Recently in San Pedro 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.

I covered the memorial service last night in San Pedro for Eva Tice, the victim of one of the more disturbing local crimes in recent months.

They're all disturbing, of course. Sitting to my left in the newsroom is Daily Breeze crime & courts reporter Larry Altman. Sitting behind me, Stephanie Walton sometimes shares man's inhumanity to man as she compiles the area's police logs each week. I hear and overhear plenty of horror stories from the streets.

But Eva's stabbing death -- in the 1100 block of Pacific Avenue as she walked home from Christmas Eve services -- was somehow uniquely unsettling even to those of us who had never met her.

The 60-year-old mentally disabled woman was carrying her Bible as she walked home at around 7 p.m. Dec. 24. The apartment she shared with a roommate was just blocks away and it was a walk she regularly made to and from her church, Hope Chapel San Pedro.

She had been baptized at Hope Chapel in 2009 -- just months after her beloved husband, Bill, died -- and was well known among church members as she helped out with the Angel Tree program and weekly garage sales. She was one of the church's greeters and ushers, a role that she especially loved.

"She was always here at Hope," the church's associate pastor said.

She was described as child-like, perhaps still a little "naive."

As I sat through Sunday night's service, I couldn't help but think that Eva was truly among "the least of these" that Jesus spoke so tenderly about in the Scriptures.

She lost her parents early in life, had no brothers or sisters, and spent many years living in rehabilitation homes. She loved coloring books and needlepoint. She was thrilled to collect the autograph of an Elvis impersonator on a group excursion she took recently to Las Vegas. It was on display at the church Sunday night.

So was her favorite new Christmas ornament, a yellow glass duck purchased by her roommate's sister at the Grand Emporium in downtown San Pedro.

A couple who through the Harbor Area YWCA "adopted" Eva and her roommate, Tammy, for Christmas -- Bill and Janet -- delighted the women only a week before Christmas by delivering their first Christmas tree.

At the time of her death, Eva had been working on memorizing John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

She'd made it as far as "whosoever."

As the pastor said last night, Eva's home now. And there's something intensely sweet about that thought for those of us who are believers.

Meanwhile, the police continue to investigate the case. My colleague Larry Altman will be following the  story.

May those who knew, helped and loved Eva in this life be comforted and blessed for the kindness they showed.

The Los Angeles City Clerk this morning finished its signature verification process on nominating petitions. (James T. Law was the last candidate to be checked -- his petitions had an insufficient number of valid signatures, bumping him from the competition.)

Eleven candidates will appear on the Nov. 8 special election ballot. If no one receives more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff will be held in January.

The race (which is nonpartisan) is to fill the Harbor-to-Watts seat on the L.A. City Council that was left vacant when Janice Hahn won election to Congress this summer.

The candidates (in the order they will appear on the primary ballot):

1. Frank Pereyda
2. Jayme Wilson
3. Gordon Teuber
4. Joe Buscaiono
5. Justin I. Brimmer 
6. Rebecca Chambliss
7. Pat McOsker
8. Warren Furutani
9. M. "Candice" Graham
10. Rudy Svorinich Jr.
11. John. M. Delgado Jr.

We're still waiting for the Los Angeles City Clerk to verify petition signatures on four remaining candidates (the Clerk's Office has until Sept. 22, but everyone's hoping they'll be able to wrap it up by the end of the day Friday). 

We still have a little bit of news for you, though.

City officials today conducted the random drawing that determines the order in which candidates will appear on the Nov. 8 special election ballot. (The order is determined by holding a random drawing of the letters of the alphabet.)

So here it is (the four candidates still awaiting verification are in parentheses):

1. (James T. Law)
2. Frank Pereyda
3. Jayme Wilson
4. Gordon Teuber
5. Justin I. Brimmer
6. Joe Buscaino
7. Rebecca Chambliss
8. Pat McOsker
9. (Kambiz "Mostofi" Mostofizadeh)
10. (Robert Farrell)
11. Warren Furutani
12. (M. "Candice" Graham)
13. Rudy Svorinich Jr.
14. John M. Delgado Jr.
    

The latest candidates to qualify for the Nov. 8 special election in Los Angeles City Council District 15 are Justin Brimmer and Frank Pereyda.

Already qualifying are Joe Buscaino, Rebecca Chambliss, John Delgado Jr., Assemblyman Warren Furutani, Pat McOsker, Gordon Teuber, Rudy Svorinich Jr. and Jayme Wilson.

Still awaiting signature verifications are Robert Farrell, M. "Candice" Graham, James Law and Kambiz "Mostofi" Mostofizadeh.

****8 p.m.: Ok, so this is where it stands:

Jayme Wilson qualified for the ballot today in the Nov. 8 special election race to represent the Harbor-to-Watts district on the Los Angeles City Council.

Joe Buscaino and Pat McOsker also have been qualified for the ballot after the City Clerk's office verified their respective 500 nominating petition signatures.

Candidate Rebecca Chambliss also turned in her petitions earlier this week but was found to be 53 signatures short in the verification process. She's picked up supplemental petitions and will be attempting to make up the difference before Monday's 5 p.m. deadline.

That leaves 16 candidates who filed paperwork to run who are still busy putting their petition signatures together. Many will likely be turned in Friday to allow for some wiggle room in case they, too, come up short. We'll keep you posted. We're anticipating having a final ballot list by Tuesday or Wednesday next week at the latest.

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.

Sounds like a party's brewing to celebrate the Navy's announcement this week that the USS Iowa would be coming to San Pedro's waterfront.

Apparently a couple of the Iowa supporters will be stopping by Off the Vine Wines between 5 and 8 tonight, so the owners decided to throw a celebration party to boot. And you're all invited.

Off the Vine is at 491 W. Sixth St. (just east of Pacific Avenue, across from the Warner-Grand Theatre), San Pedro.

You can call them at 831-1551.

If you missed the big news, read about it here.

Rudy Svorninich Jr. became the fourth candidate for District 15 on the Los Angeles City Council to report raising $50,000.

Also reaching that benchmark in earlier report filings with the city Ethics Commission were Pat McOsker, Joe Buscaino and Warren Furutani.

The special election to fill the seat vacated by Janice Hahn when she won her congressional bid in July is Nov. 8.