Habor Commission

It has been awhile since I updated the Harbor Commission section of this blog. I’ll try to summarize the high points.

Since September, 2009 the commission has lost 4 members. The only remaining members of the previous commission are me, Harry Munns, Shane Michael and Alex Bannerman. Shane took over as Chairman from Alex in October.

Three of the 4 open slots have been filled and we expect the remaining empty chair to get a new commissioner in April, 2010. We have welcomed the following new members.

Blaise Tracy – a communications specialist and President of the RB Education Foundation

Anthony Cignarale – an attorney who works in the insurance industry

Tarek Shaer – an architect/developer

We have a very impressive group of people who volunteer to lend their expertise to the community. But even some of the newer members of the Harbor Commission have commented that we aren’t given a lot of meaningful work to do. This is a struggle that continues regardless of who’s on the commission.

There have been some glimmers of hope. The City Council sent the long-awaited Harbor Business Plan to the HC for evaluation. The commission will begin gathering public input  through the Business Plan Subcommittee this month, March 2010. If you have an interest in this document or King Harbor business in general, please try to attend these meetings.

I will try to post information here when I have it. Meanwhile, the plan will be on the HC agenda for at least two more months. The April meeting will take place on the second floor of the main library at 7 PM, April 12th and the May meeting will be in the same place May 10th. The location will move next door if the City Council Chambers renovation is completed.

It was a great pleasure to welcome District 2 City Councilor, Bill Brand to the HC meeting in March. He came to the podium on more than one occasion to provide insight for commissioners and attendees on a number of items.

One issue the commission considered was the refusal of the City Manager to provide monthly harbor budget updates to the commission. Councilman Brand shared the commission’s opinion that if this information was available, it should be shared with the commission.

City Manager Workman cited 8 reasons he believed he was not obligated to share this information with the HC. I took exception with his claim that the City Charter didn’t include the HC in budget discussions. The charter clearly says that the HC, “… will further the commercial and recreational development of the harbor.” We can’t do that without accurate, comprehensive financial information.

Councilman Brand also briefed the HC about the 5 recommendations we made for items to be included in the recent City Council strategic planning meeting. Twice a year the council meets to update the strategic plan. As a matter of city policy, you could say if it ain’t on the strategic plan, it won’t get done. It looks like we got 3 of 5 recommendations on the plan.

We also found out from Brand the perception of cloudy information coming from city government about the operation of Seaside Lagoon in the summer of 2010 probably has more to do with a lack of definitive knowledge than a grand conspiracy. The Mayor, council and Recreation Director, Mike Wytzansky all seem pretty sure we’ll be swimming in the lagoon in May. We’re still not sure why they’re so confident so we may fall back on the more entertaining conspiracy theory before too long.

A group of King Harbor fishermen (and women) came to comment on the Marine Life Protection Act. If you aren’t up to speed, there’s a lot to know about this issue. One admittedly biased but comprehensive source of information is http://www.keeprockypointopen.com/. If you use or might use the part of the ocean that borders the northern corner of the PV peninsula, you may want to get involved in keeping it open because there’s a distinct possibility that severe restrictions will be enforced in the near future.

Those are the high (and low) points. If you have an interest in King Harbor you may want to familiarize yourself our agenda and what we do. You can see our agenda here http://laserweb.redondo.org/weblink/Browse.aspx 72 hours or more prior to our meetings which occur on the second Monday of each month, at 7 PM. Please come and address the commission on any agenda item about which you are concerned. This is really democracy at work. We’re all real people, citizens of the city and interested in what’s best for our community. Don’t be shy!

The May HC meeting was a re-airing of one of the fundamental complaints that comes up again and again within the commission. As requested, Director Parker provided us with agenda items related to Pier and Harbor business the City Council has recently processed.

The key word in the previous sentence and the root of the pervasive discontent among the commissioners is "processed" as in past tense. Failure to include the commission in decisions that concern the Pier and harbor has been a source of tension between the Harbor Commission and the city for most of the 3+ years I've served on the commision. In fact, last year one commissioner suggested he was ready to quit and that the only way to send a message to the city would be for the rest of us to quit along with him.

Unfortunately, most of us want to serve on the commission as a way to participate in city government and give something back to our community. The city's big mistake with the Harbor Commission was appointing a bunch of smart, competent people. If the intention was to give us little or nothing to do, I would think the best people to be satisfied doing little or nothing would be individuals who lack those two qualities.

So being a guy, I ask the question, how do we fix it? Well, we tried about a year and a half ago. We sent a letter to the city council asking them to direct the City Manager to run all Pier/Harbor items that will appear on the council's agenda through the Harbor Commission first.

That symbolic gesture wasn't intended as any serious attempt to alter city policy. It was just a plea from a group of eager volunteers asking for a chance to be included in the process, to help. I never saw an official response to that letter, but reports indicated the council agreed with the concept.

Yet there we were more than a year later looking at an agenda that included in excess of a dozen items relating to the Pier/Harbor that had all received action from the City Council. That's right, "received" as in past tense. The Harbor Commission never saw them.

I'd be happy to point the finger where I believe it needs to be pointed, but I'll leave it to the reader to look at the players in this game and figure out who's disrupting the team's harmony.

I've felt like a lot of different things in my life, a recipient of good fortune, a victim and a cog in the machinery to name a few. This is the first time I've ever felt under-utilized. It's kind of hard to get used to, but I guess I'll be going to the next commission meeting so what does that tell you?

Let me start by saying I know anyone who's been checking this blog lately has been disappointed by the lack of new content. Isn't the whole idea of a blog to post current, timely information? Yup, it is and I appologize for not keeping it that way. If you see me around town, bug me about it! I deserve it! I'll try to improve even before I get any harassment.

March was a pretty light month at the HC. We got to review the latest plans for a new, improved Lagoon. We seemed to agree on a couple things. The water feature should be as large as possible and under no circumstances should we give up any park land for parking.

Mike Witzansky explained that it was just there in case we needed to swap some space to Decron, the current owner of the leasehold that borders the lagoon. I liked that explanation better but still believed the public will never stand for any deal that converts that gives away a portion of the park.

It's tied to the boat ramp. I'll rant about the ramp later, but for now let me just say that I'm tired of ramp advocates trying to ram their concept down everyone's throats. There is no plan for a ramp. There has been no approval. Anyone who tries to tie a ramp to the lagoon is playing a very risky game. They may lose a lot of friends when their fictitious connection between a ramp and the lagoon gets exposed for what it is, fiction.

They've become very aggressive and they seem to have bamboozled a few city officials, but not all of them. My advice; recede into the background and wait for the right time to fight your battle. Otherwise risk the very real possibility of getting tarred with the "kook" brush.

In the end, the HC approved one of the plans, I think it was #3. It doesn't matter much because the City Council approved the same one after lengthy discussion about how there was almost no possibility of coming up with the $11 million to build it.

City government's funny, in a frustrating, illogical sort of way. When you get to the state and federal levels you lose the funny and all you've got left is the frustrating and illogical. City government's a picnic by comparison.

We were presented with some of the documents the Harbor Business and Transit Department and Fire Chief prepared to apply for a grant from the Department of Boating and Waterways for transient moorings in the harbor. According to the chief, we can expect to hear something in about 6 months.

The commission was also presented with a summary of the City Council's September 10th Strategic Planning Workshop. The City Council has had these meetings on a 12 month cycle in the past. It appears they are shorting that cycle to 6 months.

It seems the meetings help those involved in the highest level of city government set some goals and deadlines for their achievement. Without the benefit of having performed a detailed analysys of past goals and their current status, it appears the city's overall record is satisfactory. You can see an outline of the objectives at http://www.redondo.org/civica/filebank/blobdload.asp?BlobID=17222.

Director Parker presented her report summarizing some of the recent activities in the harbor such as the Lobster Festival and the visit of the tall ships, Lynx and the Californian. She also summarized some of the upcoming events such as ribbon cutting for Seaside Ice, Santa's visit to the Pier and the boat parade.

The Harbor Commission saw the completed (at least for now) version of the web site that's intended to draw visitors to the Harbor/Pier area. There was another round of complaining about the name redondoharborresort.com. In case you missed it, some of us, me included, believe it's misleading to call the harbor Redondo Harbor or even Redondo Beach Harbor because it has a proper name, King Harbor. Overall, the site looks good and we have great hopes that it will stimulate activity.

The Mayor sent a letter to the commission, which we assumed would be sent to all commisions, regarding the City's Utility Users Tax. A committee made up of the Mayor, two City Council members and the City Treasurer will recommend to the City Council that it, "approve a modernization of the existing UUT tax with NO increase in the rate."

Budget and Finance Commissioner Gary Ohst suggested that, "Anything that hints of an Internet tax loophole will meet with opposition." We will certainly hear more about this when it becomes a ballot measure.

Earlier this year, RB city staff predicted a series of new signs, some of which will direct people to the Pier/Harbor, would be installed in the summer of 2008. Harbor, Business and Transit Director, Gwendolyn Parker submitted a report on their progress. Seven directional panels are scheduled to be installed in October. Five monument signs are secheduled to be installed in November. We'll see.

The HC has had a group of sub-committees set up in case we ever needed to take action on any of the topics they cover. We've talked about getting rid of the sub-committes and just creating them when they're needed for a project. We did something in between doing nothing and getting rid of the sub-committes altogether. From now on, we will dissolve the existing sub-committes once a year and re-establish the exact same committees immediately. It's hard to decide whether we actually did something or not.

We re-elected Alex Bannerman as committee chair, Trish Murakawa vice-chair and yours truly as secretary.

Aquatic Design Group, Inc. presented an updated plan for various rehabilitation plans for the Seaside Lagoon. Time is running out on that project. In September 2009 when the Lagoon closes for the season, the current permits will run out. The Water Quality Control Board expects a clear solution to the pollution problem by that time. If the solution requires extensive construction, which it probably will, that work must be completed by May of 2010 to avoid missing that summer season and possibly others. So far, the city still hasn't figured out what to do. The clock is ticking.

There will be new benches, planters and railings on parts of the Pier. We looked at a few designs and offered suggestions. The most important part of this project is that the city will get $176,000 worth of new furniture. What we don't know is how long it will hold up and contunue to look new.

We welcomed a new member, Corwin Eberting, who replaced Jon Bevington. Jon went to the Planning Commission. We're all looking forward to working with Commissioner Eberting.

The meeting started like most others, with role call and a salute to the flag. We spent received presentations from various city staff. Newly hired Harbor Projects Analyst, Veronica Wolkow, reviewed her progress on the harbor resort web site.

Harbor, Business and Transit Director, Gwendolyn Parker reviewed the 6 month strategic plan and the water quality matrix. While it may not always be obvious, the harbor does make progress.

The idea behind branding Redondo's waterfront as a resort destination has been embraced by many stakeholders. When people plan their vacations to this part of the country, they have lots of choices. The city wants to put itself up at the front of the line when those decisions are made. It's a way to package and brand the harbor and its surroundings.

A few of us have voiced our strong objection to creating a new name, Redondo Harbor Resort when there's no such thing as Redondo Harbor. Our harbor already has a perfectly good name, King Harbor.

Aside from that, the web site is coming along fine. It's due to roll out by the end of the year.

An outside consultant has been hired to prepare a business plan for the harbor. It has great potential for guiding one of our city's most valuable assets to bigger and better things. It's in the early stages, so it's too soon to tell how it will turn out.

We had a short discussion on harbor reserves but it seems as though specific numbers are still somewhat vague.

The Harbor Department has created some pamphlets with guidelines for handling potential sorces of pollution. They're being called Best Management Practices.

The anxiety level rose when we landed on the subject of the August joint meeting with the City Council and the Budjet and Finance Commission. The best way to sum it up is to say some of the commissioners felt we were more like observers than participants. This has become a chronic complaint among some Harbor Commissioners, me included. It's a subject for another post, but it made for some lively debate in September.

We tabled a discussion about sub-committes for another meeting.