Pondering Some Stuff

There is quite a bit of things to ponder happening all around the area. We certainly do not live in a sleepy little fishing village any more.

OUR community has quite a number of projects and issues that are going on all at the same time and folks need to consider what it really important to them and what they are willing to spend time, energy, and money on.

Here are some reminders of issues to ponder:

• We are just about the start dealing with the Notice of Preparation and Initial Study for the Clearwater Program for the Sanitation District. Over 90% of those people who have an opinion as to where the Outfall Tunnel should be accessed at, state that it should be located on Terminal Island.
  
• There will be an election forum for the November 4 General Election that will be held on Tuesday October 21, beginning at 6:00 PM at the Cabrillo Marina Community Building.
  
• The Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Waterfront Redevelopment proposals is now under review by all of us and comments may be created by anyone to the more than 6,000 pages of documents.
  
• How, if any, has our lives changed, even slightly, now that Target has opened in San Pedro?
  
• The Application for the construction of 1,950 condominium units along Western Avenue is moving much closer to official consideration by the Los Angeles Planning Commission and the Los Angeles City Council. It appears that any recommendation, concerning the application at any hearing of the Harbor Area Planning Commission, if it does meet on the matter, will be highly contested because of conflicts of interest claims concerning three out of the five Commission members.
  
• It appears that some unity in OUR community is forming to continue to find solutions to the major issues being dealt with at Point Fermin Elementary School. I think many parents of children attending that school have a clearer understanding of how OUR community can help them get the issues resolved and their fight with LAUSD.
  
• Work continues with the Community Advisory Committee of the Community Redevelopment Agency's issues concerning downtown San Pedro. There needs to be lots of community input and consideration as to what the future will hold for the downtown area.
  
• Many of us strongly feel that the new parking fees in downtown San Pedro suck! We need to all join together and work towards helping the downtown area and fight City Hall on this matter.
  
• Redevelopment of the Cabrillo Beach area is also continuing to be discussed.
  
• The idea of having an 810-seat senior high school campus on the Upper Reservation of Fort MacArthur still looms heavily in OUR community and revelations that seem to leak out of LAUSD continue to muddy the discussions and create more problems with LAUSD.
  
• OUR community's economy is having trouble just like in the rest of the nation. How might we as a community, deal with what has happened and will happen in the future?
  
• I am sure you know of important issues that I have not covered in this post. There are quite a lot of smaller issues that I have left out that you may think should be larger issues.

We also need to find smiles on our faces and realize how good so many of us have it, living in OUR community.

We are fortunate at having an extremely high percentage of park lands compared to everywhere else in the Los Angeles area.

We have groups all over OUR community that strive to help others and work for the betterment of OUR community.

We have real histories in OUR community that is itself a very historical place.

We have greatness all over OUR community with people like John and Muriel Olguin, Art and Irene Almeida and all those who work to be more like those two great couples to improve the lives of everyone in OUR community.

We have common ties and common strengths that bind us into a stronger community that can deal with issues better than many other communities. We have many examples of this all over OUR community.