Monday, September 17, 2012

Bits and Pieces 61

I learned something new to add to my too-much-information trivia about eastern Rancho Palos Verdes and specifically the Eastview Post Office.

Many of you know about the small post office located in a strip mall along Western Avenue, in Rancho Palos Verdes.

If you mail a letter to be opened by someone at that post office, you would need to use "Rancho Palos Verdes" and its Zip Code: 90275.

Rancho Palos Verdes and three other cities on The Hill have as their 'main' post office, the big one by the large mall, in Rolling Hills Estates.

When our mail is delivered, it comes to us after being sorted at the big office on The Hill.

Now here's the thing. The small post office in Eastivew is serviced by the large post office in San Pedro, not Rolling Hills Estates.

I never knew that, until this morning.

Zip Codes make routing mail easier.

If you believe work will ever be completely complete on the Sanitation Districts pumping station along Western Avenue near Avenida Aprenda, I've still got two acres of The Moon and I'd be happy to sell you one.

I think we will see the new Outfall System sunk, tunnelled and completed years before work finally ends at the 'popular for workers' site on Western.

Broiler Express is still a good place to get some simple, great tasting food. They have a drive-through, too.

It's not Fall yet, so I'm not looking in my mailbox to see if the Environmental Impact Report for Ponte Vista at San Pedro has been issued.

I'm still wanting a park their first. I have absolutely no problem with the existing zoning remaining on the site which allows for up to 429 dwelling units. I would try my best to live with up to 850 dwelling units.

1,135 dwelling units at Ponte Vista at San Pedro must never happen.

Please have a safe and happy last few days of the true Summer season.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Resigned But Not Resigning

After what I heard from Dr. Michael Brophy, President of Marymount College, I am finally resigned to some truths I wish had not been shoved down the throats of those of us living in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Over a year ago, Dr. Brophy stated that his goals for what Marymount College becomes is a TWENTY YEAR goal and has relatively nothing to do with any eight year time frame established for The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project. It finally sank in.

College administrators and many supporters have basically no interest in following guidelines established in the Expansion Project and recent activities have proven that, repeatedly.

Dr. Brophy did state during last night's City Council meeting that, after the 120 new spaces are constructed such that Marymount meets the goal of creating a total of 463 permanent parking spaces on its Rancho Palos Verdes campus, he signaled that he and his associates will work strongly for the creation of a 'new' athletic field on the western side of the campus that is larger and in a slightly different position than the one approved of by the City Council in 2010.

I doubt he ever intended on following those guidelines for those approved plans for a field.

I have absolutely no confidence that Dr. Brophy and/or his associates will have many of the other plans approved for Phase One, completed in any near term, such as two-three years from now.

Dr. Brophy also offered a truism that he intends to ask for an increase in student enrollment at Marymount's main campus to "1200 students", as he stated last night.

Folks need to be reminded at this point that even with 463 permanent parking spaces built on the campus, still required a variance in at least one municipal ordinance because it if fewer parking space ratios than for other businesses in our city.

Last night, the council voted unanimously to extend the time period to complete Phase One of The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project, from September 30, 2012 to December 18, 2012.

Whether the permanent parking lot facilities are completed or not is any one's guess, but it probably no longer matters, in my opinion.

Since the eight year approved project doesn't contain what Marymount may really want to do and Marymount representatives claim that whatever they do is part of a TWENTY YEAR project, I must resign myself to the fact that The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project is a moot endeavour and it is time to simply deny any further extension of the Phase One time completion period because what Marymount representatives now intend on doing next is NOT PART of the Project and it will required more extensive studies and approvals than originally thought by some.

A wise member of our city's staff advised me to consider that whatever Marymount representatives ask for should be considered to be the last thing they will ask for, until they either ask for something else or simply stop for some reasons.

So, is there really any reason to continue with the ongoing charade between council members, staff, residents and college representatives? I have to now opine that the Project has been 'over' and that we all need to move on.

This is where the NOT RESIGNING bit for me comes along.

I won't resign from continuing to believe that our city's residents DO HAVE a stake in what happens at Marymount College and I put residents first!

I have opined that the majority of our current City Council membership 'SEEMS' to put businesses first before government and government before residents' wants.

I have not seen or read anything yet, during this current term, that would point to anything else.

That is why I continue to feel that residents need to stand up for their beliefs and work to help create the best RPV possible, no matter what the council or businesses do or attempt to do.

Marymount College is a business. It is vastly smaller and offers far less than a Catholic University less than 20 miles away from it. What it does offer, according to documents created by and for Marymount College, is an environment where just about anybody with enough money can attend, whether you have a high school or equivalent certificate or not.

I am also resigned to the knowledge that it only takes three members of our city's council to approve the construction of on-campus housing at Marymount's RPV campus and knowing that Marymount has a TWENTY YEAR plan, it looks like Dr. Brophy and/or others will simply wait until there are three members of the council who would approve dorms on campus, and then seek approval for dorms at that time. I don't think eight years is a long enough time span for people to forget what Measure P was and what happened over the over ten years of talk, studies and approval-gathering that continues to take place.

Personally I also have a 'bigger fish' to fry, dealing with Ponte Vista at San Pedro. Whatever is eventually built at Ponte Vista will also impact traffic for Marymount College students, so that needs to also be considered.

Increased student enrollment at Marymount College, increased student housing at Palos Verdes North, along with Marymount's other plans for Palos Verdes North, will impact those of us who live on the east side of The Hill in both the Miraleste area and the 'Eastview' area.

Whatever happens at Marymount AND Ponte Vista at San Pedro, those 'double-whammies' will affect us more than any other residents in Rancho Palos Verdes.

The new athletic field plan for Marymount College will create the need to export material from the site. with San Ramon Canyon not fixed yet and the idea of having many dirt haulers traveling along Palos Verdes Drive East and Palos Verdes Drive South, it looks pretty clear that folks living in the Miraleste area of eastern Rancho Palos Verdes will be adversly impacted.

I'm still going to be writing this blog. I'm not going anywhere, for the moment.

I encourage any and all of you who are concerned about issues swirling around Ponte Vista at San Pedro to look at my "Ponte Vista Blog" via its URL:  http://pontevista.blogspot.com/

It's time that the extension just passed for the completion of Phase One be the first and LAST extension granted and we let The Marymount College Facilities Expansion Project die and fade into memory. It appears that Marymount officials would like to see that happen so they can build their college according to what they want and not be tied down by something, I believe, they never intended on doing in the first place.