http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_9725970

By Donna Littlejohn Staff Writer

Article Launched: 06/27/2008 11:57:53 PM PDT

There’s an old saying that goes something like this: “Everything’s been said – but not everyone’s said it.”

Case in point: this week’s public hearing that drew about 500 people for yet another pro-and-con airing of the proposed Ponte Vista housing development at Western Avenue in San Pedro.

Not much new was said during the five-hour marathon hearing Thursday night – aside from the so-called green acres or giant community gardens idea floated by the Sierra Club, which calls for the 61.5-acre property to be hoed and cultivated into farmland.

Opponents, wearing red R-1 buttons -for the site’s current single-family residence zoning – pointed to the specter of more traffic and density. They also criticized the developer for busing supporters in from out of town and plying them with free egg salad sandwiches.

Supporters, sporting yellow “Ponte Vista Supporter” stickers, talked about the need for more diversified housing and jobs.

“Generations to come will be blessed by this project,” said Gloria Lockhart, a single mother and social worker who heads up a social service agency in San Pedro.

Lockhart said she’s been consistently priced out of Southern California’s housing market and sees developments like Ponte Vista as holding out the promise of achieving the American dream.

But attorney Steven Pingel, who lives in a condominium on Western Avenue, said Ponte Vista leaves him with another kind of vision.

“It’s not going to be the American dream,” he said. “It’s going to be the American nightmare.”

No decisions were made Thursday. The hearing, hosted by Los Angeles city planners, was part of a public comment process to help officials come up with a staff recommendation on the project.

The project and the recommendation are expected to go before the city’s Planning Commission for a vote in October. The Los Angeles City Council would make a final ruling.

First rolled out to the public in October 2005 by developer Bob Bisno, Ponte Vista has been hashed and rehashed at numerous public meetings and workshops over the years.

Bisno has downsized his original plan for 2,300 homes to 1,950.

But both sides appear only to have hardened their positions.

Ponte Vista has spawned petition drives, blogs, glossy full-page ads, cable television spots, grass-roots traffic studies, lawn signs, bumper stickers – and no shortage of rumors and conspiracy theories.

Passion on both sides still runs high and reaches across demographic lines throughout the close-knit port community.

Audience members Thursday included senior citizens, council members, environmentalists and union members.

The director of Playa Vista Job Opportunities, a group that links former prisoners with trade unions for training and apprenticeships, was on hand with some program participants to show support for the development.

Officials in Rancho Palos Verdes, which lies just across the street, came to voice objections, saying density and traffic will diminish the quality of life for that city’s residents.

The Rev. Nicholas Tacito delivered a letter of support from Mary Star of the Sea Catholic high school, which will get an access road out of the development deal.

The building trade unions, along with the Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 13 and the AFL-CIO, say the project, which will include a signed labor agreement between the city and Bisno, will provide thousands of construction jobs and housing for workers.

Many San Pedro residents took the microphone to openly scoff at “outdated” city traffic calculations that concluded the impacts from Ponte Vista can be offset by road improvements funded by the developer.

Those who drive Western every day said common sense tells them otherwise; traffic is jammed now and will only get worse if the project is built, they said.

Senior citizens testified that the project – which sets aside about 40 percent of the units for homeowners 55 and older – will provide opportunities to “downsize” and stay in the community where they raised families.

Youth sports supporters argued the park space and ball fields promised by Bisno for Eastview Little League will help turn back a progressive, decades-old loss of youth facilities in town.

And so the debate goes on.

The issue has sometimes divided neighbors and even family members. It also threatens to strain relations between Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn and a significant part of her political base, L.A.’s powerful labor unions.

Hahn so far says she’s not persuaded that the current single-family (R-1) zoning on the former Navy housing property should be changed to allow for more homes.

But in remarks Thursday, she appeared also to leave some wiggle room for a plan that lies somewhere in the middle of R-1 – about 700 homes – and the 1,950 Bisno now has on the table.

“I am in favor of a project at Ponte Vista,” Hahn said. “I am not in favor of this project. I want the city to ask the developer to rework this project and present something we all can support.”

John Greenwood, who chaired Hahn’s Ponte Vista community advisory committee that supports a single-family development, expressed the panel’s frustration to senior planner and hearing officer John Foreman.

“We wanted to dialog with the developer,” Greenwood said. But Bisno’s counter offer of 1,950 homes was still way too high, he said.

“No one could believe he was so out of touch with reality,” Greenwood said. “I’m not a Ponte Vista opponent. I just think Ponte Vista needs to go on a severe diet.”

FIND OUT MORE

The city’s public comment period will stay open through July 11.

Written testimony should cite the Case Number (CPC 2006-8043-GPA-ZC- SP-DA) and be mailed to: Los Angeles City Planning Department, Community Planning Bureau West/Coastal Unit, 200 N. Spring St., Room 621, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Contact David Olivo at 213-978-1197 or david.olivo@lacity.org.

donna.littlejohn@dailybreeze.com