Odds and Ends 17

Here is an opportunity to show your support for keeping the Ponte Vista at San Pedro site with its current zoning of R1, on a Saturday.

There will be a demonstration sponsored by R Neighborhoods Are 1, beginning at 11:00 AM on Saturday June 16, 2007, outside the fencing of the Ponte Vista site on Western Avenue.

Signs will be available, banners will abound, and hoots and hollers will accompany the honking of horns from drivers of cars attempting to drive on Western Avenue.

Look for the big white van with the giant banner. You can park on the west side of Western Avenue and use the lights and crosswalks at either Avenida Aprenda or Green Hills Drive to meet the rest of the folks using their right of assembly to protest against such a large project being built in northwest San Pedro.
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Trivia:

When Googling "ponte vista san pedro california" on the main serch page, there are about 384,000 sites listed. The majority of them have absolutely nothing to do with the project.

Refining a Google search to exactly match "ponte vista san pedro california" find 0 sites.
Refining a Google search to exactly match "ponte vista san pedro" finds 7 sites.
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The really big meeting that should pack the main ballroom of the Crowne Plaza Hotel in San Pedro is Monday June 18, 2007, beginning at 6:00.

To get the great cookies Mr. Bisno provides for the audience, please arrive early as they were all gone by mid-meeting, last time.

The "real" food that is kept some distance away from the audience is for the members of the Community Advisory Committee, city staffers, and folks from the Bisno Development team. Audience members should step up to that table as the food is not intended for them.

This CAC meeting is where we all finally get to learn what Bob's "new" plans for the development are. An article in the Daily Breeze suggested that Bob would propose more Senior Housing units than the 575 in his original plan, and that the total number of all units would be fewer than the 2,300-units in the original plan.

It appears that groups on both ends of the issue have called for a large showing of people at this meeting, so please arrive early.
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June 19, 2007 at the Peck Park Community Center, the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council is having a candidates' forum for their election, slated for June 25, 2007 beginning at 1:00 PM, again at Peck Park.

You are all invited to listen to all the candidates who choose to speak and learn their positions on a wide variety of issues, not just Ponte Vista. Some candidates appear to be supporters of Eastview Little League and they may talk about their hopes to find a permanent home and their feelings about the new Target store that will be built near the corner of Capitol and Gaffey Streets.
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According to Mr. John Greenwood, the chair of Ms. Hahn's Community Advisory Committee (CAC) for the Ponte Vista project, the CAC's mission will not end on July 24, as may have been rumored.

After the June 18 meeting where Mr. Bisno will unveil he "new" proposal, there will be a meeting on June 28, and July 24, 2007. It is expected that the CAC will take a break from their duties for a bit of time and then return to continue to analyse Mr. Bisno's "new" plans and try to make their recommendations concerning the "new" plans, to Ms. Hahn.
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"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

The short paragraph above is from the Constitution of the United States of America. It is part of the first ten amendments of the Constitution and is the first amendment of the Bill of Rights.

I think, using this paragraph to suggest that those wishing to sign the R1 petition while attending the Cabrillo Beach celebration of Independence Day, should have the right to just that.

In the Declaration of Independence there is a sentence. It states:

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

The Declaration of Independence, which we celebrate its publication every year on July 4, tells us that King George III of England did not take heed on the petitions from those who wanted a f country free of his tyranny. Although neither Mr. Bisno or Ms Hahn are tyrants by any means, many community members have felt, and still feel that they have no say in what may happen at Ponte Vista, and some have even told me that the "deal is already done!"

We all have the opportunity to use whatever democracy we feel we still have and use it in the best way we can for ourselves, our families and OUR community. Let's not forget what the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution say and mean. Too many souls have fought and died protecting these two documents and all of us still here, to remember them and keep these two documents alive and still relevant, today.