June 26 Flier and More!

Public Hearing
Thursday, June 26
5:00 p.m.
Cabrillo Beach Aquarium

STOP THE MASSIVE PONTE VISTA DEVELOPMENT

Don’t let the City approve thousands of condominiums and thousands of cars a day on Western Avenue. Tell the Planning Department you SUPPORT keeping single family R1 zoning.

The developer’s profit is your loss.

If you can’t attend,
send your written comments to:


Los Angeles Planning Department
CPC 2006-8043-GPA-ZC-SP-DA

200 N. Spring Street, Room 621Los Angeles, CA 90012
or Email comments to david.olivo@lacity.org

Tell them you SUPPORT R1 zoning at Ponte Vista and OPPOSE subdividing the property and amending the community plan.

www.RneighborhoodsAre1.org

____________________________________________________________

Please provide oral and/or written testimony created with your own mind and not like so many supporters of Bob's current plans, who seem to repeat the same items over and over again.

Supporters will tout that Ponte Vista will provide a great economical impact to San Pedro, but the truth is that most of the economic benefit/proceeds from sales of goods will actually be garnered by businesses within a five-mile radius of Ponte Vista, but NOT within the City of Los Angeles.

There are no large major appliance stores, new car dealerships, upscale home furnishing stores, multi-plex theaters, or major shopping malls within five miles of Ponte Vista that will contribute to sales tax revenues for Los Angeles, where they would be needed to fund the added infrastructure required to keep a giant Ponte Vista project going.

"Bob Bisno and Ponte Vista will fund major traffic improvements." This is one of the most disturbing things supporters still claim and claim and claim and claim.

The actual fact is that there are 127 signalized intersections within the area that will have their management upgraded at taxpayers' expense prior to seeing one penny of funds from Bob Bisno be sent in to do the very thing Bob and his supporters claim will be done for those intersections.

One thing everyone must remember that IF Bob doesn't get what he currently wants, in terms of number of units at Ponte Vista, there is absolutely no written guarantee that he will provide all the "community benefits" he is currently offering.

Both Bob Bisno and I concur that there would be no requirement for him to continue to provide access through Ponte Vista for students, parents, and others going to and from the new Mary Star High School campus, IF the current zoning of the property continues to be mandated by the City of Los Angeles.

Bob would also probably not provide most of the other "community benefits" he is currently offering if the site remains with its current R1-1XL and O1-1XL zoning.

Bob may still be offering carrots, but you and everyone else would have to accept taking on such a large 'stick', for generations, that for thousands and thousands of us, it really isn't worth it.

Tell the hearing officer why you think and feel that this out-of-town developer really doesn't know what you want for YOUR community, no matter what he claims.

It is time to stop this madness and demand that the Ponte Vista site not become something that you will regret, yet you will have to live with, for as long as you live in this community.

Official Notice of Public Hearing

Here is the official notice announcing the June 26 meeting.

Click on each page to enlarge.About 2/3 down on Page 2 of the notice are instructions on how and where to submit written comments.

I am going to copy the information just below and help provide a better way to create the outside of your envelopes and top of comments:

Written communications should cite the Case Number indicated at the top of this notice and may be mailed to the following location:

The Los Angeles City Planning Department
Community Planning Bureau West/Coastal Unit
200 N. Spring Street, Room 621
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Case: CPC 2006-8043-GPA-ZC-SP-DA, VTT-63399, ENV-2005-4516-EIR

You should be able to copy/paste the information above to the top of your comments and/or an envelope sent through your printer.

Please look far below the end of Page 3 for more information.



Written communications can be in addition to your presence and oral testimony if you can attend the Hearing.

Supporters of Bob's current plans will surely attend the Hearing in great numbers and probably write up a storm of comments. Of course, I bet many of their comments will probably be copies of 'talking points' provided by the Outreach Team.

Public Hearing Scheduled

A wonderful member of the Planning Department provided this reply to my Email inquiring about an upcoming public hearing regarding the Ponte Vista at San Pedro project.

Here is a copy of the body of the reply:

"A public hearing before a Hearing Officer and the Advisory Agency has been scheduled for June 26th. It will be at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium auditorium and will begin at 5:00 after the Aquarium closes. The purpose of the hearing is to take official public testimony and is not a decision making meeting. Notices before a Hearing Officer require a 24-day notice so people within a 500-feet radius of the project will be receiving notices shortly. There is no recommendation on the project from the Planning Department before the hearing. Planning Department recommendations are made after the public hearing where the Department considers all information gathered."

As I wrote in my comment to the comment left by "mellonhead" yesterday, I offered that the auditorium contains less than 300 permanent seats, so folks wishing to find a place to sit should probably arrive early.

We can all be sure that Bob will have lots and lots and lots of supporters attending the hearing, if there really are "lots" of supporters to his current plans left.

It is most important, beginning right now, to find the yard signs you may still have and put them back up in your yard! As Bob has been seeking more support recently for his current plans, we must also show our opposition to his 'weapon of mass development' and let everyone know that we are still around, still strong, and currently still willing to only accept R1 NO COMPROMISE!

POSSIBLE Hearing Date???

One of the great individuals who has commented on the late "life on the edge" blog has written a comment for my www.pontevista.blogspot.com blog stating that they received a snail mail announcement of a hearing concerning Ponte Vista to be held on June 26, 2008, beginning at 5:00 PM at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium auditorium.

I have Emails out to several individuals seeking more information about the hearing and you can be sure that I will certainly place more information about a hearing on my two-Ponte Vista related blogs, as soon as I learn more.

I can let everyone know that the auditorium has about 245 permanent seats and I would expect that Bob will pack the house as much as R Neighborhoods Are 1 will try and pack the house.

Much thanks goes to "mellonhead" for the comment left on Sunday.

Time to Dust Off Your Yard Signs

It looks like Bob and his Outreach Team for Ponte Vista has added quite a few dollars into advertisements and sponsorships.

Why he is doing it right now is something to think about. Bob even has ads placed on the local cable channel's ad times during the Dodger games and the Lakers playoff games.

Some could imagine he is trying to add to his support base and prospective buyers base prior to the release of the comments to the Draft Environmental Impact Report.

It may also be because the Centre Street Lofts are offering, for a limited time, $100,000.00 off the prices for new lofts in that project.

A reminder is in order, though. There are still many, many months to go before the L.A. City Council votes into law anything that Bob might be able to build at Ponte Vista.

If and when any new ordinances are approved for building new structures at Ponte Vista, we all need to be reminded that Bob could still sell those 'entitlements' to others and walk away from the development completely.

Bob seems to be spending more marketing money for Ponte Vista while his development in Santa Ana is not totally completed or sold out yet.

Bob is also still in the early stages of attempting to redevelop 125 acres of downtown Baldwin Park with the City's use of eminent domain to clear out existing residences and businesses in that area.

You may have even concluded that R Neighborhoods Are 1 has been 'sleeping' since the comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Report has ended. "Nay nay" as the comic John would say.

The Rudderless Steering Committee has been quietly reading, writing, inquiring, and working in a well-paced stride to keep information together and learn more about Ponte Vista and other projects Bob is trying to develop.

According to a respected blog, Bob's personal house is still up for a foreclosure auction on June 4, 2008. He may get another Temporary Restraining Order, or he may have gotten himself out of trouble. Of course, if the auction happens, this blog will attempt to find out the facts as soon as possible.

If you still have your yard signs, please put them out beginning this weekend. If we can keep them up until at least the hearing for the comments to the Draft Environmental Impact Report, we will remind everyone that we are still here and still very much opposed to Bob's current plans and that R Neighborhoods Are 1 still strongly states: "R1, NO COMPROMISE"!

Well, I Did it Again

Since I am leaving this blog to deal with issues supported by the Rudderless Steering Committee of R Neighborhoods Are 1 and many other 'regular' members of that group, I started a new blog.

"Issues to Ponder" at: http://sanpedroissuestoponder.blogspot.com/ has been created so we all can ponder, discuss, debate, inquire, lament, opine, and inform with others, on a whole host of issues OUR community should deal with.

It's going to take some time to break out individual issues to ponder further on. Much of what will be written in this beginning period, consist of issues that have been pondered on for some months to several years already.

Please prepare to ponder, there is much to ponder on.

Odds and Ends: Last For Some Time

It looks like the Ponte Vista is going to become more in the news and on the blogs, so I have decided to get this blog back to its first roots.

The Rudderless Steering Committee (RSC) of R Neighborhoods Are 1 has approved strong stances on only two of the issues I have been dealing with, on this blog.

It is natural to know that the RSC stands by opposing Bob's monster weapon of mass development, with his 1,950-condos. The RSC stands firm that the Ponte Vista site remains with its current zoning, as applied by the Los Angeles City Council.

Only single-family, detached residential units are supported by R Neighborhoods Are 1, at Ponte Vista.

The other issue the RSC took a quick and strong stand on was the redevelopment of the former McCowan's Market site.

The RSC supported the application of the Q qualification Condition on the three lots Michael Rosenthal bought in 2007 that were zoned C1-1XL.

We are delighted that Councilwoman Janice Hahn's motion to place the condition on the three C1 lots, was unanonymously approved by the Los Angeles City Council.

There are other issues that are very important to OUR community that R Neighborhoods Are 1 should, in my opinion, take a stand on, and I hope repersentatives of groups taking sides in those issues come to the Rudderless Steering Committee and seeks support from them.

There are three issues that groups may want to bring to the RSC for discussion, that will create major impacts on OUR community.

The South Region High School 15 issue is here annd growing in debate.

I have addressed that I hope all residential groups can come together and welcome the Clearwater Program to either Terminal Island or the Machado Lake/Harbor Lake/Reggies old digs area.

The Kaiser Point cruise ship terminal is also coming more into the picture. The Port of L.A. looks to be in some financial trouble, but they may work it out in the future and get the debate going.

With the newly announced probably Public Hearing, hopefully just around the corner for Ponte Vista, it is now time for this blog to get back to its basics, I feel.

I want this blog to focus first on the Ponte Vista issue and the McCowan's Market site redevelopment project.

Then, as the Rudderless Steering Committee comes back together to take on other issues, this blog can provide further information on those issues.

As always, development issues, especially residential development issues, like Ponte Vista and the McCowan's Market site redevelopement are included in this blog.

I have been researching the Kaiser Point issue and have quite a bit of files and information that I will use on this blog when the first matters are in a quieter period.

With the South Region High School 15 issue, I still stand very, very strong in my opposition to placing the new campus on the Upper Reservation of Fort MacArthur for the two reasons I have repeatedly stated.

I know the NOISE group is a fantastic group, and the best part about the group are the many great San Pedrans who are working for the best for all of the students in LAUSD.

It will be interesting to see if NOISE comes to a RSC meeting to seek support for opposing the 1,215-seat school on a site, I don't think should be used for a new high school campus.

The Clearwater Program is truly a community-wide issue. In fact, it is a communities-wide issue.

It is also something we need, but certainly don't want to see a shaft sunk in any residential area.

I do hope residents' groups come to an RSC meeting and seek support to have the shaft sunk on either Terminal Island or Machado Lake area. Our homeowners' need the shaft, but don't need to get shafted.

So it's back to the roots, so to write, and back to dealing with developers who claim they know what is best for OUR community while not being willing to even live in OUR community.