Thank You All So Very, Very Much!

51.21% of the registered voters in the city of Rancho Palos Verdes voted on Measure P, The Marymount Plan.

At 2:00 AM this morning, the tabulation of votes showed that 14,127 of 27,584 registered voters in the city or Rancho Palos Verdes cast ballots on Measure P and the results posted with 100% of the precincts reporting, stated that 6,345 votes of "YES" were cast for Measure P and 7,782 votes of "NO" were cast against Measure P.

Measure P was voted down by a 55.09% to 44.91% margin.

It is simply remarkable that in a mid-term election when most of the registered voters in R.P.V. are Republicans but came out anyway to voice their choices for candidates, propositions, and measures that are so important so our city, our State, and our Country.

We Democrats and voters representing other parties knew from the onset that Congressman Dana Rohrabacher would get re-elected and he will have his office until his District changes or he chooses to not stand for re-election.

In the closing days of the campaign for Governor, the tide seemed to turn towards Jerry Brown, so that too was pretty much of a walk over, I think.

But Rancho Palos Verdes voters demonstrated democracy in one heck of a major way when they came out in the numbers they came out in to vote either "Yes" on Measure P or "No" on Measure P.

No matter whether you supported Measure P or opposed it, I hope you are as proud of your fellow residents as I am for showing up in the numbers that did to vote.

Terri is very happy with the results of the Special Election but I feel much more tempered than I thought I would feel.

I am remembering the words said by Mayor Pro Tem Long and Councilman Brian Campbell, among many others that said that today, November 3, 2010 would be an important day because we all have to now move forward and get about doing what needs to be done to work to make Rancho Palos Verdes the best place to live, work, and play in all of Southern California and beyond.

I don't know how many other cities and Special Elections generate more than half the registered voters willing to cast ballots when the Presidency of the United States is not being voted on.

Now we are back to being a city where every business and every residents have more equal rights and responsibilities and we all have to live under the same rules and laws that mandate the use of Conditional Use Permits over a Special District that would not have been liable for adhering to C.U.P.s.

Now we are back to seeking what so many of us support with The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project and with some hope that Marymount officials will begin to redevelop their campus with the approvals already granted.

Of course I will have much more information and comments about the vote and what may lie in store for Marymount College and our city, but it is very late in the evening and very early in the morning.

There is some extremely important business and pleasure I must mention before I head to slumberland.

Throughout the many months since I first started dealing with The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project and then added The Marymount Plan into my mix, there have been some residents of our great city that have provided me so much more than I can ever give back to them and our city.

First I would like to thank former Mayor Larry Clark and the Councilmembers during his term as Mayor and before that, too. The gave insight and guidance to me on how the processes should work and eventually did work as far as The Project's approval went.

As you probably know I did not vote for Mr. Anthony Misetich and Mr. Brian Campbell when they stood for election to the Council.

Councilman Misetich has demonstrated teamwork in its best sense, a strong stature as a gentleman even when times and events were causing him grief and frustration.

Councilman Misetich is an example of what is impressive in a new Councilman and if he decides to take the plunge as Mayor before Councilman Campbell, I will support him and Councilman Campbell when it is his turn to handle the gavel.

Former Mayor Ken Dyda was a powerhouse for me in learning more about the ways of city government and why he knew it was so important to all of the residents that Measure P had to be opposed.

His guidance and leadership in Save Our City III and his comments in front of the City Council were extremely important in educating our residents about the facts and the whole truth dealing with land use issues which I had such little knowledge of, before The Marymount Plan and its Measure came to be.

Mr. Jeff Lewis is an honorable man who knows the truth, had all the facts down pat, and provided to me a mentoring skill of his that helped me learn so much about both The Project and The Plan.

Mr. Lewis was the Chairman of the Planning Commission of the city of Rancho Palos Verdes during much of the discussion and debate processes that led to the recommendations his Commission forwarded to our City Council regarding The Project.

His knowledge and advise helped me in too many ways to mention.

I was and still am humbled by the intelligence, strength, and work by Mr. Jim Gordon and Mr. Pat Carroll of Concerned Citizen Coalition/Marymount Expansion.

Jim knew and knows the facts about the physical plant and environment both above ground and with the ground of Marymount's campus.

He and the group he is a member of have been vilified by so many residents and especially non-residents of Rancho Palos Verdes for their competent stand in opposition to Measure P, The Marymount Plan.

If ever you need statistics from an individual of great honor and trust, then there is no one better than Mr. Pat Carroll.

I don't know what I would have done to try and learn more about issues without the incredible sets of numbers and tables of facts generated and stored by Mr. Carroll.

Pat and Jim were my human libraries whenever I needed a fact checks and confirmation of the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth with both The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project and The Marymount Plan.

The words 'brain trust' first come to mind when I think about Jim and Pat and all they have been through over the last 10+ years.

The 'brain' part is the fantastic number of facts and data both gentlemen have at their fingertips.

The 'trust' is that everything they provided to everyone was the truth which was about as trustworthy as humanly possible and their trustworthiness is beyond compare, in my book.

Now we come to Brian Campbell.

I have no other words for Councilman Campbell to express my thanks to him for all he has done for me and the rest of the residents of Rancho Palos Verdes.

Councilman Campbell is a conservative Republican and as everyone should know by now, I am not in any way, shape, or form.

Both he and Councilman Misetich have been tested during their less than first year sitting on our Council and they both are more than great and so very good for all of us.

Without all of us mentioned working together, Measure P would have passed very easily, I believe.

I place quite a bit of credit with Councilman Campbell for holding us all together and demonstrating the strength and honor necessary to get through what he and other never could have considered the 'battles' they would have to go through in his and Councilman Misetich's first year in office.

We will need all the fine citizen/residents of our city today, tomorrow, and well into the future because there so much more than just dealing with Marymount that needs every one's attention.

With the demonstrated strengths of the three Council members who will be termed out next year, along with the two new Council members, we have a leadership team with no rivals, in my opinion.

I am confident in what we have already seen demonstrated so well by our City Council with the projects and problems that were there before The Marymount Plan's vote came up and will still be around for some time.

Yes there will be reflection. Yes, there will be lots of healing required. Yes, the future of Marymount College is more uncertain now.

But yes, we have the city leadership and the strengths of a large number of truly great residents to weather what we have weathered and work towards keeping our city out of the wraths of future storms and bad weather.

So to Brian, Anthony, Ken, Jeff, Jim, Pat, and so many others, thank you so very much and now let's get back to making Rancho Palos Verdes an even better place to live, work, and play in.