It's (late) 2008, San Pedro. So where's your waterfront?
Taking yet another stab at finalizing a working plan, the Port of Los Angeles has come up with a new draft waterfront plan that is now available on the Port of Los Angeles' web site..
Talk of renovating the port's industrial waterfront has been ongoing for years. It finally appeared to have a chance of happening In 2003 when the port hired an award-winning architectural firm to help guide the process that was supposed to create a swath of recreational and commercial uses for the community.
So what happened?
(Mind you, the architects cautioned the port and community -- over and over again -- that if a substantial portion of the waterfront weren't built within the first 5 years, the entire project would be in danger of simply losing momentum.)
The outlook was upbeat enough in the beginning. Amid a surge of enthusiasm, there was a quick start on building one leg of the promenade near the cruise ship terminal. A choreographed fountain has since been added, but as for the rest of it, the community is still waiting.
A complete turnover of the harbor commission and top port leadership after the 2005 elections caused one significant delay. And endless rounds of public meetings and workshops through the years seemed to bog everything down, leading to near paralysis. The plans have been worked and reworked since. But still not finalized.
So here we go again.
Five years after the architectural firm was hired (their contract has long since expired, putting them out of the picture), the latest formulation of the long-term plan is out and available for public comment. There will be a meeting at 6 p.m. Oct. 27 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 601 S. Palos Verdes St., San Pedro, to solicit comments. Written comments also are accepted, see the port's web site for instructions on how to submit those.
We'll see how this latest plan is received.
The last one drew an avalanche of criticism, sending port officials scrambling back to the drawing board -- again. But if nothing else, the community proved it could find unity on waterfront issue, after all.
Maybe this version will be better received? Or not. Among the big sticking points: The port's desire to build a second cruise terminal for San Pedro's outer harbor.
If you missed it last week when it initially ran in the Daily Breeze, check out port reporter Art Marroquin's story about the latest push to get going (finally) on San Pedro's waterfront.
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