Inflammatory Rhetoric

A very interesting point discussed at the last CAC meeting on May 22, which has been conveniently ignored in all reports that I have read. It is my opinion this is a very large lapse because the point is an extremely important one. So I will raise it here.

The thing which none of the opposition seems to want to discuss is WHY Bisno Development wants to build the type of project they have proposed and how they got to the numbers of units. The question was posed in a rhetorical way and answered by a member of the CAC and confirmed by Bob Bisno.

Simply stated, "Why would any developer construct housing they could not sell? If they had not done their research and were not extremely confident there was a demand for their project, why would they build something which would sit there unsold?" The answer is equally as simple - they would not.

I am just an amateur at this planning thing. And so is everyone else who has a blog. Unless you work for the City Planning Department, or are a professional architect or urban planner, our ideas are all guesswork. I can suggest things, but I cannot say for certain whether those ideas fit into the very complicated framework of building codes, civil engineering, urban planning, etc. Anything more than general suggestions is a waste of time and bordering on the ridiculous. For example, taking the number of students projected to be living at complex in which we do not yet even know the number of bedrooms is bad enough. But taking that calculation out to 7 decimal places is just plain nonsensical and a waste of time.

The Urban Land Institute published a study of San Pedro and said we needed a minimum of 3,000 new housing units. That was a few years ago and our population growth has accelerated since then. It would not be unreasonable to assume a higher number would be needed. Housing equals jobs for San Pedro.

It is time for people to step back and take a deep breath. There are a great many people getting very shrill over this. Mr. Mark Wells has been gracious in posting many of my comments over the last months, but he probably won't be as nice to me after this post. That is because I have to say it is becoming apparent to me that there is no "negotiating" with him. NO matter what I support, how I massage my ideas, or what ideas of his I support, he is a rachet. He takes what I have conceded and that is the new starting point. He demands even more and more, until there are no aspects of the project left until he gets his way 100%. There are some very basic changes in the way we have to live and I will expand on that a little later.

But for now, I wish Mr. Wells and the R-1 group would stop castigating the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council for having an opinion which differs from theirs. No one threatened to swamp the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council with a pro-development slate of candidates when they passed their resolution in favor of R-1. No one wrote scathing comments about the Wilmington Neighborhood Council when they passed a resolution to support the findings and recommendations of the CAC. So why is Central being singled out? Especially when the allegations so prominently displayed in Mr. Wells' blog are not true. At least not according to the Brown Act. If you take the time to read it (the Brown Act, that is), there are no requirements for a website, a newsletter, or email notifications of meetings or events. If you are going to start using these criteria to criticize a Neighborhood Council, well then the Harbor City Neighborhood Council should be the next target. Or perhaps the Wilmington Neighborhood Council.

In fact, I challenge Mr. Wells to go through a list of the 87 Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils and see which ones comply with the criteria he says are worth making the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council the target of all this vitriolic rhetoric and threatened administrative actions. Are all the councils who do not measure up to his random standards to be de-certified by DONE? What about it Mr. Wells? Up to the challenge, or afraid to be shown up?