A Plague On All That NONSENSE!

When Mayor Tom Long stated, "A plague on both your houses" he may have been very rough and perhaps he could have used a bit different wording, but I really agree that what I finally saw on my computer screen tonight, was something that should have never happened.

Boy, I don't know who deserve the most blame for that Tuesday evening fiasco. There are more than a few folks who might need some talking to.

I do feel that when Mayor Long did his blasting away, I don't know if he remembered that HE gave Dr. Brophy 5 minutes to speak, during a time residents normally are only given three minutes.

Mayor Long gave Dr. Brophy 5 minutes, "without objection" when he himself eventually soundly admitted he was very objected what transpired, before it began.

Why oh why Tom, if you had an objection going in, why didn't you limit Dr. Brophy to the three minutes you allotted to all the other speakers? You knew you weren't going to 'play nice' beforehand. I note your frustration and I have some real great frustrations I share with you.

The idea that Mr. Joel Rojas appointed Ms. Lois Karp to the Neighborhood Advisory Committee established by one of the Conditional Use Permits (CUP) in the approval of The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project is so far beyond any respectful reasoning, it borders on the ridiculous!

Ms. Karp is the leader of Concerned Citizens Coalition/Marymount College, (CCC/ME). the very group that has been the most active in opposing many of the plans Marymount College has established.

I think I could agree with Dr. Brophy in that Ms. Karp's appointment might indicate something about Mr. Rojas' reasoning and his true considerations about being fair and impartial.

There are other find members of Ms. Karp's specific neighborhood that would not seem as 'poisonous' to all the processes as having the leader of the opposition sitting on the Advisory Committee. I know there are well qualified and caring residents in Ms. Karp's neighborhood that could do a wonderful job representing her neighborhood as well as other neighborhoods that don't have HOAs represented on the Advisory Committee.

Gees! What was Mr. Rojas thinking?

Factually, Mr. Jim Gordon and Mr. Jack Karp were correct with their comments about the issues surrounding the fume hoods and the fire inspection materials, lists and documentations.

Dr. Michael Brophy, the President of Marymount College continues to offer information that is irresponsible, unreasonable, unrealistic and frankly, disrespectful to just about everyone who doesn't understand some major changes happening in the education field, specifically with information storage and resourcing.

Brick and mortar libraries are OBSOLETE. Spending one dime on actually taking out permits for demolition of some buildings and then building a physical library on Marymount's campus is ridiculous at best and might well be found to possibly be considered underhanded at worst.

Especially for Marymount College where I believe the majority of students will not take classes at the college's Rancho Palos Verdes campus, because of the wonderful growing involvement in the downtown San Pedro area, there really would be a horrific problem spending money to build an already obsolete structure that, as currently planned, has absolutely no ability to store the number of books and other resource materials a 'good' four-year college must offer.

Just look around at all the iPads, notebook computers, tablet computers and smartphones that provide an ever expanding template for the transmission, storage, usage, and availability of information that could never be stored or resourced at a physical library building.

It is completely disingenuous for Dr. Brophy, a man with at least one Ph.D. to continue to talk about a building that would be far too small to house the number of volumes his 'good' college would have to store.

It is ludicrous, in my opinion, to keep talking about a structure that will never be built.

Why does anyone, considered by many, to be a person of intelligence, continue harping about something they cannot and should not afford?

Come on! Let's just stop all this babble about an obsolete structure that would be too small even before the foundation is poured.

If Dr. Brophy continues with his plans for a brick and mortar library of the size approved and allotted for via The Marymount Plan, he should be called out for counseling by the college's Board of Trustees and anyone who thinks of donating any money for a structure that could never be adequate enough for a 'four-year institution of higher learning'.

It will cost a great deal less to set up a physical resources/media center, a physical hub of information to share with the various Marymount sites within our community and in San Pedro and it would allow a large portion of the money already set aside for the physical library to be used on other building plans.

Since Measure P did not pass, the college must follow all the guidelines and ordinances established in our city and that may very well mean a whole new process for securing the approval to build something I don't really believe should or will be built.

Dr. Brophy knows the English language. When he stated in his opening remarks that Marymount College is located in "Palos Verdes and San Pedro" I am quite sure he knows that Marymount College is located in Rancho Palos Verdes and San Pedro and I won't give him any leave to claim he misstated his location wording. I feel it is a deliberate swipe at our Council and our residents when he misstates the name of the city where the college's main campus is located.

As for Dr. Brophy's appeal at having Ms. Karp on the committee, I am leaning towards supporting his appeal, depending on what he says and how he states it. I do understand and have more than a little sympathy for Marymount's position on Ms. Karp's appointment and since that is offered in this post, if Dr. Brophy or others wish to use that, I don't object.

Having Lois Karp on the Advisory Committee is akin to having Texas Governor Perry on a Board of Pardons for Felons condemned to die, in Texas.

I was pleased to hear from Mr. Jack Karp that he feels CCC/ME is not 'against' improvements at Marymount. However, the Appeal of the Council's approval of The Marymount College Facilities Project by CCC/ME offers little proof that the group endorses many changes I support for Marymount College.

The fume hoods and other equipment requested by Marymount's administration, until they pulled the plug themselves on that project, did have problems and issues that were not addressed properly, in my opinion.

I think when those plans were brought forward it was a 'between-the-lines' acknowledgement by Marymount that there will not be the physical library built according to the approved Project, at Marymount. It was a 'tell' or it was 'telegraphed' but too few folks looked and listened carefully enough.

Councilman Stern and Councilman Campbell were very well spoken when they offered their remarks, after Mayor Long's somewhat emotional words.

Yes, we are sick of the continuation of the chaos and fiascoes coming from all sides. Yes, I am guilty of a bit of that, too. But I am certainly not the only one.

Marymount will continue to do wonderful expansion into San Pedro, especially in the downtown area where they could make so many positive and lasting contributions that will be shared by many. Marymount seeks to be a college where students from all over the world come to study. It is very good that many of those students will learn in a World Port like the Port of Los Angeles.

The long term plans for Marymount's Palos Verdes North facilities are humorous at best, but they will not pan out more that just having that location be student housing with some resource opportunities there.

What Marymount can and should do is take some of the money they say they would use for a library building and offer to buy the remaining residential structures now owned by The Volunteers of America, right next door to Palos Verdes North.

A new physical library building for Marymount? NONSENSE!

Having Ms. Karp sit on the Neighborhood Advisory Committee when there are well qualified residents of her neighborhood that could do a great job? NONSENSE!

Not having Marymount's Board of Trustees order Dr. Brophy to come completely clean about any and all real and true plans for the Rancho Palos Verdes campus is also, NONSENSE!

Not supporting many needed improvements to Marymount's campuses is also, NONSENSE!

Having on-campus housing for students on the Palos Verdes Drive East campus of Marymount College has always been, NONSENSE!

All sides must work better towards finding reasoning, reality, responsibility and certainly, respect. Four qualities that must be put above all this NONSENSE!