Odds and Ends 183

For readers residing in Rancho Palos Verdes who do not already know, Marymount College's President, Dr. Michael Brophy has filed a lawsuit attempting to have the wording of the argument against The Marymount Plan's Initiative, now known as Proposition P or Measure P, thrown out or re-written.

Dr. Brophy also seeks damages from the city which would mean taxpayers would have to fund any settlement granted by the court.

So much for his "The Marymount Plan will be completed at no expense to the taxpayer".

It is now time to get serious about all of the arguments for and against Marymount being granted approval to build student housing on its campus for up to 250 students.

I do understand very well that there are many San Pedro residents that would like to see Marymount do as it has promised to do and abandon the off-campus student housing called Pacific Heights. But since Marymount has claimed they would do so several times, yet has not fulfilled its statements in the past, there is really no trust that they would finally abandon the site at 24Th and Cabrillo Avenue, in San Pedro.

There also has never been any consideration of closing the Palos Verdes North off-campus housing facility, and there would not be should Marymount receive approval to build on-campus student housing.

I continue to publish information about P, The Marymount Plan, and The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project that has been approved and something I continue to support.
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We have been home since Sunday and I now have four visit to Amalfitano Bakery under my belt and in my tummy.

I learned during my first trip that cannolis and most other non-breakfast fair doesn't come out until around 11:00 AM each day.

Terri and I both ate a cannoli and to be truthful, we like most other goodies over a cannoli.

I have a Napoleon waiting for me that I am sure I will enjoy.

It is not necessary, it appears, to wish Mr. Anthony Amalfitano good luck in the survival of his new Bakery. But good luck is wished for in the bakers' ability to keep up with the demand for all the wonderful treats found in the Bakery.

Many members of our community have already found out the troubling news that, if they don't get to the Bakery early enough in the afternoon, their favorite treats may be sold out by the time they arrive.

Here's a hint. Pre-order what you want so they are set aside for pickup when you can drop by.
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I like the idea of folks visiting Amalfitano Bakery to also treat themselves to a meal, a treat, a haircut, or something from any of the other businesses in Western Plaza.

We enjoy Niccolo's Restaurant just next door to Amalfitano Bakery and Mr. Pack and his wife prepare some really great food there.

31 Flavors and the Barber Shop next door have been at the strip mall for as long as I can remember and even though Hillside Cleaners has moved, there is still a presence between Amalfitano Bakery and Hillside Liquor.

Shopping and dining in Rancho Palos Verdes along Western Avenue helps provide you with what you want and should meet many of your shopping and dining wants.
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We are all now back into the new school year this coming week with the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District opening up classes beginning this coming Tuesday.

This means that traffic along Western Avenue will increase somewhat and we all need to be safe as we travel on that Avenue.

LAUSD comes back to work in several weeks and we all need to watch for traffic regarding Mary Star of the Sea High School, Rolling Hills Prep, and Christ Lutheran School.

Gone are the day of too many injuries due to junior high students crossing Western to get between Dodson and the Navy Housing at what is now Ponte Vista and it looks like it will be years before we have to deal with that, again.

There is still the problems with students crossing Western to get to several parking lots where parental units wait to pick up students attending Dodson. Please keep your eyes on the lookout for potential dangers and GET OFF THE PHONE!
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Odds and Ends 182

Last Monday Amalfitano Bakery opened to what can only be described from my readings is an overwhelming success.

According to its Facebook page, the Bakery sold out of its baked goods for multiple days beginning with its openind day.

I haven't been able to enjoy a cannoli from the Bakery yet, but I suspect that I will rise very early Monday morning and stroll down to view and then purchase a cannoli to enjoy. I may also bring my camera to show the event.
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The measure on the November 2 ballot concerning The Marymount Plan has been given its own identity.

Measure P on the ballot essentially asks RPV voters to approve on-campus student housing and a new law specifically created for and to be use only by Marymount College to overcome and moot some existing municiple codes as well as silencing many city controls placed on all other developments, but not Marymount's.

No matter what you hear, read, or view, every construction request made by Marymount's representatives to the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council has already been approved for construction.

The ONLY new construction the measure seeks to get approved that has NOT already been approved is student housing for up to 250 students on the main campus of Marymount College, located at about the highest elevation of Palos Verdes Drive East and above the switchbacks of that road.

I oppose on-campus student housing because I am not able to find any mitigation possible for the numerous safety concerns I have and when Marymount supporters state that having students live on campus means less traffic, that is not truthful, according to documents Marymount paid to have produced AND Marymount already uses trained shuttle bus drivers to safely transport students and have done so for years, without any reportable incidents or injuries.

Please vote NO on measure P on or before November 2, 2010 if you are a voter registered in Rancho Palos Verdes.
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I haven't found a "Ponte Vista" on the Island of Hawai'i but that was expected. The Hawai'ian alphabet in English has no 'v' or 's' as I have seen so far. The bridges I have passed over are, for the most part, very small and there are not many reasons to think that Italians would have been interested in viewing these bridges in Hawai'i.
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There are "Ponte Vista" signs and locations in Florida and other places.
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Odds and Ends 181

Monday, August 16!
Be there for the opening of Amalfitano Bakery or be on a United Airlines flight to Hawai'i.

While I will miss the opening I have been waiting months and months for, I wish all of you joyful tastes and wonderful fare as the last of the five new eateries opens along Western between Caddington and Summerland.

There is little doubt that I will venture down the hill the first available hour it is open after we return from the Big Island and the vacation we have put off for too long.
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Recently, if you have been driving closer to downtown San Pedro, you would have noticed road work that normally is found always slowing traffic on Western Avenue.

It seems like when it is time to close a lane or two along Western, it is undertaken while schools are in session and traffic becomes more of the nightmare and daymare is usually is.

But the summer has been very mild north and south of 9th Street and I can live stopped in traffic along Western much easier when the air is cooler and tempers only flare because of the congestion and not the heat.
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Might there be coming a period of less-than-moderate turmoil along Western Avenue?
Could it be that no storm drains will collapse and not major road work lies in store for Western Avenue in the coming months?

What will it be like to have sustained relative quite and moderation along Western?
Yes, there are empty storefronts and business is not what it should and could be.

There is a new Toys-R-Us store in the same location as Kay-Bee Toys once used batteries.
Calm has come to Denny's and there seems to still be no sushi at Asaka Grill Express.

Saladish and Pavich's still provide tasty and healthier food than some other restaurants provide.
There is still little more than nothing on the horizon concerning the Clearwater Project.

The silence at Ponte Vista is broken only by the sounds of happy goats and first responders undertaking worthwhile training as various times.

So, 'all calm on the Western Avenue front' may be something we can enjoy yet not take granted in.

Enjoy it while is lasts because the only constant along Western is change.
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Odds and Ends 180

The post begins with a mailer I received today from Save Our City III.

The issues revolves around simply whether Marymount College will persuade voters in Rancho Palos Verdes that everything already granted to them via The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project is good enough or must voters also agree that on-campus student housing, TAKEN OUT BY MARYMOUNT's representatives must now be granted.

The ballot measure also includes language that, if approved, strips many of the city's oversight and regulatory provisions demanded of everyone else and every other business.

Save Our City III is the third group with that name to come about and all three entities had to deal with over development in the area.

Save Our City I was the original group that was created to form the structure to allow Rancho Palos Verdes to become a city.

Los Angeles County was allowing massive developments in its unincorporated areas where particular cities had jurisdiction.

Without city status, residents had very little power to stop or slow down over development.

Almost 38 years ago, voters in areas, not including Eastview voted to become residents of Rancho Palos Verdes.

The Eastview area was annexed into R.P.V. by a vote of the people several decades ago.

Marymount's representatives could have, had they wished, requested that the Rancho Palos Verdes discuss, debate and vote on whether to approve on-campus housing at their Palos Verdes Drive East, no matter what the city's Planning Commission stated in its report.

Marymount Officials also decide NOT TO REQUEST consideration of dorms on campus, from the current City Council membership.

The reasons I oppose on campus housing at Marymount deal exclusively with safety and are far different than the reasons that SOC III is undertaking their opposition to the ballot measure.

But their stance is also a great one, in my opinion and I hope you will read the information, get the REAL FACTS about Marymount (EVERYTHING MARYMOUNT ASKED FOR FROM THE CITY COUNCIL, HAS ALREADY BEEN APPROVED BY THE R.P.V. CITY COUNCIL)

But now they want on-campus student housing at a site that has suffered declining enrollment for several years and is only beginning a four-year program to award no more than three different Bachelor's degrees.

Loyola Marymount College in the Westchester area of Los Angeles is also going through the processes of upgrading its campus and they have a multitude of degree programs that seem to fit many students' liking.

SOC III is lead by Ken Dyda, who is one of the founders of Rancho Palos Verdes and he is a former Mayor of that city who continues to work hard for the average resident.

In the future, expect to see a large list of individual and groups siding with SOC III and don't be surprised to see all but two living former Mayors endorsing SOC III.

There are just two former Mayors that I am aware of that support The Marymount Plan and one of them sits on the College's Board of Trustees, so you know why she supports Marymount's plans to put up to 250 17-25 year olds living in high density housing in a low density neighborhood.

But for our northwest San Pedro folks, Marymount has plans to do absolutely NOTHING with their Palos Verdes North off-campus facility as far as lowering the number of students who could live there or even considering closing it, altogether.

Naturally, I will send in a small check. I am still unemployed so I will also find time to make buttons.

I am not nor will I be a member of SOC III. While they have truly honorable, reasonable, realistic, responsible and respectful goals, I oppose dorms on campus and SOC III takes no official on whether there should be dorms at Marymount. Rather, they oppose the measure for a number of good reasons, but I wish they also opposed the dorms being constructed.

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Tick. Tick. Tock. I want the health inspector to walk. Walk that is, into Amalfitano Bakery, inspect it, give it the go-ahead to open and then walk out to go someplace else.

Mr. Anthony Amalfitano was hopeful, last Tuesday that he can open "next week" and I am hopeful for that, too. I get one cannoli. That's it for about a week. My eating plan doesn't include much wheat, but there are exceptions that I must abide by.

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I was quoted in the latest edition of The Palos Verdes Peninsula News regarding Rancho Palos Verdes becoming a Charter city.

Right now I haven't seen any interest outside those who are government or politically interested types that either support or oppose the issue.

I can't repeat enough that there is no way any current or future City Council member would ever consider doing anything like what the 'crooks' in Bell did. I know we have enough interested voters who will probably ask candidates for three seats on the Council opening up next year, about what they would do as Council members of a Charter City and after been to a fair share of candidate debates in R.P.V., I don't see any potential candidate even thinking about trying to catch residents off guard.
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There hasn't been anything new on www.yourpontevista.com in several months and I don't think we will see much in the foreseeable future what with the economy still doing poorly.

It is still amazing to me that "360" on the Hawthorne/El Segundo border is continuing development after a long delay.

I don't know if the eventual management company will have a very large apartment complex or whether it will still be considered to have various types of leases, rentals, and for sale units.
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