore with an open mind.
MW
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