In Today's Palos Verdes Peninsula News

In today's Palos Verdes Peninsula News anyone and everyone now has the clear opportunity to read for themselves the desperation contained in the extremely misleading, deceptive, falsehood-filled letter to the editor by Dr. Michael Brophy, the President of Marymount College.

I lead with this because it offers a very disturbing portrait of a failed campaign which cannot use even 1/4 of the whole truth, as written in the languages of both Measure P, The Marymount Plan and The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project.

I am going to post Dr. Brophy's entire letter to the editor with actual real and reliable facts from either of the two documents, in a different font color so you can easily see how and why Dr. Brophy's letter is just what it appears to be; One of the last writings of a desperate person who most likely has less than one week left with his current employment.

"To the Editor
The Palos Verdes Peninsula News is entitled to (its) opinion, However, these are the facts: The college did not get everything "it asked the RPV City Council for."

Every single element of what Marymount College's representatives and Dr. Brophy himself brought to the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council for a vote was approved unanimously and to add to that, an Appeal filed by Concerned Citizen Coalition/Marymount Expansion was denied.

The facts are that not only did ALL building and parking requests presented to the City Council by Marymount were granted, with just a very few minor changes from Marymount's original language. You will see them below.

"The (Rancho Palos Verdes) City Council did not even approve what (its) own Planning Commission recommended to them."

Factually, the City Council provided MORE to Marymount than recommended by the Planning Commission in the way of safety, views, and the denial of the Appeal.

"Instead, the council reduced the new athletic center by 25 percent - without good reason, limiting its usefulness for students and residents."

First, everyone needs to understand that carried within the language of Measure P, The Marymount Plan, new Athletic Facilities "MAY" be built and there is factually and actually no written language that states that is would, will, or shall be built, should Measure P pass.

Secondly, reducing the overall height of the roof of the athletic center cannot possibly reduce is floor, wall, active, and residual space by 25%. There could be an up to 25% loss of volume of air in the building but unless one wishes to have objects hit the ceiling inside the gymnasium, it might be a rare occurrence that any balls hit the ceiling and then it would be unintentional.

Dr. Brophy's letter does not indicate any particulars of any changes so I feel it is reasonable and responsible to inform readers that the 'change' in a building that "MAY" be built, is in the overall height of the roof as compared to the concrete foundation slab of the proposed building.

"They moved the playing fields to a location that severely diminished their practicality."

Actually and factually, the playing "FIELD" was moved 60 feet away from the edge of the campus so as to have every single square inch of the size Marymount requested, be a bit farther away from Palos Verdes Drive East.

Truthfully, not one single centimeter of overall size of the ONE FIELD MARYMOUNT ASKED FOR was changed.

The location of two of the tennis courts was changed for what City Council members considered "safety" reasons but all four tennis courts retain their exact same size and functionality as requested by Marymount.

"The council made it clear that they never would approve student housing."

Marymount had every single right and opportunity to bring the issue of student housing to member of the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council however Dr. Michael Brophy and others representing Marymount College REFUSED to take the student housing issue before the City Council and this was done VOLUNTARILY when there was no legal, moral, or ethical reason Dr. Brophy could not have taken the matter of student housing to the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council.

"The City Council disregarded the fact student housing would make our streets safer."

That sentence is an out and out lie on more than one level.

Since the City Council was NEVER presented any official project request for on-campus student housing, there was no chance whatsoever to "disregard" anything about dorms.

Marymount offered NO REGARD about dorms to the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council.

The streets of Rancho Palos Verdes WOULD NOT be safer having student housing on the campus of Marymount College and as someone who should use honesty and the truth on a daily basis as a College President, Dr. Brophy should know that his statement is not truthful in any way.

Not only would traffic increase, in the form of daily trip generation, as documented in the MARYOUNT FINANCED Traffic and Parking Section of the Environmental Impact Report, daily trip generation would become a 24 hour per day, seven day a week occurrence, something that IS NOT being done by Marymount students, currently.

In fact and according to the first set of daily trip generation forecasts, again paid for by Marymount College, there would be a weekday INCREASE of daily trips to and from the campus of up to 1,591 trips PER DAY.

That number itself was INCREASED in a subsequent study associated with Appendix D of the Environmental Impact Report.

"They made arbitrary changes that did not serve the college or the community."

Every single "change" in The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Plan was well thought out and debated, sometimes heatedly (I was there so I know) and very careful consideration was deliberated and voted on, mostly with non-unanimous votes.

"The City Council did not approve what we asked for."

Factually, the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council approved MORE than what you asked for.

A concrete center median stretching 1,000 feet along the curve of Palos Verdes Drive East was hotly debated in then added to every single element offered for a vote with the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council.

In addition, the City Council approved language requested by Marymount in terms of the timing of The Project and how long Marymount would have to construct the expansion.

All negotiated time requirements between Marymount and the people of Rancho Palos Verdes has been eliminated in Measure P, The Marymount Plan's language.

"A previous Planning Commission had determined that dormitories were "necessary to the function" of Marymount, that they would cause "no significant adverse effects to adjacent properties" and that they were "in conformance with the General Plan."

Dr. Brophy has deliberately kept out of his paragraph some very important information that demonstrates how deceptive his letter is, as compared to the whole truth.

First, dormitories were approved ONCE before for beds for "200" students at a time when the entire student population of Marymount College, Palos Verdes was about 200 students.

Second, at the time of approval, the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council was not part of the decision-making process concerning dorms on Marymount's campus and as such, no elected representative of the people of Rancho Palos Verdes approved or disapproved on-campus housing at Marymount College.

Third, Measure P, The Marymount Plan is a vote to CHANGE the General Plan by adding to it a Campus Specific Plan Zone meant ONLY for Marymount College and no other school, including the Salvation Army Officers College.

Fourth, at the time of the approval of on-campus housing, the city of Rancho Palos Verdes was factually a smaller city in terms of overall area and population. The population living all over The Hill has increased since 1979 along with traffic, congestion, crime, housing and business development, and infrastructure.

"Measure P guarantees the property remains zoned for "educational - institution" use only. We can only build what you vote for: a new library, gym, pool, playing fields, and yes, dormitories, which have been completely studied and which will not impact traffic."

Factually, Measure P guarantees only the zoning of the property and it does NOT contain any language that states that anything will, would, or shall be built.

Factually, a new library, gym, playing field, pool, and yes, dormitories "MAY" be built or renovated, but there is absolutely no wording within the language of the Measure's 51 pages that indicates anything will be built, no matter what Dr. Brophy claims.

Using the whole truth, it is a fact that Marymount, once it receives entitlements afforded to it by passage of Measure P could intentionally and actually build NOTHING and or hold off for an indeterminate period of time the construction and or redevelopment of anything and everything marketed during the campaign.

While Measure P gives Marymount the rights to do things, there is no wording that states Marymount "will, would, or shall" do anything.

Dr. Brophy's assertion that passage of Measure P "will not impact traffic" can be taken as a sign that Marymount may not do anything on its campus other than offering it for sale because it would be an out and out lie to state that traffic would not be impacted if on-campus student housing was built for up to 250 students and up to five advisers, none of whom currently live on the campus of Marymount College.

"Marymount looks forward to continuing our positive relationship with the RPV community."

It is not truthfully "positive" when Marymount sued members of the Rancho Palos Verdes Council on more than one occasion and there is nothing "positive" about the horrendous amounts of money Marymount's representatives have been spending on the campaign.

In truth and in fact, according to multiple long time residents and representatives of Rancho Palos Verdes, Measure P and its Marymount Plan has been the most divisive issues to come up in the city since its creation over 37 years ago.

"We want to be able to provide the finest-quality facilities to our students and the residents. WE want to keep our college competitive and functioning at the high standards you expect of us."

Marymount continues to function at a less than high standard as compared to other two year and four colleges in the Los Angeles Basin and the State of California.

In a recent ranking of Junior Colleges, Marymount ranked 218th in California and quite far down the list as compared to other Junior Colleges in the U.S.A.

Dr. Brophy may 'want' to provide the "finest-quality facilities" but there is no indication that Marymount 'will, would, or shall' provide anything, if one reads the acutal measure.

Factually, Marymount is seeking to become more competitive with Los Angeles area colleges who offer schooling to PRIMARILY non-local students as documented by Marymount and its less than one third local resident-student enrollment over an extended period of time.

The residents of Rancho Palos Verdes may "expect" something from Marymout that it historically, has not delivered.

" We can only do that if you vote "yes" on Measure P, the complete Marymount plan."

Dr. Brophy's sentence is the assurance and insurance all voters need to understand that Marymount College has no intention on building anything according to The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project it ACCEPTED within the 90-day time frame required for official acceptance of The Project's language.

Should Measure P pass, it means nothing with regards to what would be built and there is no reason to consider that Marymount won't just build the dorms, dining hall, and possibly the new gym, without moving the existing field or doing any other piece of The Marymount Plan it has been marketing.

All of this is contained within the 51 pages of the measure which allows Marymount to so something or NOTHING except be granted rights and authorities which would be different for every other business and every single resident of Rancho Palos Verdes.

"The half-measure provided by the City Council does a disservice to our students and residents who come to our campus for family events, recreation, continuing education or just to find a quiet place to read a book."

Dr. Brophy, what percentage of the residents of the city of Rancho Palos Verdes actually attend or visit Marymount College?

Fewer than 1/3 of the current approximately 750 full-time enrolled students come from homes located anywhere on The Hill, or from homes within a 10 mile radius of Marymount College.

If Dr. Brophy is attempting to claim that the buildings that are different between The Project and The Plan amount to one-half of either The Project or The Plan, he is making a factually misleading and deceptive statement.

There is not "half-measure" that came out from the City Council and suggesting that dorms, a new enlarged dining hall and a possible gallery make up as much as half of the new building and existing redevelopment is something very disingenious to the people of Rancho Palos Verdes.

"On behalf of all of us at Marymount, I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read and make a thoughful decision. Our goal is to see that Marymount continues to make RPV proud and be a leading light for the next 50 years."


Dr. Brophy, you and other Marymount representatives are not welcome to spread the deception, falsehoods, misinformation, and misrepresentation you and your minions continue to do.

Yesterday afternoon a woman who eventually stated she owned a business in Redondo Beach dealing with paid polling and lobbying came to my door, asking to speak to my wife.

The nice woman had no real knowledge of Measure P, The Marymount Plan which she was advocating for and one of her first quotes to me was "They're going to replace the dorms in San Pedro" which is misinformation and a falsehood, and not factual.

Dr. Brophy, had you really been honest, you and your marketing team would have actually used words contained in Measure P, The Marymount Plan that would have shown the truth and the whole truth, instead of having innocent and somewhat ignorant folks, who don't know what so many of us know, that you and other representing Marymount College are using some of the worst tactics of campaigning for something that appears to be too good to be true.

By your entity's use of misleading and false advertisements, verbal language, doctored T.V. ads, and by other means, you have actually and factually demonstrated a contempt for the intelligence and reasoning of Rancho Palos Verdes residents.

The Measure P, Marymount Plan campaign has dishonored Marymount College, its administration, Board of Trustees, and the governors and residents of the city of Rancho Palos Verdes. For that you should be ashamed and for that and many, many other reasons, I am asking everyone to vote "No" on Measure P, The Marymount Plan.

Safety. Everyone. Everywhere. Every hour.