Recently in Port of Los Angeles Category

Nice story in the Des Moines Register about some kids at Cornell Elementary School in Saylor Township, Iowa, pitching in to help with the plans to restore the USS Iowa as it prepares for a permanent move to the Port of Los Angeles.

It all started when the principal, Deb Chiodo, heard about the efforts on one of her regular morning commute radio programs, Van & Bonnie in the Morning on WHO radio in Des Moines.

From the Jan. 24 story by Lisa Lavia Ryan:

"I thought, 'history is happening right before our eyes, and I need to let our kids know about it,'" Chiodo said. "I thought that we could find a way to perhaps donate some money -- do a good deed for a great cause as a way of 'paying it forward.'"

Teachers and the PTO got involved from that point on, helping the students organize doughnut-and-juice sales with all proceeds going to the battleship fund.

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Abby Rusher, 5, of Des Moines drops coins into a bucket at the USS Iowa battleship display at Cornell Elementary. WHO radio's Van and Bonnie will broadcast from the school Wednesday to help the students raise money for the ship's restoration. / Holly McQueen/The Register

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There's also a coin drive, an anchor-themed reading contest and a "star" of honor wall to hang names of student family members who are or were in the military.

"I don't want to put a dollar amount on how much we'd like to raise, as these are little kids we're dealing with and I don't want them to feel bad if we set an amount and don't reach it," (the principal) said. "But I can see us raising $1,000. This is a great school community and a great community overall, and very generous."

On Wednesday -- Jan. 25 -- the radio show will broadcast from from the school from 5-9 a.m. to further raise awareness of the campaign to save and refurbish the USS Iowa. (Looks like you can listen online here -- remember, Iowa would be two hours ahead of us here on the West Coast, though.)

For now, the ship remains in the Port of Richmond in Northern California where it is undergoing external repairs. It is opened for limited tours on weekends.

Robert Kent, president of the Pacific Battleship Center -- the nonprofit that received the ship donation from the U.S. Navy and is overseeing its transformation into a tourist landmark -- said it looks like the ship will be in L.A. perhaps in April.

They are still hoping for a July 4 grand opening.

In other news, the Port of L.A. this week released its draft EIR on the project.

News this week that the USS Iowa would be coming to San Pedro's waterfront -- probably sometime next year -- brought to mind a harbor commission meeting I covered in October 2005.

Work on the waterfront had already begun a couple years earlier, but the new commissioners -- appointed by L.A.'s newly elected mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa -- were clearly ushering in a period of reassessment, for better or worse.

S. David Freeman, president of the newly seated commission, raised this concern during a discussion about the waterfront during that meeting I wrote about: "I have yet to see the piece de resistance," he said in the story we ran on Oct. 5, 2005. "The waterfront needs to end up being something extraordinary ... "

He said at the time he didn't know exactly what that singular attraction should be.

But something.

Even back then, I thought maybe he had a good point. 

The existing plans for a grand promenade, shops, park space and restaurants were wonderful. That alone offered a big improvement over the industrialized stretch of waterfront the community had grown accustomed to seeing through the years.

But didn't the new waterfront need something unique, something that would sing? An anchor attraction that would bring both tourists and private investment? In short, a "wow" factor, as someone described it.

The waterfront needed, Freeman said six years ago, "something that when you talk about the waterfront at Los Angeles Harbor it would be the first thing you'd mention."

The USS Iowa, an iconic World War II battleship, wasn't even on the radar six years ago.

But I wonder -- while unexpected, maybe the Iowa will turn out to be just the kind of "piece de resistance" attraction Freeman was imagining.

Time will tell.

Go check out the Pallada which is docked at Berth 87 on San Pedro's waterfront (around First Street at Harbor Boulevard).

The ship is carrying a crew of 200 sailors.

Unfortunately, there are only a limited number of tours available on Saturday and they may already be booked. But they are free to the first 1,000 people who RSVP at:

http://www.portoflosangeles.org/pdf/flr_pallada.pdf

We all know how much real San Pedrans hate it when outsiders say "San Paydro."

This week, a new outsider faux pas was committed.

A consultant making a presentation to the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners on Thursday said part of the problem in reviving Ports O' Call Village is that San Pedro is geographically remote. It's a virtual cul-de-sac, she said.

"I'm a little bit miffed that San Pedro is being called a cul-de-sac," said a testy John Stinson of San Pedro in public comments later during the port meeting. "You call us remote? Palmdale is remote."

"I'm the president and CEO of the San Pedro Cul-De-Sac Chamber of Commerce," joked Camilla Townsend when she got up to speak.

And there was this from longtime San Pedro resident Louis Dominguez: "We're a peninsula, not a cul-de-sac."

Make a note of it.  

 

The decommissioned battleship USS Iowa sits at anchor in the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet. (Lanz Christian Banes / Times-Herald)

There's been a lot of activity behind the scenes since a standing-room-only crowd urged Los Angeles harbor commissioners on Oct. 7 to find berth space for the USS Iowa World War II battleship.

A final up or down vote is now expected at the commission's 8:30 a.m. Nov. 4 meeting in San Pedro.

Port officials are still awaiting the findings of a $100,000 economic feasibility study by AECOM. The work is not done yet but is expected to be ready for a report at the Nov. 4 meeting.

Meanwhile, members of the Pacific Battleship Center spent several days this month combing the decks of the Iowa, decommissioned for the last time in 1990 and now part of the ghost fleet near San Francisco. From the center's blog:

".... I worried about what we'd find. ... What would it look like after sitting abandoned for 20 years?"

For the answer to that, check out the Ship Check post at the center's website blog. 

Among the points of historic interest onboard is the bathtub specially built for former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was taken across the Atlantic on the Iowa.

You can also see some more photos of the ship check on flickr.

As for where the Iowa might be berthed -- if the commission agrees to move it here -- there are a few possibilities, although supporters would prefer Berth 87 rather than the outer harbor option.

That would put the ship in the port's Main Channel (in the general vicinity of between First and Fourth streets along Harbor Boulevard) and next to other attractions including the Los Angeles Maritime Museum, the waterfront promenade, the Red Car line and downtown shops and restaurants. It also would make the ship visible from the Vincent Thomas Bridge and the cruise ship terminal.

The organization on Sunday sent out a list of Berth 87 selling points titled "20 Reasons Iowa should be placed at Berth 87." (see the jump).

 

 

 

A model of the USS Iowa is shown above. Robert Casillas/Daily Breeze staff photographer

 

Those of you following efforts to berth the USS Iowa, the World War II battleship, in Los Angeles harbor as a floating museum might find this article interesting. It appeared in Saturday's Des Moines Register.

Marc Hansen writes that Merylin Wong, who has been trying to get the vessel for the Vallejo area, is acknowledging that fundraising for that group has not gone so well.

The U.S. Navy concluded as much earlier this year when they put the ship back out to bid, giving a new group, Pacific Battleship Center, a crack at pushing its alternative proposal for berthing the ship in L.A.

From the Register article: 

Last year, the execuitve vice president and director of the nonprofit organization that had been trying to turn it into a floating museum (for Vallejo) told the Register that the USS Iowa was finally getting what it deserved -- a makeover and a permanent home in the former Mare Island naval shipyard about 30 miles from San Francisco.

All they had to do was raise the money. The USS Iowa, as former Register columnist John Carlson noted, was too important to die. Now, it looked as if it was going to live forever. Exciting news.

That's why it was alarming to hear what Merylin Wong told a Bay Area television reporter earlier this week: The money-raising isn't going too well.

Wong, president of the nonprofit Historic Ships Memorial at Pacific Square, said much of the same in Des Moines last spring when she showed up to make her pitch to Iowans.

.... I called Wong in California to ask her about her dire words of warning. She blamed the economy and said it isn't easy getting people to donate in this climate.

Then I called Craig Hooper in San Francisco to find out what he thought about Wong's warning. Hooper, a Grinnell College graduate who went on to get his doctorate degree at Harvard, writes about national security issues.

He's also a big fan of the Big Stick (the USS Iowa): "It's a link to a great past where a lot of Iowans contributed. For the nation, it's a great piece of history that speaks to a less-complicated time when American power was used in a particularly important and viable way."

Hooper goes on to criticize Wong's group for doing a "terrible job" at reaching out effectively to the community.

Now, a new group -- Pacific Battleship Center -- is pushing a new effort to bring the ship to San Pedro. The group does not have a website up yet, but does have a Facebook page.  

The big question is whether they'll be able to succeed where Wong and her group (so far) have failed. Remains to be seen. The economy is still in bad shape, never a good climate for seeking donations.

The Pacific Battleship Center will give a presentation on the proposal at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the POLA Charter High School, 250 W. Sixth St., San Pedro. The meeting is open to the public and there probably will be time for questions and answers.

For more, see today's Daily Breeze article .

 

   Just days after he snubbed her, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today endorsed Councilwoman Janice Hahn's run for lieutenant governor.

   "I know first hand that Janice Hahn is ready to lead California as our next lieutenant governor," Villaraigosa said in a statement released by Hahn's campaign staff.

   "Janice Hahn knows what it will take to get the job done and fight for all Californians," he said. "I have worked side-by-side with Janice fighting gang violence, greening and growing the Port of Los Angeles and creating jobs for Angelenos. There is no doubt that Janice Hahn is the tough, strong leader California needs as their next lieutenant governor."

   On Monday, Villaraigosa sang Hahn's praises as a councilwoman but never mentioned her run for lieutenant governor, all while encouraging the community to support Rep. Jane Harman's bid for re-election.

   The endorsement comes as many across the state wait to see whether San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will toss his hat into the lieutenant governor's race. Newsom pulled nomination papers this afternoon and paid a filing fee, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. He has until 5 p.m. Friday to submit the forms.

   Apparently frightened of Newsom's name recognition across the state, Hahn launched a pair of online videos criticizing her potential rival for the Democratic nomination.

   Villaraigosa apparently isn't a fan of Newsom either. The big city mayors were poised to duke it out for the governor's seat, but backed down when Jerry Brown trounced the pair in fundraising and preliminary polls months before he ever confirmed his own nomination.

For those of you following the effort to berth the USS Iowa, a World War II battleship, in the Port of Los Angeles as a permanent floating museum:

• Port officials are expected to get back to members of the Pacific Battleship Center -- the group heading up the campaign -- on Tuesday with more specific ideas on locations either in San Pedro or Wilmington. The group then will analyze those suggestions as the behind-the-scenes negotiations continue.
• Supporters are expected to launch a Web site soon as the movement gains more public interest and momentum.
• The issue could reach the Harbor Commission as early as the Feb. 11 meeting -- but that date is tentative.
• Look for more possibly high-profile political endorsements to be announced in the next few weeks.

Essentially, the group needs to convince the Navy to reopen bids for donation of the ship. To do that, they need a firm commitment of a home port in the Port of Los Angeles. That's also what's needed, supporters say, to jumpstart financial contributions. Two professional fundraisers -- one in California and the other in Iowa -- came on board this month to assist in the fundraising.

 The USS Iowa comes through the Panama Canal in 1990 being towed to the West Coast without a crew. 

Readers, so, so much news today:

Three gunmen held up 30 customers at a Hawthorne insurance company Wednesday, and sprayed a couple and their infant with mace.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Police say violent crime in the area has fallen to its lowest rate in 50 years.

Torrance and Gardena are among the 10 clusters of autism cases discovered by UC Davis researchers in the state.

Plans to create public access trails into the Ballona Wetlands are back on track after the state budget crisis last year delayed the project.

The Port of Los Angeles' 22nd Street Park finally opens Saturday, concluding years of debate in San Pedro with trails, picnic areas and meadows.

Mira Costa High's girls soccer players beat their Chadwick counterparts Wednesday. See pictures of the match.

Readers, here's what's up today on your last Pipeline morning update of the year -- the decade, in fact:

Get your recap of 2009 with the Breeze's Top 10 stories of the year. And this list doesn't include murder-suicide, a new hospital, or champion prep football players, but it does count the best local business stories of the year.

A 13-year-old Torrance girl who suffered a long bought with leukemia is well enough to ride on the city's Rose Parade float. Meanwhile, volunteers with a local nonprofit that benefits children with disabilities will ride atop Honda's float.

A San Pedro man convicted Wednesday of killing his friend attacked his attorney after the verdict was read in Torrance court.

James Spinosa, a longtime labor leader at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, retires today.

Something extra special for tonight's New Year's Eve celebration: a blue moon.

And tomorrow, if you're not too, um, foggy, why don't you take a dip in the chilly Pacific Ocean with the annual Polar Bear Swim in San Pedro.Check out pictures of this year's King and Queen.

Redondo Union beat Narbonne High in hoops Wednesday. Why don't you check out some pictures, too?

And now, all together: Peace out, 2009!