Nobody has won the war, but supporters of Measure G won the battle of the Pacific Coast Highway and Catalina Avenue intersection on Friday afternoon.
What supporters described as an impromptu counter-protest brought roughly 30 pro-G activists to the street corner at 5 p.m. Friday, squashing a protest organized by Building a Better Redondo against the ballot measure and forcing the handful of anti-G activists who showed up to a lonelier corner a half block south.
Councilman Steve Diels, a supporter of Measure G, waved a sign that said, “Honk If You Love Puppies.”
“We are stooping to new lows,” he joked.
But Diels, who spearheaded the rally, said that there was a more serious point to be made.
“This was just to show there is support for Measure G,” Diels said. “It turns out they didn’t show up. So they don’t have much support.”
The rally’s location – with the AES power plant in the background – was also significant, according to Diels.
“The significance is Measure G will allow park zoning where the power plant is,” Diels said, noting that a no vote on G would relegate the site to industrial uses only.
BBR has argued that any vote on harbor zoning should phase out all industrial uses and essentially force the closure of the AES power plant. Measure G would add park zoning but not remove the current zoning allowing power generation. Power plant officials argue they would be owed up to $450 million should power generation be disallowed.
Diels said voters should embrace the opportunity to add park zoning to the plant site under Measure G because BBR’s suggestion to send the matter back to the voters would take time and money.
“It would take another vote of the people at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he said. “So the time to pass park zoning is now.”
Down the street, Joan Riley showed up alone to rally against Measure G before she was eventually joined by four others. Riley said she just wants everybody to work together towards a solution that includes more open space in the harbor, and not dense development.
“I think there needs to be a real meeting of all participants in the city about how to develop the waterfront and the AES site into something unique for Redondo Beach….a place where you can walk down to the waterfront, and not necessarily just to go to restaurants,” Riley said.
Meta Moder said that Measure G reminded her too much of the Heart of the City, the plan proposed by the city in 2002 that would have allowed extensive development of the waterfront, including residential development of the AES site and up to 1.6 million square feet of commercial development in the harbor.
“It’s back to the heart of the City,” she said. “They are going to put in a Galleria mall and hundreds of time shares.”
“How many times do you have to say no?” said Will Yeager.
Roseanne Tracy, who heads Redondo Moms for Measure G, argued that the zoning wouldn’t bring malls but instead something more similar to Manhattan Beach’s new downtown Metlox complex. She pointed to the boutique Shade Hotel, which is the cornerstone of the Metlox development and – pending the approval of Measure G – will propose a 54-room hotel in the Redondo harbor.
“We are not looking at malls,” she said. “We just want some amenities and a nice place or two to go to. I’m all for Shade down there. It will bring in other more upscale places to go to.”
Former Councilman Chris Cagle, who along with Mayor Mike Gin heads the pro-G group Redondo United, argued that Measure G represents the end of a long public process of compromise that began when he led the successful referendum movement against the Heart of the City. He stresses such amenities as a proposed waterfront promenade, the removal of all residential zoning, and a commercial development cap of 400,000 square feet.
But Measure G represents a divide even among the activists who fought against the Heart of the City, including Building a Better Redondo chair Jim Light and supporter Councilman Bill Brand, who are spearheading opposition to G. Another of Cagle’s former fellow activists against the Heart of the City, Jess Money, was at Friday’s rally. As Cagle stood with a pro-G sign along PCH, Money walked by and looked at him.
“Haven’t you died yet?” Money asked.
Cagle recently endured a bout with cancer. “I am a survivor,” he said after Money walked away. “I’m like the Eveready bunny. I keep going and going.”
Money was unapologetic.
“I heard he had cancer and was about to die,” he said. “I can’t wait for him to go….It’s like if Adolf Hitler got cancer. You wouldn’t say, ‘Oh no, too bad, he’s going to die.’ There are bad people in this world. This is war, without the Geneva Convention.”
Light, who was not at the rally, issued a statement condemning Money’s comments.
“Needless to say, I am appalled,” Light said. “Jess does not represent BBR. While we don’t agree with our opponents, we don’t wish ill of anyone. These kind of comments have no place in public discourse regardless of an individual’s position on any matter.”
Light said that Money has not contributed financially to the organization or been involved in any organizational decisions.
“Just to make it clear, Jess is not a member of BBR, he is not an officer, he is not a spokesman for BBR. He takes his own stance and usually makes his own fliers,” Lights said. “It would be improper to tie him to BBR in anything other than his opposition of Measure G. Obviously at any open rally we cannot control what each individual says.”
Money is listed as a BBR supporter on the group’s website. A search of public records shows his only financial involvement as having been reimbursed $1,080, in early 2008, for printing costs of fliers. ER
