Saturday, December 13, 2008

The Captain Has Left the Bridge While the Ship Sinks

"Ponte Vista". In Italian and Portuguese it means 'bridge view', which also means the bridge of a ship. It also can mean 'crane view', scaffolding view, and its main translation as a view of a bridge over something.

Now it seems we can witness the bridge of the ship carrying Bob and all of his supporters sinking quickly into the blue Pacific. However, as the ship continued to sink, Bob was hauled off the bridge, leaving only supporters stranded.

If we can imagine Bob and his supporters trying to hold on to scaffolding that is falling faster than the economy, that is also appropriate, it seems.

If we view Bob and his supporters dangling from a crane that is lowering them to the bottom of the shaft of credibility, that too, is also something we can view in our mind's eye.

It took the real threat that Credit Suisse would lose it precious funds over what is truly best for OUR community to haul Bob out of here. But whatever it took, I am glad it finally happened.

It is also becoming apparent that Bob was not willing to listen to his financial backers during the last few weeks and months. The dramatic step of completely removing Bob from the development team seems to be telling all that Credit Suisse was no longer interested in listening to what Bob was continuing to attempt to do.

Perhaps Bob had told Credit Suisse that he was still wanting to go to the Planning Commission with the application and other documents already proven to be items that would never find approval?

Perhaps Bob's ego continued to get the best of him while folks with more vision and intelligence were trying to get Bob off his 'high horse' and really consider compromising using more reasonable counts for units at the project.

We have all seen evidence that Bob was not that willing to listen to genuine efforts to get him to come to the table to create something responsible at Ponte Vista.

We have all continued to witness some blind support for Bob's continuing plans, without true regard for OUR community.

Now that Bob is gone, he has left behind a number of individuals and groups that supported him and whatever plans he wanted. I wonder if they will continue to defend their positions like at least one supporter seemingly continues to do?

Defending a team member who got himself thrown off the team is pretty tough, I bet.

Defending plans by that team member that have been judged as being bad by others AND other members of the same team, must be worse.

I guess during that first meeting between Bob and Councilwoman Janice Hahn when she told Bob that 2,300-units was too many units that she could support, should have been a sign to at least some of his supporters that they were following something they should have thought more about.

I feel there will continue to be some of Bob's supporters whose egos will not allow them to have contrition over their support for plans that were so bad, the team had to be taken over by more reasonable folks.

Yes, I still want some senior housing at the Ponte Vista site. It is one of the best ways to place population stability on that land and keep folks from being so transient. It also can benefit some seniors in OUR community that really want that type of housing there and can afford to move there. It would also be nice if some of the senior units were for lower income residents, but I bet others who want senior housing at Ponte Vista do not wish to have lower income residents living near them.

We have known for some time that Bob would eventually leave. Either he was going to take his entitlements and leave the area without actually building anything, or he would find another way to get away from San Pedro.

I have to admit, that I didn't see his departure at the hands of his development team as the way he would leave. I guess it shows more naivety about developers and their financial backers on my part.

For those folks in OUR community that backed Bob no matter what, they also must be a little less intelligent about matters like these, too.

So, let's review.

Bob pulled out of his 125 acre redevelopment of the downtown area of Baldwin Park.

Bob placed 114 condos at his City Place project in Santa Ana up for a marketing auction and they all did not sell out.

Bob's marketing firm dealing with City Place has dramatically reduced the prices on the units still sitting unsold at that site.

Bob's development team for the 31 or 32-story condominium tower adjacent to his current City Place project has requested yet another delay in having the Planning Commission of the city of Santa Ana deal with the project.

Bob's house still may be for sale inside Beverly Park North.

And to think about all those members of OUR community who were willing to follow Bob along his paths, no matter what.

Sometimes, it makes one feel a little happy they followed the correct direction concerning a project.
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If you think or feel that all is now fine and everything is just peachy, WRONGO BUCKO!

In fact, now that we do not know where this will all be going, WE now have to take the reins and attempt to control what could be built on the site.

We need to create comments, write letters to the editors, call government leaders and officials, and continue to belong to groups that have great interests in what could be built on the site.

The guidelines set forth by the Planning Department for what they feel should be built on the site are still of more than great concern to many of us.

Ms. Hahn's apparent support for those guidelines is troubling to many of us and we need to impart to Ms. Hahn that she should not support any guidelines without proper and critical consideration.

We need to use our own minds to create project proposals that can go out to the widest readership that can help insure that whatever is built on the site, is truly the best for OUR community.

We cannot just let 1,200 be a number that receives credible consideration by anyone. It is too arbitrary and is could be a total number of units that is very wrong for northwest San Pedro and the rest of OUR community.

Do we support or do we not support having low-income housing at Ponte Vista. As someone from left of center, I have to suggest that some of that type of housing may be necessary to create a neighborhood that reflects all of us and not just some of us.

What types and numbers of types of dwelling units do we think can be built successfully on the site.

Is R1 more of a wish than a reality?

What mitigation must be provided, no matter what is built on the site?

It should and must be up to members of OUR community who dictate what can be built on the site.

We have witnessed what a developer can do with plans and the failures that have occurred have meant that more years will go by before the site is redeveloped.

Now that Measure Q has become law and L.A.U.S.D. MAY reconsider SRHS 14, how might that impact the site and OUR community?

Nothing is over and nothing will be easy as we move forward. For many of us, the work will continue and probably grow even more as we move along.

WE must control OUR community and that takes work, discipline, interest, and above all, the love we have for OUR community and our willingness to protect it.

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