Odds and Ends 35

Chris Yang is a young journalist. He is honest, knows his craft and is bringing more credibility to Random Lengths News, now. I am very pleased that he has joined the staff that also includes some fine reporters and others who are able to counter the publication's publishers seeming lack of knowledge about local issues, and/or care about issues other than Blackwater and NeoCons.

In an article written by Mr. Yang in the latest issue of Random Lengths News, he correctly documented the fact that Ponte Vista at San Pedro is STILL the preferred site for SRHS 14, which is the 810-seat senior high school that is proposed to ease the over crowding of Narbonne High School.

Chris was correcting some misinformation from and article in the Daily Breeze. The members of the L.A.U.S.D. Board of Education have not, as yet taken votes to consider other sites, other than Ponte Vista, for the new school. I don't even believe they have voted on a "preferred site" for SRHS 15, which may be the 1,215-seat senior high school that would ease the over crowding at San Pedro High School. That proposed school site, according to Mr. Rod Hamilton and his staff, is on District-owned land on the old Fort MacArthur upper reservation, which also has Angels Gate Cultural Center, the Military Museum, the Korean Bell, and some other L.A.U.S.D. facilities.

With reporters and assistant editors like Chris Yang coming to Random Lengths News, James Preston Allen has enriched his staff and now he just need to sit back and let real reporters and journalists do their work.
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James Preston Allen, the publisher of Random Lengths News published an Email I sent to him involving his observations in the previous edition of his publication. I also wrote a letter to the editor, but I didn't see that particular letter in RLN.

Never the less, I wish Mr. Allen would do what so many other publishers and editors do with letters to the editors. I don't think his own commentary, which is sometimes longer than the original letters to the editor, is important enough to include. He seems he has do defend himself at every turn and disallow letter writer's opinions from being scrutinized.

James should let all letters to the editor stand as they are, unless factual errors need to be corrected. That should be done, if necessary, without opinion from Mr. Allen, I feel.

This blog, which he still considers to be a voice for something, was created by a nobody, and still is published by one fellow who really doesn't matter in the larger scheme of things. There is nowhere on the face of this planet where I have ever thought of this blog as the only source of information and/or opinion on any matter, what so ever. I have even called for as many blogs, Web sites, and other publications to come on board to discuss matters important to whoever creates them.

I am just one voice in a growing sea of voices concerned about OUR community, our future, and our quality of life. Nobody needs to agree with anything I write and I continue to offer everyone the challenge of creating comments, writing their own opinions, and sharing views that may be quite different than mine, or anybody else's.

Mr. Allen, I am a fraction of a faction that does not carry any one's name.
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Mr. Allen claims that his publication reaches 62,000. O.K., fine. I think it is fair to also share with Mr. Allen that his publication can be found where mine would be almost impossible to be found; in a gutter.

Random Lengths News is a free publication consisting of the majority of space within the publication, being advertisements. This blog and all my other blogs receive absolutely not one single penny of advertising, but I do advertise things I wish to, free of charge.

I still refuse to consider Random Lengths News as being a "newspaper". I truly wish it offered much more local information and with the reporting of some fine folks, and the recent inclusion of the skills and knowledge of Mr. Chris Yang, I hope to one day think of Random Lengths News as a good source of news and information. Until then I still have to consider it an advertisement venue with some editorial opinions from a publisher who feels it is more important to cover national and international issues, more than local issues, while still dealing with local advertisement.
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There seems to be more folks living in the Lomita who are grumbling louder about the possible placement of SRHS 14, partially in a park. Personally, I have felt that the site currently being looked at by Mr. Rod Hamilton and his staff is too small and would consume too much of the little park, even with the new site being open for use by the public.

In another recent article, Mr. Hamilton's staff was also considering a second site on Sepulveda Blvd. When suggestions were welcome on where SRHS 14 might be situated, some of us considered the Mulligan recreation center site on Sepulveda, and/or commercial property adjacent to that center. The area in this particular area is privately owned, has not only Mulligan, but also a Cement plant and warehouses on sites.

There is another area near Western Avenue, just north of the Narbonne campus that also has warehouses standing on property that would be large enough to hold a 6-8 acre high school.

I think there is a lot of room for the downsized SRHS 14 in Harbor City or Harbor Gateway, that would be better than taking park land in Lomita. I stand with opponents of having SRHS 14 at the area of the park.

I would invite anyone thinking about helping L.A.U.S.D. find an alternative site for SRHS 14, other than Ponte Vista, to go onto Google Earth and look for sites to recommend to Mr. Hamilton and his staff. They actually have responded to Emails I have sent them and I do not feel they are "bad people" in any way. If enough of us suggest alternative sites and those sites have lots of folks considering them, I think we can demonstrate to L.A.U.S.D. and everyone else, that we do care about where the kids should attend school and we are interested in positively assisting L.A.U.S.D. in their efforts.
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With the recent election at Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council, we are all finding a refreshing new course in their actions, activities, and their concern for the area they deal with.

Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council is sponsoring and evening celebrating President Jimmy Carter on November 1. Information about that event can be found in the most recent Random Lengths News or on Central's Web site at: http://sanpedrocity.org/

With a recent vote, Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council clarified what their Land Use and Planning Committee endorsed earlier this year, concerning Ponte Vista at San Pedro.

Here is the resolution recently passed by the members of the Board of Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council:

Whereas the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council desires to clarify its position on Ponte Vista; therefore, be it resolved, CSPNC has not endorsed or supported any specific Ponte Vista project proposal.

Here is how the voting for the resolution went:

10 votes in favor, 0 opposed, 2 abstentions. Motion passed.

Earlier this year, Mr. Joe Gatlin, the President of Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council and a former member of at least one advisory group sponsored by Bob Bisno's Ponte Vista at San Pedro, stated publicly that his Council "endorsed Mr. Bisno's plans for Ponte Vista."

When I asked Mr. Gatlin about that statement, he informed me that since he was the President of the Neighborhood Council and the person who authored the original resolution on the Land Use and Planning Committee was not the President, he was qualified to claim what he claimed.

Mr Gatlin, unfortunately, was incorrect when he made the assertion that the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council endorsed Bob Bisno's plans for Ponte Vista, and this most recent resolution, proved that, yet again.

So in truth, all three Neighborhood Councils with the San Pedro area do not endorse Bob Bisno's current plans for Ponte Vista. Since those three Neighborhood Councils represent every resident, business, and commercial site in San Pedro, it is save to consider that there is no large group in San Pedro, that endorsed Bob's current plans for Ponte Vista.

The San Pedro and Peninsula Chamber of Commerce endorses a mixed use and mixed type of housing at Ponte Vista, but it too, does not specifically endorse Bob's current plans for Ponte Vista.

It is true that some groups, mostly outside the San Pedro geographic limits endorse Bob's current plans, but they are outside the potentially seriously impacted areas and they would potentially gain dollars into their businesses, if more folks moved into Ponte Vista than what R1 would allow for. As the fellow said in the movie, "Greed is good."
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Writing of R1, there is going to be a demonstration in support of keeping the current zoning at Ponte Vista into the future, Tomorrow, beginning at 11:00 AM, on the public sidewalk in front of the development site at 26000 Western Avenue.

We still have a few buttons left, some bumper stickers left, and we will be encouraging everyone who hasn't signed the R1 petition to stop by, sign the petition while legally parked and get out and participate in demonstrating to demand that the Ponte Vista site remain with its current zoning.

We will probably be demonstrating, thanking folks for honking their horns, and enjoying a warm fall day, for about two hours.

If you have something better to do, but I can't think of anything more important than saving the quality of you lives and protecting the value of your homes, while trying to fight of such a weapon of mass development, then I guess you must do what you must do. I do hope however, that you join us to call for keeping mass development in check and keeping our quality of life, the highest it can be.
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Folks in high places are still remaining silent to the general public concerning what is happening between Bob's operatives and the Los Angeles Planning Department.

One of the issues we all need to demand is that once Marshall's opens and the parking lot at The Terraces fills up, we need to exert everything we can to get another traffic count and study done on Western Avenue.

When the Do-It Center was open, there was traffic to and from that location. Many of us expect that once Marshall's opens, traffic to and from that store will dramatically increase over what was seen when Do-It Center was in business. This difference in traffic will impact Western Avenue and would create a great difference in number of cars compared to several years ago.

It is absolutely correct to believe that retail traffic is four times what residential traffic produces. Ms. Elise Swanson of Ponte Vista is very correct on this issue. But Marshall's is a retail business that is replacing a retail business and zoning was not changed to do this deed.

I would again challenge Ms. Swanson in her concern with how much traffic Marshall's will create by suggesting that if one retail business replaces another retail business and traffic counts change, perhaps we should consider a one-for-one swap at Ponte Vista, too. There are 245 existing residential structures on the 61.53 acre Ponte Vista site. If Ms. Swanson is concerned about the one-for-one swap at The Terraces, then lets have a one-for-one swap at Ponte Vista.

Demolish the 245 existing residences and replace them with 245 new residences.
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