Civic Leaders Pressures Port to Extend RFP on Land Long Managed by Boy Scouts of America p. 2
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Nov. 4 Election--Read RL Endorsement Slate p. 8 Film Review of The Snowden Effect p. 11
Resolutions Expose Deep Rift Between Port and Community By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
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The Local Publication You Actually Read
The Port of Los Angeles welcomed the Mexican Naval training vessel, Cuauhtémoc on Oct. 27. POLA deputy executive director of external relations, Cynthia Ruiz introduced the ship’s commander, Capt. C.G. DEM. Juan Carlos Vera Minjares. Photo by Phillip Cooke.
diametrically opposed to the community, though things are so confused that few seem to realize it. This includes POLA’s top management and board, who bandied about a grossly-inflated Waterfront spending level at the Oct. 21 Harbor Commission meeting, during a discussion of the port’s new strategic plan led by Executive Director Gene Seroka. A slide with a chart titled “CIP [Capital Improvement Program] Prioritization and Sustainability” showed 18 percent devoted to “Public Access/Environment,” but POLA’s current budget (fiscal year 201415) only devotes $6.2 million to Waterfront Development, which is 2.2 percent of the capital budget, a far cry from 18 percent. Drastic Cuts to Waterfront Coming/ to p. 4
Trouble on the Iowa Part III
Casino Politics in Iowa and the Battleship’s Directors By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor
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October 30 - November 12, 2014
round about the same time the sailtraining ship, the Cuauhtémoc docked at the Port of Los Angeles on Oct. 27, a trio of resolutions about waterfront development wound their way through the neighborhood council system. One concerns potentially fatal cutbacks in Red Car service, another the stalled negotiations around Ports O’ Call redevelopment, while the broadest one “urges the Port, the City Council, and the Mayor to immediately follow through with their promises of funding for the already-approved Project elements” in the Waterfront EIR that was certified on Sept. 29, 2009. Specific projects cited include “a pedestrian waterfront promenade, realignment and improvements to Sampson Way and Harbor Boulevard, a downtown plaza at Sixth Street, new parking structures, parks and public use areas, and improved and extended Red Car routes.” The resolution notes that “many of the Project elements had projected completion dates from 2009 to 2015 but in its current Capital Improvement Program, it appears that the PORT has not budgeted nor approved funds for these elements with the exception of the engineering studies for Sampson Way realignment.” The Port of Los Angeles announced that the tall ship would be open for public tours the following three days. If the Red Car extended far enough, Wilmington residents could have taken the trolley to visit the ship. But by the looks of things, that particular community dream may never happen. But the Port of Los Angeles once again seems disconnected from, if not
n the second installment of the Trouble on the Iowa series, Random Lengths recounted both the well documented series of events as well as some of the untold back story that ultimately brought the USS Iowa to San Pedro. In that story, the rival Historic Ships Memorial at Pacific Square group in Vallejo, Calif., Robert Kent (aka Robert Daniels), Jonathan Williams were the dominant figures, we told their stories against the backdrop that was a perfect storm of political circumstances—a backdrop upon which Kent masterfully created a grassroots movement that brought the USS Iowa to San Pedro. As a result of the story, a number of volunteers, both former and current, reached out to the Casino Politics and the Battleship/ to p. 6
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