The Morning After

This blog receives far fewer readers than www.pontevista.blogspot.com and that now seems even better for me.

I can use this blog to impart information about R Neighborhoods Are 1, just like I still do on the other blog.

I feel more comfortable venting and offering more outside opinions on this blog, too.

It is with that reasoning that I am creating this post.

Terri appeared much more excited that I appeared all last night after the news broke and the Report was published.

Terri was so pleased, she bought me Ice Cream, something I should not have.

She also had some trouble sleeping because she was thinking about all that we have gone through with everything associated with Ponte Vista at San Pedro.

I finally got to sleep after I created a page of alternate sayings as to what has and may happen to Bob since the publication of the Report.

One of the cleanest and least offensive creations was: His wall-mounted time reporting device was cleared of accumulated debris. This was offered as an opinion of what the planners wrote about his plans for Ponte Vista.

I saved all the creations and only sent it to one person who I knew would get a chuckle. That fellow also has a wicked sense of humor.

This morning broke with the article in The Daily Breeze which I read online shortly after Ms. Littlejohn posted it.

I am sadly mystified that Mr. Dominguez still seems to be so supportive of Bob's current plans.

What is it going to take for too many of Bob's supporters to realize that Bob's plans can never happen at the site?

How sad it is that some of our most prominent members of OUR community still seem to cling to the impossible?

I have stated time and time again that I do support some senior housing at the site, but for the life of me, I cannot help but wonder why so many people can't see the light of day and understand that following Bob is following a lost cause.

Earlier today I authored a currently 6-page article on my plan for the Ponte Vista site.

There is nothing in my plan that calls for the maintenance of the current zoning at the site and it still includes all three types of housing Bob wanted to build.

I feel my plan fits quite well into the guidelines for a revised plan for Ponte Vista, yet I am going to need some help from both supporters and opponents to get passed the opposition by the Planning Department for senior housing on the site.

Isn't it time for us to come together rather than remaining apart? What more evidence do supporters want or need to illustrate to them that Bob's current plans should be only a memory this morning.

Why continue to fight a hopeless cause? Why not work on something that includes some of what Bob wants and what the Planning Department thinks is workable?

I completely consider Bob's current plans to have passed away yesterday. It may be informal, but it should be considered that all things considered, there is really no chance that his application can be approved. This is my opinion, but I believe it is realistic, reasonable, and even respectful to everyone.

I have given myself the opportunity to change my mind several times concerning the Ponte Vista project.

With the first learning about the project during a dinner with a special couple, I was immediately excited and had positive thoughts concerning what I was learning.

From that time in 2005 or 2005 and until May 29, 2007, I remained open minded to may concepts and compromises.

Late in the evening of May 29, 2007 I finally had to come to grips that Bob's plans back then were for a project that was simply too large and because of his consistent unwillingness to really deal with compromise proposals, I had to state that as long as Bob would not compromise enough, the site had to remain, R1 NO COMPROMISE!

That statement still remains valid, to this day. But I do understand that members of OUR community, including elected officials consider that something will be built at the site.

Therefore, I began to consider ideas that do not fit with either Bob's current plans or strictly R1 zoning.

The number of units in my plan considers the ability to create a great development that would not be too overcrowded and put too many obstructions and obstacles into OUR community.

To find out that my plan actually can fit within the guidelines is something I feel should be thought of as serious and workable by more members of OUR community.

I have had complaints from people who state correctly that I am not an urban planner or an architect. I submit to all of you that my plan is much closer to what real urban planners and architects consider for Ponte Vista than those who follow Bob and his group.

For those of you who continue to back Bob's plans and ridicule me or my plans, perhaps it is time for you to look in the mirror and view who the real persons are that have helped doom Bob's plans.

You should also look to the leader of your groups and Bob's intransigence concerning real compromise.

Perhaps you followed Bob too far over the cliff and now you are beyond the branches that you could have grabbed on to.

There is a place for some of what Bob wanted and it can be built at the Ponte Vista site. It may be built by other developers, but there are some elements that should be provided in OUR community.

If my plans fly in the face of my fellow members of the R Neighborhoods Are 1 Steering Committee, well then, "T.S.!" (You could conclude that this is 'tough situation' or you can conclude what I really mean.)

As nobody should be bound to follow Bob lock-step like some seem to continue to do, nobody should be bound to follow everything R Neighborhoods Are 1 suggests.

It is true that the Steering Committee and myself included should follow the will of the more than 11,000 people who signed the R1 petition, and make sure Bob does not receive approval of his application to change the current zoning.

But that is probably already growing colder on a hard slab and only confined to bad memories.

Fight on I must and fight on we must to ensure that Bob's application and everything else he currently requests is voted down, ultimately by the Los Angeles City Council.

It would help if more supporters of Bob's would look into themselves and question why they continue to support an impossibility and not work toward the possible and realistic.

Who knows though, the weekend has just begun.