Odds and Ends 6

This edition begins with an article and some added comments dealing with Clean San Pedro and their current struggles.

The article was written by Ms. Donna Littlejohn for The Daily Breeze early last week, I believe.

My comments written for my www.pontevista.blogspot.com site, where the article and post appeared yesterday, have been edited, since yesterday to include a pledge of a contribution.

So, in essence, here are two posts, combined on this blog, dealing with Clean San Pedro.
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No Cash for This Trash

By Donna Littlejohn, Staff WriterArticle
Launched: 03/25/2008 10:55:36 PM PDT

It didn't take long for Steve Kleinjan's answering machine to fill up after sending out a notice early this week saying Clean San Pedro would have to suspend operations.

"My e-mail is just about filled, my phone has rung off the hook," Kleinjan said.Dedicated to combating litter and graffiti, the popular grass-roots effort he established six years ago is simply running too low on funds, Kleinjan said.

"Everyone means well and is very receptive, but it's just a matter of getting the check in the mail," Kleinjan said. "We're an independent group and normally we try to raise our own funds through fundraisers.

"Kleinjan said he hopes the suspension of activity will be temporary, noting the outpouring from community members this week since he made the announcement.

Among Clean San Pedro's staunch supporters is Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who singled the group out for citywide recognition in 2006.

"I can't imagine San Pedro without Clean San Pedro," she said. "We've really come to depend on them. They've put the pride back in San Pedro.

"Hahn is urging neighborhood councils to pitch in. She said she also is going to try to find resources within her office to help.More financial support is needed between major fundraisers, Kleinjan said, to cover ongoing expenses such as insurance and maintenance on vehicles, and buying tools and supplies.

The group also pays two part-time employees, retirees, who work 12 hours a week. They have been laid off, but Kleinjan hopes that's only temporary.

"They obviously have a serious cash flow problem," said Camilla Townsend, CEO of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce. "They need a serious commitment that's going to be ongoing so they can really do what Clean San Pedro is all about.

The last major fundraiser for Clean San Pedro was Hot Pedro Nites, a two-day nostalgic car festival held last August. The event brought in about $20,000, but that fell far short of the group's goal of raising $80,000 to $100,000.

With the next Hot Pedro Nites not happening until July, the group has been struggling to maintain its cash flow from last summer's event.

"We're running out of those funds, so instead of doing another fundraiser in the spring, I was looking to go to neighborhood councils and things like that for funding," Kleinjan said.

Founded in 2002, Clean San Pedro Inc. uses volunteers to cruise the Pacific Avenue and Gaffey Street retail corridors throughout the week, picking up trash, painting out graffiti and making sure discarded furniture and other eyesores are hauled away.

Hometown pride fuels the endeavor."Most of the people who volunteer grew up here and have lived here their whole lives," said Kleinjan, a 1970 San Pedro High School graduate. "We have many successful business people who are now retired and donate a lot of time to this effort. It's kind of strange to see a former businessman sitting there, sweeping curbs.

"The group's annual budget is about $60,000, he said, but to do the job right, it should be closer to $150,000.

"I just couldn't continue going on as usual," he said. "These are difficult times."Townsend said her organization is exploring ways to help, including the possibility of taking over Hot Pedro Nites as a way to save Clean San Pedro administrative funds it spends to help plan and stage the event.

Help also might come from the proposed property owners' Business Improvement District, she said."This is a real grass-roots operation," Townsend said. "It's the best deal in town. The sad thing is, so often communities take programs like this for granted. They're very happy to have them, but they don't stop to think about where the funding comes from. I look at this as a wake-up call.

"HOW TO HELP
What: Clean San Pedro Inc., a six-year-old nonprofit group, is in need of more donations.
Donations: Checks can be made out and mailed to Clean San Pedro Inc., 3616 S. Walker St., San Pedro, CA 90731.
Information: www.cleansanpedro.org; 310-832-4932.
donna.littlejohn@dailybreeze.com
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O.K., let's read your excuses for not helping out this organization.

You could write that you spent the $440.00 you and your wife won at the Thunder Valley Casino on Saturday, but spent it all at another casino. We did and we didn't, so my check is ready for me to slip into the mailbox as I leave for yet another pre-surgery test.

You could write that you are on disability and can't afford the bucks. I am and you probably aren't. Next excuse.

You could write that you spend you contribution dollars on making buttons for causes you believe are important on OUR community. I do, but Clean San Pedro is a worthy cause that just might inspire me to create some new buttons that group can offer for donations.

You could write that you are a Bisno supporter and are saving to buy one of his "affordable" condos. I'm not, but I also don't think that $300,000.00 for 600 square feet in some of the worst climate in OUR community is worth it.

You could write that you have given so much to OUR community that you feel you should be compared to John Olguin. You certainly can't and neither can I, ever. But I have a real belief that John will be walking the few blocks from his house to the Walker Avenue address to drop off a donation.

You could write some excuse that we can all shed a tear at, but please don't. I don't have a reasonable, realistic, responsible, or respectful excuse for not contributing to Clean San Pedro until now, and you surely don't either, I firmly bet.

So let's just get to the mission at hand. Get out those checkbooks, make motions in your organizations to donate, have a rummage sale with proceeds going to this worthy group, and don't do anything that will cause Clean San Pedro to have to pick up after you!

Hey Bob, your blight is a nuisance we have to live with. How about thinking about the community you supposedly believe you know what is best for, and give a chunk of change to Clean San Pedro. They can't clean up your mess, unless you hire them, but they can help keep San Pedro cleaner than you patch of.......whatever.

Hey OUR community, let's make the next Hot Pedro Nites the best ever!
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Bob Bisno Pledges $25K

This is good.

Bob Bisno is reported in an article in the Thursday Daily Breeze, to be pledging to provide $25,000 to Clean San Pedro.

I hope other developers in San Pedro also help get this valuable group back on track to help clean up areas near their developments.

I for one, didn't pledge a dime. I simply wrote out my check, addressed my envelope, put a stamp on it, and dropped it into the mail.

There was no need to have an article in a newspaper written about my donation.

Let's hope to read or learn that organizations and groups all around OUR community come through with needed funds to get Clean San Pedro back up and running without worries of this type of thing happening again.
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As I am so very proud of the great San Pedrans being involved in helping their own neighborhoods and the neighborhoods of others, I am confident that OUR community will do what is just, what is correct, and what is long term, for Clean San Pedro and OUR community's benefit.
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On the Ponte Vista issue, silence may be golden or pyrite. At least some of us can claim that the L.A. Planning Department is finding ways to cover themselves no matter what they issue as to what can be built at Ponte Vista at San Pedro.

Mayor V. and his immediate followers are still trying to find ways to get developments on track quicker and with fewer City hindrances.

One issue that may be looming in the future is whether current Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky wants to run for Mayor of L.A.

Supervisor Yaroslavsky is an outspoken opponent to over development and someone who just may be a candidate voters in Los Angeles should support, for the sake of everyone who doesn't have the word "Developer" attached to their name.
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Some members of Vista del Oro Neighbors Against Condos may still be on pins and needles until the City Council votes to approve the Q Qualification Condition onto three lots, currently zoned C1-1XL at and near the corner of 20Th Street and Walker Avenue. I am not one of them.

I truly believe Councilwoman Janice Hahn will ask other members of the L.A. City Council to vote with her in keeping condos or apartments out of the neighborhood made up of so many single-family homes.
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Now to news concerning a proposed new high school campus in San Pedro.

The comment period to the Notice of Preparation and Initial Study has been extended to May 5, 2008. If you are dealing with comments, then this is important for you to know.

If you aren't, then it is not an issue.

I guess "N.O.I.S.E." has been proclaimed the acronym and name that the new committee fighting to keep South Region High School No. 15 (SRHS 15) out of the Angel's Gate area has adopted.

Neighbors Organized and Incorporated to Stop Encroachment seems to be what the acronym spells out. If anyone hates the name and acronym, I guess I'll take the heat.

I don't want a new campus to encroach on the programs and environment of the Point Fermin Outdoor Education Center, and the approximately 14,000 LAUSD students that will be able to use is over the next few years.

I am also guilty of not finding any real way, short of taking one or two homes on 30Th Street, to allow for any viable access to the Outdoor Education Center and a new campus.

The more I read "1,215" as the number of seats proposed for SRHS 15, the angrier I seem to get.

Even when the State of California low-balls the number of students who attended S.P.H.S. in the 2006-2007 school year, per classroom, that total is still more than the proposed number of seats each classroom at SRHS 15 would have.

Any real illusion that "only 810 or up to 1,215" students might attend classes at any new campus in San Pedro, is just that; an illusion.

For reasonable and effective planning, shouldn't LAUSD state the more likely number of students that would attend any new campus? Simply stating that "45 classrooms" will have "1,215 seats" means that the maximum number of seats per each and every classroom is 27.

Does anyone in their correct mind, anywhere in L.A.U.S.D. have the ability to look at folks with a straight face and state, for fact, that each class would only have 27 students?

Even with my L.A.U.S.D. education, I can spot a math problem when I see it!
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It seems we all may need to start a watch and make new lists of businesses going out of business in OUR community.

We may have to help our favorite businesses we enjoy having, stay afloat in the months and years to come, perhaps.

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On a happier note to many in OUR community, especially Terri, have you been by the corner of Capitol and Gaffey recently?

The walls of the new Target are standing tall, but not painted yet. It looks like the big store is taking real shape and can be imagined opening in San Pedro.

Yes, traffic will suck far more than what Ponte Vista could bring to us, but adding Ponte Vista's massive 1,950-units into a potion of commotion would make things that much worse.

Will Marshall's and Ross on Western stay in business after Target opens?

Will a new bus line take shoppers directly to the front door of the new Target?

Will San Pedrans get hired to work in a Target in San Pedro?

This is a "stay tuned" type of things.
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