A Letter From A Marymount Board of Trustees Member

“Vote on Marymount College plan welcomed

I applaud the courage of Marymount College for putting their plan to renovate the campus to a vote of the residents. Instead of hiding behind complicated negotiations or making big-money promises like a developer, they are acting like a part of the community and asking for our opinion.

What is so controversial about their proposal that has taken 10 years and millions of dollars to get us to this point? Nothing. The student housing is smaller than the version Ken Dyda's City Council approved. They are going to build a terrific athletic center and fine new library and we, the residents, will be able to use the facilities.

Is it perfect? No, but nothing ever is. What Marymount is proposing is a much-needed improvement to an important Rancho Palos Verdes institution. I and my family are voting yes in support of Marymount College and Measure P.

- Richard M. Grotz “

In the newspaper, below the name of Mr. Grotz, there was nothing to inform readers that Mr. Grotz is in fact, a member of the Board of Trustees of Marymount College, according to their Web site:

http://www.marymountpv.edu/about/trustees

Here is the post for Mr. Grotz, on that site:

Richard Grotz, B.S.E.E., was associated with AiResearch in Torrance where he was manager of Major Subcontracts, including the F-16 that was co-produced with Denmark, and the uranium enrichment program for the Department of Energy. Prior to AiResearch, Dick was employed by Astronautics Corporation of America and General Motors, where he contributed to the early space programs including Gemini and Apollo and to the F-14. In 1983, Dick and his wife, Arline founded a Christmas tree producing company in Bigfork, Mont. In 1992, they retired and both became very active in local philanthropy and politics. Dick started his service with Marymount College’s board of trustees in 1998. He attended Marquette University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering.

I have to consider that Mr. Grotz MAY have omitted the fact in his letter to the editor as being just an innocent omission. I don’t fault The Daily Breeze Editors if they didn’t include the information as to the affiliation Mr. Grotz has with Marymount College.

Perhaps Mr. Grotz doesn’t remember how affiliated with Marymount he actually is.

I hope readers didn’t get the impression that Mr. Grotz is just an ‘average’ supporter of Marymount’s apparently deceptive position. The college's representatives and lobbyists seem to be trying to give out to less informed residents, what many of us feel is deceptive information in attempts to get more support for ballot measure P.

So I wrote a reply that may or may not appear in an upcoming edition of The Daily Breeze.

Tomorrow I will be looking for letters to the Editor of The Palos Verdes Peninsula News That could also be found to be deceptive and misleading and I will do with those what I needed to do with Mr. Grotz’ letter.

Here goes:

Mr. Grotz, where is the ‘courage’ in asking for everything that has already been approved?

How is Marymount “acting like a part of the community” when they seek to supersede some existing municipal codes, according to ballot measure P and the opinion of many in the community?

“What is so controversial about their proposal that has taken 10 years and millions of dollars to get us to this point?” On campus student housing, or didn’t you know that?

In fact, Mr. Grotz, that piece is so controversial that Marymount’s own representatives voluntarily removed that portion of The Marymount Facilities Expansion Project from consideration by the Rancho Palos Verdes Planning Commission and then didn’t have the courage to bring it up before the City Council where that body could have voted on it, regardless of the opinions of the members of the Rancho Palos Verdes Planning Commission.

“They are going to build a terrific athletic center and fine new library and we, the residents, will be able to use the facilities”

Sir, you are absolutely, positively correct! What you fail to mention is that those two pieces of the puzzle have already been approved and now are part of existing municipal laws ALONG WITH EVERYTHING Marymount brought to the City Council for voting and inclusion in The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project.

Is it perfect? No, but nothing ever is. What Marymount has been approved for is a much-needed improvement to an important Rancho Palos Verdes institution. Myself, my wife, many of my neighbors and friends, and probably the majority of voters in Rancho Palos Verdes will be voting No because we Marymount’s current approvals of EVERYTHING they asked for and opposing only on-campus housing for students and Marymount’s attempts to alter land use in our great city and supersede some municipal codes and some regulations that would benefit ONLY Marymount College, and no others.