Eight and Counting?

Former Council member and Former Mayor Ms. Barbara Ferraro has entered the race for one of the three seats on our City Council.

I will provide her Web site address once I learn it.

I must first admit that when she ran the last time and was not elected, I felt she was not all that comfortable with many of us on the east side of The Hill and she didn't really seem all that interested in our issues.

Perhaps and hopefully that will change and we can all learn more about her thoughts about all of the issues, even the ones more affecting those of us on the east side.

On another political front, I am hearing the strangest things about who may or may not seek and use recommendations from various groups.

One of the more interesting things that has cropped up lately is that there has been a few rumblings 'out there' that MAY suggest members of Palos Verdes Peninsula Watch might actually endorse one or two folks now running for Council who are registered Democrats!

Really? Really! What a true hoot that would be.

I am not qualified to run for any elected office but if I were, I would never seek the endorsement of PVP Watch as I am really opposed to many of their stands on a whole variety of issues.

But strangers are happening. Since this election does not really involve political parties, I can and even may very well spend my two remaining votes on candidates who are affiliated with the Republican Party. See, the strangeness has begun and will continue.

I have heard from a few folks as to their initial take on who they think-right-now, the three new Council members will or should be. I am pleased that I have heard from a number of folks they feel Dave Emenhiser will be one of the three sworn in, this December.

It's so early though, that yard signs are not to go up until August 7. I will have a Dave Emenhiser sign high over Trudie Drive as drivers head up the hill.

I don't know yet who I will seek other yard signs from.

If I don't post in the coming two to three weeks, I have an excuse, poor as you may think it is.

We fly off to Fiji for the wedding of our elder son David and when we return we do a quick turn around and head out to the Page Family Campout.

I really don't have much of an interest in attempting to blog while I am snorkeling or wandering under redwoods and over mountain trails or over coral reefs.

Two Points about Marymount College's Project

It appears that there will be a review of The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project approved by the Planning Commission and then enacted into municipal code by the City Council.

Since basically nothing has been done with regards to the phased construction according to project guidelines, it looks like a review in which college administrators may be asked whether they plan to go forward with the Project may be forthcoming.

Since the time the Planning Commission approved the Project and the Council voted to accept most of the recommendations, two MAJOR changes have occurred that I feel should trigger a larger review and possible recalculations concerning The Project.

First, Marymount proposed a new brick and mortar library that may be claimed to be the state-of-the-art in terms of that type of library facility proposed with the Project.

Measurements were submitted and approved, visual illustrations of what planners hoped the library would look like were observed and discussed, and the structure was approved for construction in an early phase.

All this was done BEFORE Marymount became a four-year college and this means the state-of-the-art library sought for a Junior College, might now be in the plans for a four-year institution of higher learning, for a college that may also add post-graduate degrees.

A Junior College library for a four-year institution? That's going to be pretty hard to market, I think.

The library was designed and permissions to build were sought and granted for a library that was intended to serve two-year college students. Marymount changed the rules without changing the library's plans, it appears.

Looking at brick and mortar libraries around the country in four-year institutions provides some differences between them and libraries of solely two-year colleges.

I have opined and I still maintain that Marymount would get 'more bang for their bucks' if they created a virtual library instead of a brick and mortar one and now that plans are swirling about having upper division classes in San Pedro, it make a virtual library, a much better idea, in my opinion.

So, I think a solid review is necessary concerning the library proposed for Marymount's campus. Not that I truly believe one was ever going to built in the first place, mind you.

And for the second issue, that revolves around the E.I.R. for both the Expansion Project and the ill-fated Marymount Plan. The Traffic and Parking studies were conducted and published again, BEFORE Marymount became a four-year institution and well before Marymount's newest housing plans came to light and apparently, are being constructed.

Recently, Marymount's administration produced a new set of guidelines and a new timeline for its Palos Verdes North student housing facility.

It seems to becoming true that Marymount officials want to house more students at the facility on Palos Verdes Drive North than have ever lived there before.

It also seems that some of Marymount's plans include turning the garages of the 86 units at P.V. North into bedroom facilities to house even more students there.

That might be all fine and good except that the traffic studies and expected traffic counts attributed to both the Expansion Project and The Marymount Plan have absolutely nothing in writing about the increased student housing at the site and the added impacts of transporting more students between northwest San Pedro and Marymount's campus.

So, without any new studies to suggest what potential traffic and parking impacts at the college may occur for what can only be called a dramatic increase in the number of students living at Palos Verdes North in the near future, I hope and expect a careful review by staff and our Council members on these two subjects.

There will come a time when I will write a glowing post suggesting a great win-win for Marymount and communities on The Hill and in the harbor area, but this is not that post.

Marymount has changed the ball fields in two major ways. Careful review is necessary and I hope City Staff can work with the Los Angeles City Department of Transportation on a set of charts to determine new traffic patters based on what Marymount proposes as its newest student housing figures at Palos Verdes North.

It should be very interesting to read what Marymount's administrators think. It will also be more interesting to read what the candidates for the three City Council seats up for grabs, think.

And Now There Are Seven!

I've just received confirmation of three more candidates running for the three seats up for election to, this November.

In additions to the four previously mentioned in prior posts, Ms. Dora de la Rosa, Mr. Eric Alegria and Mr. Jerry Duhovic have entered the race.

I have added the Web site address for Mr. Alegria in the links portion of this blog and I will add links to the sites of the other candidates, once I learn them.

I do not personally know any of the three newest additions to the candidate list but I do know that Ms. de la Rosa has been an influential member of the Palos Verdes Peninsula School Board for a number of years. Since our neighborhoods in the Eastview area of Rancho Palos Verdes do not get to vote for members of the school board in which we send approximately 80% of our school-age kids, I have kept myself more informed and commenting on 'our' issues relating to L.A.U.S.D., including the two L.A.U.S.D. schools actually located in the city or Rancho Palos Verdes.

One more tidbit about one of the three 'new' candidates is that Mr. Alegria has received the endorsement of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. I like that!

If more candidates enter the race, I'll try my best to post new information about all of the candidates as I learn them.

It's really still what the candidates say about the issues we find important in our city that should help to select the best three to fill the seats being vacated by termed out members.

As one who believes our city has made good forward progress over the last eight years, I don't see any reason to change forward progress and reasonable, realistic, responsible and respectful progress, into the future.

Bits and Pieces 35

Candidates for the November election to select three new members of our City Council got to formally file today, to seek a seat.

The four candidates I have previously mentioned MAY be welcoming others into the race and I hope to learn those names, formally, as soon as possible.

I have heard rumors about a member of the Palos Verdes Peninsula School Board running for a seat. I have also hear rumors from more than one source about a person who may not have lived in our city for very long at all and MAY be being supported by those who supported Marymount College's attempting to get approval for on-campus housing.

Until I know who is really running, I think it best to have those I don't have confirmation on, left unnamed on this blog.

With the previous election for seats on our Council, I was not shy about stating my opinions, both positive and negative about the candidates.

Naturally, I will continue to do that sort of thing with this election, but I would like to offer this blog and also via this blog, a possible new way to consider the candidates.

I don't agree with all the politics of every candidate and neither should you, I hope. But what I have seen with the four candidates I know about is that all four of them COULD and SHOULD run a very clean campaign and one that would make our city proud.

But as with just about every election, there are negative comments and even some very 'smarmy' thing said and written about candidates.

Since I am guilty of saying and writing negative things about candidates on this blog, why don't we try and have ALL of the negatives about candidates left on this blog through comments and posts submitted by others?

I think we could really show other cities how a good clean election is run if there is just one place to go to get all the negatives out in the open about candidates. I think this blog could be that forum to fight it out, without having it spill other places in print.

I also would be thrilled to have every positive thing about the candidate(s) you favor mentioned on this blog.

All I ask is that if you choose to submit your own post, I will accept it and publish it AFTER I contact you to make sure of what you are writing AND I will censor very offensive language.

If you want to charge a candidate with some sort of discretion, you may do that with EVERY ONE'S understanding that it is YOUR charge and not necessarily mine or anyone else's.

You have always be welcome to leave comments about any and all posts on all my blogs. If I find any comment overly offensive to me or someone else, that does not mean I won't publish it. What is could mean is that I publish that comment on a 'special' blog I have that I hope nobody ever reads but is one I have had for years and is incredibly offensive to me and others. But since I abhor censorship in one's writing, I do publish some very to extremely foul comments, but you'd be hard pressed to find them.

I'm still thinking about a new post concerning Marymount College. Since the Council has put off their review, I can put off my post for a bit longer.

What I can write is that Marymount College and its administration and students have a fantastic opportunity staring them right in the face and it is an opportunity that would truly be a win-win for the College and residents and businesses in downtown San Pedro and elsewhere.

I fear Marymount's administration is still putting too many eggs in a basket that surely will not hold more that just a few eggs and it really is a shame they are not looking at a bigger and brighter picture that could benefit so many people.

I don't know the zoning of the land the family is selling along our coast, but I hope it is agricultural.

Wouldn't it be great if the land was zoned for agricultural use only, with a small portion for residential dwellings and perhaps a retail stand?

Our community has had so many acres under agricultural uses and I bet we could have a group or family grow some truly award-winning strawberries or other food items.

We also have a legacy that should be protected with our area's history of land under till. We have recreational areas, residential areas, business areas, and open space that is so much more than other cities in the greater L.A. basin. I feel it is important to remember our heritage as an area that welcomed farmers and provided food for communities and I think keeping a good portion of the land now ready for sale as agricultural land only, is important.

Now I do know and appreciate that the notion of keeping such land that would be so very valuable for residential development continuing to have only agricultural uses, but maybe in a time when mcmansions are flourishing, time shares abound and our views and spaces of all kinds are so important to our residents, it really should benefit our community to keep some land agricultural rather than just having another upscale housing tract developed there.

Now that the election for the 36Th CD is over, we know who our House member will be when we fold into the 36Th.

It is my opinion that Rep. Hahn will help us get Federal funding for part of the San Ramon Canyon repair. I think because she will learn so many residents of The Hill would rather have a Republican as their House Member, perhaps she will garner some support for her reelection from some in R.P.V. who might not vote for her, if she comes up with dollars to help fund this most important repair.

I also think and feel that there may be several months when Ms. Hahn might be able to work with our Rep. Dana Rohrabacher to secure some funding because perhaps we could 'help' Mr. Rohrabacher learn that he would be able to leave a lasting good legacy of helping this portion of his district he will soon not represent.

I continue to be amazed with the talents of the young people and their parents and helpers in regards to all the theatre productions going on in our city and on The Hill.

During this summer, both Miraleste I.S. and Peni H.S. have work going on so the campus of Palos Verdes High School in P.V.E. is witnessing an overflow of great talent with show after show after show.

We see productions going on at the Norris Theatre and in other nearby venues that illustrate how fantastic our young players and 'techers' are and the drive to produce very entertaining fare for everyone.

Phil and I may become more involved with set design and help with carpentry for some of the production companies for young people and I am delighted to have opportunities to help, when we can.

Of course there are more adult productions on and around The Hill that also showcase local talent, too.

But for Terri and I, this is our summer of discovery into theatre pieces by younger performers. Terri is one of the Library aides at Miraleste and I volunteer there, year after year. We both enjoy watching performances where Terri remembers cast and crew members in productions at Miraleste or after they left that school.

I also work at Chadwick School of various productions, from time to time. I will not say that any one school has more talented students than any other school.

While the Drama Department of Penhi is truly first and foremost, probably in the greater L.A. Basin, there are students attending Palos Verdes H.S. all the intermediate schools, Chadwick, Rolling Hills Prep AND Marymount College who are all first-rate and should be members of Actors Equity, if they aren't already.

City Council Race Begins In...Rancho Palos Verdes

The City Council race has also begun in earnest and it has been going on for longer than many might think.

I know of four qualified candidates who are running to win one of the three seats up for election in November.

Ms. Susan Brooks

Mr. Ken Dyda

Mr. Dave Emenhiser

Mr. Jim Knight.

The candidates above are listed alphabetically and not according to anything else. You should easily find a link to their election Web sites and other links on the left side of this blog.

I will add other candidates as I learn of them and you can be absolutely sure I will opine on each and every candidate and all of the issues I feel are important in this election and for the new council makeup beginning with their first meeting in December.

To begin with and as most of you should surely know, I am NOT a conservative in my State, national, and world views and that I am very pleased this election is not specifically party affiliated. This means that I could vote for someone who I know is a member of the Republican Party and since that affiliation will not be listed by their name, that is fine with me.

At this early stage I have several early thoughts about what this current council has done over the years, including the almost two years where Mayor Pro Tem Misetich and Councilman Brian Campbell have served.

Overall and for me, these last eight years have been the most important years in our city's history. I have and will continue to give credit to the men who served over these past years including the late Councilman Peter Gardiner and former Mayor Larry Clark.

All of these fine members or these councils have given more positive results to our residents and provided a more fiscally sound and more secure Rancho Palos Verdes than many others would have provided for our residents.

There were more than a few very rough times during these last eight years and all of the members of those councils earned their stripes dealing with major issues, increased taxes and fees, and dealing with large developments and even a U.S. Supreme Court case.

While I will never agree with everything done over the last eight years, if anyone tries to suggest that the members of these councils over the last eight years did not put our residents first, they will be sorely incorrect and establish a level of ignorance for themselves they should not be proud of.

Now a special comment about Anthony and Brian.

These two (currently) newest members of our council were elected numbers one and two in the voting by a very wide margin and they both were qualified to run and serve.

And serve they both have. Anthony and Brian came to the council during a very active time dealing with a host of very important issues and they both dove in and worked tirelessly for our residents.

I did not vote for either of them and I did write some negative comments about Anthony and his support for the first go around with Ponte Vista. I am absolutely sure Anthony, as Mayor, will work as hard as he already has done to deal with over development in our communities in these last two years.

There are time I agree with Anthony's and Brian's positions but this latest wage increase for workers is not one of them. We can agree to disagree when necessary.

What I do not wish to see or learn is that anyone from anywhere consider either Mayor Pro Tem Misetich and Councilman Campbell being 'new', inexperienced, or anything else negative in comparison to anyone else who has served on our city's council as a member or even as our Mayor.

Anthony and Brian set into their seats during storms of issues in our city. They learned quickly and the two of them have faced more than any other two 'new' members during their first two years than any others who have ever served on our council. Each are able and very qualified to be the 'veterans' they will become, even if former council members and even former Mayors take seats this December.

It would be a negative for me to see or hear any criticism of the leadership Anthony and Brian have shown, other than the positions they have taken I don't agree with.

I'd like all readers to learn on their own about the four candidates I have mentioned. I was not active in R.P.V. issues when Ken Dyda and Susan Brooks served and I really got involved with issues only in 2005. I need to learn more about Ken and Susan and Jim and Dave, as we all should.

My current 'political' position about the next council makeup is that I consider Anthony and Brian to be more than enough of a conservative wing on our council.

I know many residents will continue to feel our current council was far to the left of their wishes, but our city has grown in so many ways and become more secure financially and in other ways because of Mayor Long, Councilmen Wolowicz and Stern, even though I don't think Stephan is a 'raging liberal' by any means.

I'd like to see a balance in the new council makeup. I don't wish to see our council move away from some of the successes garnered by thoughtful work done by the retiring three working with Anthony and Brian.

We have issues in Rancho Palos Verdes and the next post will have me pondering some of them and seeking clear views from the candidates.

Seeking Clear Answers From Candidates

One of the most important things we need to learn from each candidate is how they would govern and what their current positions and thought are on issues within our city.

It is not enough any longer to offer what they would do IF the candidate would do should they take a seat on our council, each one of them should inform all voters to what their type of governance would be and what their current ideas are for many of the most important things going on in our city and within other communities.

I know each one of us has our own sets of lists that are most important to us and I think we all need answers from the candidates about what is on each list.

I am going to post some issues I feel are common to many folk and I hope each candidate would be willing to tackle each of my issues and all of yours in ways that best let all of us know which of the candidates deserve our votes.

We have lots and lots of 'elephants' in our living room and our residents are not shy about talking about each and every one. Here are some of my 'elephants' and I hope each candidate educates me and others in their positions on these issues.

The Annenberg Project

My opinion for some time has been to look carefully, even inside a gift horse's mouth.

I would like to see a project built but I continue to feel the animal training services and the visitor educational facilities for the center be located on the upper portion of the Point Vicente Reservation, next to and possibly including a rebuilt City Hall.

I think if the good folks at The Annenberg Foundation wish to provide a passive facility with a very small office, restroom facilities and an enlargement of the parking lots with the PVIC, that would be great and they could also help out with some donations to help build our new City Hall facilities that might incorporate the training program.

We have lots and lots and lots of open space in our city and believe it or not, we have more park space than many other larger communities. I think we can incorporate some of what the good folks at The Annenberg Foundation are offering, as long as we have open and honest discussions with everyone in our city.

I hope all of the candidates provide as much information to everyone as possible as to their position concerning the Lower Point Vicente Reservation and the Upper one, too.

San Ramon Canyon

This is actually and by far, the most pressing and important issues now being dealt with in our city.

There is a sort of 'quick fix' as I call it that doesn't cost the arms and legs needed to make the permanent fix, but the permanent, lasting, quality and complete fix MUST BE DONE ASAP.

Yes it will be costly. One fear I have is that if the council is stacked with one type of thinking, and you know what I mean, there will be efforts to utilize a lesser quality and timely and even possibly temporary fix, with mentions of the costs being the main issue to putting the real fix off to sometime in the future.

Past city councils, I have learned, were sharply criticized for not dealing with infrastructure issues in a timely manner and our city's coffers suffered from that and we even have a storm drain levy imposed on a number of residents, that still goes on.

This buck can not be passed down the road or there could eventually be no road (the switchbacks) to go down, or up.

I'd like to know the exact positions of each candidate as to their views on the repairs to San Ramon Canyon and the landslide issues so that myself and other residents will know what the next council might do to work on making the repairs complete and lasting.

Developments

Development and over development have been around since before the city was created and it is one of the biggest reasons the city was created in the first place.

One thing readers should know is that all four candidates I have mentioned were all opposed to Marymount's call for on-campus housing for students.

With Mayor Pro Tem Misetich's and Councilman Campbell's opposition to allowing Marymount building on-campus housing at their site, only one of the four needs to get elected to insure a majority vote by the next council to oppose on-campus housing there, not that they would go forward, anyway.

I would like to know each candidates position and thoughts on The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project and whether they feel it needs to be reworked with the college or whether they think it will ever happen.

I will have a separate post about Marymounts current plans, forthcoming.

Ponte Vista will be further down the page. Developments on the south side of our city, including by not limited to the York properties, Portuguese Bend, Terranea, and Trump continue to lead large development issues I hope all of the candidates will opine on, before the election.

Possible Sewer Fees

This issue has been bandied about in recent months and it was clear some time ago that this current council had no intention of touching it with a ten foot pole.

But the next council will need to learn much more about our city-owned sewer system and about the Los Angeles County Sanitation District Number 5, its Clearwater Program and what the issues are with our city's aging sewer systems.

Of course the candidates will repeat to you that the sewer issues are not related to the Storm Drain levy or fees and the sewer issues are different and that the two must not be confused with each other.

I am sure you would agree that conservative members of our council would probably oppose new fees or taxes on our city's sewers, no matter what our city's financial strength or weakness is.

It is important to me and I hope to you to learn what each candidate knows, wishes to learn, or has an informed opinion about any considerations about any new sewer fees to our residents and businesses.

The County has already floated increased sewer fees for their portion of the systems. But our city owns and must maintain sewers within RPV so some kind of determination needs to be considered, sooner or later and most probably sooner.

Nobody likes new fees and taxes. But sometimes we have to look closely at our infrastructure and do the necessary steps to maintain and improve the infrastructure so our city doesn't once again, get hauled back into court as a defendant in litigation that ends up costing our city even more dollars than what would have been needed to make the necessary repairs in the first place.

Candidates, please tell us your position.

Ponte Vista

To many of you, the prospect of having 1,135 (or more) condominium units built across the street from houses and a large business in R.P.V. doesn't bother you. But it should.

From 2005 on, our council has directed staff and worked hard to keep Bob Bisno's vision of development swallowing up the eastern area of our city. Much credit should be given to our elected leaders and staff members, especially Mr. Kit Fox, for working to help deal with a greedy developer.

The Environmental Impact Report for the latest offering by the new management at Ponte Vista will come out within a matter of weeks to about two months.

It is important to keep development on the eastern side of our city as reasonable as possible because the eastern part of R.P.V. is extremely developed and allows for most of the small businesses in our city being located there.

Western Avenue is Western Avenue. If you travel on it, especially in the morning or between 3-7 on weekdays, I need not go further....because you can't.

Marymount has new 'wild' plans for northwest San Pedro and that could cause massive traffic issues and other problems for our residents on the east and south sides of R.P.V.

Keeping City Funds in R.P.V.

One of the hopes that might have been tried had the Charter City vote gone the other way was trying to protect city funds from being taken by a larger entity.

I hope each candidate lets us know what their thought are on how we can keep and use R.P.V. moneys for R.P.V. uses.

More Sheriff Representation for R.P.V.

Our budget might not allow for more sheriff deputies patroling R.P.V. or even more shared resources, but I wish we could have more deputies assigned to R.P.V. and/or The Hill.

How might each candidate consider how to have more law enforcement here?

Paramedic Squad

Station 83 on the east side and Station 53 on our south side have no Paramedic Squads assigned.

For the south side, a squad from Station 106 by the Peninsula Center has to go through the gates on Crest and through Rolling Hills to get to P.V. Drive East at Crest.

For the east side, "the sixes" from Lomita sends a squad for both Eastview, much of Miraleste and the unincorporated areas of San Pedro.

With Ponte Vista, the new Mary Star High School, and a huge possible growth for Marymount in northwest San Pedro, we need a paramedic squad at either Station 83 or Station 53.

Which candidate supports that or opposes it and why? What might winning candidates do to try their best to make that happen?

Fiscal Responsibility

That title says it all. Through several years of really bad economics and with the wonderful opening and success of Terranea, our city has enjoyed what most cities can't even dream about.

But this was all done with solid note of fiscal responsibility from our Finance Committee, elected representatives, and hard work by staff members.

Not only must we keep this up, we can probably do even better, perhaps.

Since I know at least two of our candidates consider themselves to be conservatives and knowing the great work on our Finance Committee by Dave Emenhiser, I think all four candidates can provide good leadership in dealing with our city's finances.

I do wish to see necessary and resourceful uses of our city's funds and I think there reasons to spend public monies on items and reasons that benefit the public.

I do believe that wage increases are not necessarily a bad thing, even if they don't keep up with the ever rising costs of goods (food, fuel, utilities), at least they help to ease the pain.

I do also believe our city could afford the increases and holding those who are collecting wages over some kind of hate for pensions, unions, and other reasons, does not serve those opponents well, in my opinion.

I am sure each candidate will educate all of us as to their opinions on fiscal restraint or when there are times to invest in our workers, invest in our infrastructure, and invest in our residents.

Dealing With City Staff

I am a strong believer that our city's staff, including our City Manager work for our RESIDENTS and Council members and not the other way around.

I can't sit at the table of those most supportive of our current City Manager.

I think it is essential, before any voting begins, to learn from each candidate how they would work with our city's Manager and staff and whether they feel our current city management and staff is all that is should be and all that is could be.

Yes, this is political fireworks. But if the candidates aren't willing to light some fireworks, then they should not be handed any lighters, matches, or punks.

What changes would each candidate like to make or see in relation to our current City Staff?

At this point, one of my three votes will be for Mr. Dave Emenhiser. I have spent some time with him learning some of his thoughts on important issues to me and I feel the other residents of R.P.V.

I think he could help offer a real balance of ideas on our council and he certainly has demonstrated a great deal of education and insight in fiscal matters and he has helped our city's fiscal policies to get them and keep them better off than most other cities.

I am waiting to find more candidates running for seats from groups of folks I don't usually see eye to eye with.

It is a pretty sure thing that any three of the four candidates mentioned so far could help better our city in many ways.

I would be troubled by council members who are not as willing to spend the necessary funds to better or city's infrastructure for all of our residents and businesses, if requirements are met to meet those issues head on.

R.P.V. is not like the Federal Government or big Corporations. Both of those groups seem unwilling to create jobs or move forward until the other group caves.

We in R.P.V. don't need to cave to anyone. We are a strong city with a population of bright, informed, opinionated residents.

There is much that has been done and even more to do in the near future.

We are going to see a big change with this next council and I hope and expect to see even greater things come out more positively for every one's benefit.