During my seventh year on the Redondo Beach City Council, a colleague who was elected at the same time leaned over to me during the discussion of an agenda item and said, “Didn’t we do this about seven years ago?”
Government, it seems, has a very proficient internal recycling plan. After all, if the seat occupants are termed out, it is very likely that the present occupant doesn’t realize that the same information was presented, and rejected, before.
Thus, when I got a look at the designs for the ocean-facing part of the new waterfront project, I got that frisson of déjà vu. I had seen this all before.
Where I had seen it was in the original designs for the non-residential part of the “turn of the century” Heart of the City project. The idea was exactly the same as it is now… to make the gobbledygook of the present harbor area into someplace that might actually be conducive to spending some quality time.
King Harbor has been a disaster ever since the destruction of the original downtown and its replacement with the barracks like construct now occupying that land. Since little can be done short of a tactical nuclear strike to rid us of that eyesore, every redesign of the area has had to work around it.
The new design does exactly what the last one did. If the earlier work hadn’t been done during an era when pen and ink were still used, I would have suspected a great deal of cutting and pasting.
What frustrates me the most is that this portion of the old Heart of the City never got its opportunity to deliver on its promise. Over these past decade plus, the city could have been generating revenue for itself rather than for all the lawyers who added Mercedeses to their driveways.
Oh, the waste!
If there is going to be organized opposition to this new plan, it is most likely to come from the people in the barracks. They will complain about views, noise and the like. Depending on their influence with the City Council, this project may limp along for another decade trying to please everyone.
Everyone cannot be pleased. Views will be disrupted. Noise will be generated. Traffic will increase.
Get past it and understand that in order to gain value from the asset we have been given, compromise is necessary. It is like people who build a house near the airport and then complain about airplane noise.
That value will help our city provide better services. It will help the city maintain a strong fiscal position. It will help keep fees as low as possible.
The city-wide benefit is great. For the greater good, it is long past time to get it done. ER
