Suzy Royds knows all about knocking on doors.
The longtime real estate professional has no qualms about talking to people. Politics, however, is a brand new ballgame for Royds, one she came into as she and her neighbors pushed against a plan to redevelop the South Bay Galleria into a mixed-use development with residential, office and commercial space.
Royds lives on Kingsdale Avenue, just south of Artesia Boulevard and would be an immediate neighbor to the development. It wouldn’t be in her backyard, but in her front yard.
“My concern is District 4 — the already dense District 4, with three on a lots, and turning streets into one-ways with not enough parking for anyone,” Royds said.
The preliminary plan by Galleria parent company Forest City calls for as many as 650 apartment units, or as few as 298 apartment units, on the Galleria property.
“I would never want to see that many apartments on that location. I’ve done the numbers, that’s 4,200 extra daily car trips going through those neighborhoods,” Royds said, referring to traffic calculation numbers provided to her by a supporter.
Her concern is that housing on the Galleria site would further tax the intersection at Artesia and Hawthorne Boulevards, which is already stressful to navigate and forces drivers on to side streets.
“At Christmas time, the UPS driver had to pull into the driveway and when he had to leave, I had to go out and stop traffic,” Royds said. “Cars won’t let you out of your driveway. They come out doing 50 mph going to the red light, and they’re just avoiding Hawthorne/Artesia.”
Royds has had a lifetime to familiarize herself with these problems. She grew up in Redondo, and touts her bonafides in the Redondo school system. She and her husband Tom bought their Kingsdale home from her parents, and raised their own son there.
Now, Royds says, she’s fighting to fix things for her neighbors.
“Five out of the nine living on my block bought their houses in the last five years. They’re not like me, sitting on a home with great equity. They can’t up and leave if it gets terrible,” Royds said. “As it stands now, the Galleria would have a horrible impact on them.”
Royds is part of a voting block, alongside Mayoral candidate Bill Brand, District 1 candidate Nils Nehrenheim and District 2 candidate Todd Loewenstein. Like them, she prominently displays a “No Traffic!” logo on her literature, and has made arguments against “overdevelopment” and “piecemeal development.”
Also like them, she has declared that she will vote yes on Measure C, which would redefine the terms of 2010’s Measure G waterfront zoning with the aim of “encouraging harbor uses” and preventing the CenterCal Waterfront redevelopment plan from moving forward.
Royds admits that she has more research to do. She’s not sure about what to do with the Waterfront or Seaside Lagoon beyond Measure C, and she believes that the city’s General Plan must be revamped to reduce residential density.
Royds acknowledges that she is a relative newcomer to the process, but she feels more than capable of doing the job, given her mentorship from outgoing councilman Steve Sammarco, among others.
“Along the history of Redondo, I think we’ve taken steps backwards,” she said. “I’m interested in looking at the City as a whole and what my District’s part will be going forward.”
