Democrats & Obama Are Not San Pedrans

I know that California and San Pedro are committed to the Democratic party. But there is nothing San Pedran about not being straight forward and honest. There is nothing San Pedran about being told one thing and doing another. There is nothing San Pedran about more government. There is nothing San Pedran about waiting for the government to help the poor rather than doing it ourselves. The Democrats and President Obama have continued to lie to San Pedrans about the NSA spying, Benghazi, and Obamacare. The Democrats and President Obama promised that we would be able to keep our health care and we can't. The Democrats and President Obama continue to make more regulations like legalizing marijuana just so they can tax it and make money on it. The Democrats and President Obama indicate that it is un-American to not pay taxes and help the poor. Though only a very small part of our taxes go to help people. And even a good size of the money that goes towards food stamps goes to fund the bureaucracy. The truth is San Pedran's give a lot and go to church/temple a lot with no government help. The truth is that most San Pedrans are independent spirits. This runs counter to the collectivists mentality of the Democratic party. I wish I could say that you could vote Republican. But we need a party of the people, for the people, by the people. We need a party that represents San Pedrans. Unfortunately the Democratic Party is untrustworthy and corrupt. We need to expect more.

San Pedro Chamber of Commerce and Business District are Clueless

Working to pull in out of town shoppers is a good idea. Being able to pull in local shoppers is good as well. Key to both of those plans is a regular set of store hours down town. And key to both of those plans are full shops. People always talk about bringing in some type of "draw" to down town. That is a good idea, but we should lien on the landowners to actually price their retail space so there are not so many empty shops. Our downtown landowners are not working together. They focus on their own bottom line, not realizing that the more shops that are open leads to more foot traffic which leads to more businesses wanting to come down town, which in turn leads to higher rents. As it stands today the retail space per foot costs too much and the landlords are not working together. Each landlord prices businesses out of downtown. And then they complain about the lack of businesses that want to rent their spaces. Maybe they should remember that they are in America and should price their spaces competitively. If the landlords lowered their rents San Pedro can get more shops downtown, which in turn will lead to higher rents long term.

Obama Does Not Care About San Pedrans

The policies of the Obama administration does nothing to support our hardworking families. Obamacare alone has caused a number of Pedrans to lose their health care. Though it was intended to provide health insurance to the uninsured, in fact it has caused more to lose their insurance by creating more part time jobs. Obamacare has done a lot to help the advertisement business, the software companies that make the website, and the health insurance companies with more potential customers, but it has and will not help the average hard working family. And when you consider how our president continues to buy bonds to help the rich get richer in the stock market, how the NSA spies on us, and how the IRS targets non-profits you get the true portrait of a president who does not care about normal folk like San Pedrans.

Congratulations to New Harbor Commissioner Mr. Pirozzi

This week Mr. Anthony Pirozzi was sworn in as the newest Harbor Commissioner for the Port of Los Angeles. The Mayor's office could not have made a better choice to represent our community. Mr. Pirozzi is a lifetime resident of San Pedro and he and his family still live in town. Mr. Pirozzi has been active in the community with Eastview Little League and the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce. He cares about the town and is willing to actually work to improve it and to continue to make it great. Congrats to Mr. Pirozzi and congratulation to our town for getting such a good representative for the Harbor Commission.

Surly San Pedro Pride

"LA Weekly" recently stirred up the local debate when it mentioned that San Pedro was one of surliest cities in Los Angeles. "Random Lengths" even devoted the front page of its paper in response. I say, great!! San Pedro IS a surly town and damn proud of it. San Pedro is a hard working diverse family town in the middle of a big city. What unites us is our respect for hard work, our love of family, and respecting our diverse cultures. There has been talk about San Pedro being an Italian or Croatian town. But anyone that has spent time on our ball fields or looked at a school year book can attest, we are a diverse town and damn proud of it. We love our families and we love our individual cultures, but we love Pedro to and respect our neighbors. We do have crime, but we don't have the large race based crime in greater Los Angeles. We just have the normal stupid largely poverty driven crime. And when issues arise in town, our town rises as one, not divided. We do argue about our future and the way to get there. But that is because we love the town and want what is best. Due in large part due to our diversity we have tons of opinions. Opinions are good, Pedran's are good. We are united in our respect for hard work our love of families and our love of this great town we call home.

110 South Should Be the San Pedro Fwy

There is the Santa Monica Freeway, the San Diego Freeway, and the Pasadena Freeway - There should be a San Pedro Freeway. The 110 Freeway South only goes to San Pedro. San Pedro is already listed on every 110 South Freeway sign. We just need to lobby our representatives to make it official to make the 110 South officially the San Pedro Freeway. San Pedro is better than Pasadena, Santa Monica, and San Diego. In addition, our value to the California economy is more than all those cities combined. The San Pedro Freeway - Great Name - Great Idea

Bike Lanes Are a Waste of Space

In another example of the stupidity of Los Angeles's traffic department, not only did they install bike lanes where none were needed. They added medians in the middle of the road. Often these fake "center dividers" are just in the middle of the street with no use other than to collect dust. Both Capital and Westmont streets have medians, wasting a whole lane. And on both streets no one will every use them because there are no turn in, turn outs, or homes to use them. These medians cause the removal of a lane that can be used to move traffic along and keep our environment cleaner by reducing the number of stops and starts at stop signs. There was a reason why the folks above Western voted themselves out of San Pedro and Los Angeles. Maybe San Pedro should vote itself out of Los Angeles.

What Pedro Does Best Is What Pedro Does On Its Own

The independent spirit of San Pedran's is not a good fit for the big government Democratic party in charge of Los Angeles. Pedro's independent spirit is seen with the awesome "Shakespeare by the Sea" born and bread in Pedro and an awesome event. Pedro's independent spirit is seen in the "Clean San Pedro" team of volunteers. Pedro's independent spirit is seen in the Cabrillo Beach Museum/Acquarium started by a great Pedran. Pedro's independent spirit is seen in the Eastview Little League and the Boys and Girls club which independently flourish despite the government. Unfortunately Los Angeles county does not respect Pedro's independent spirit. It's city planners want to tell Pedran's how many homes to have in Ponte Vista and how many bike lanes it needs. Los Angeles believes it is smarter than the city that built the greatest port in the world? It is smarter than the people who live and breath in this town? I don't think so. Until Pedran's start voting to challenge the Democratic status qua Pedran's will continually have to fight the "Man". Unfortunately, the "Man" is the Democratic party and its lack of respect for Pedran's and their independent spirit.

San Pedro Bike Lanes Create Pollution

It was good that our councilman Joe Busciano called a town hall meeting to talk about the new bike lanes in San Pedro. Unfortunately, big city Los Angeles just brought the hammer down and said, just deal with it and more bike lanes are to follow. At the meeting the Los Angeles lacky's actually said that the bike lanes are to address Global Warming and safety. Unfortunately the moron does not recognize that fewer lanes means more cars are starting and stopping which actually increases pollution. In addition, no one is biking to work up Capital. If you made the case that cars were being replaced by bikes you could make a case for some lower pollution, but in reality all the bikers are recreational, hence no reduced pollution. Finally, you could always ride your bike on the street and we have had no bike accidents in San Pedro. Yes, in some corners of Los Angeles where the bike traffic is more dense there has been issues, but no here. Stupid Los Angeles is at it again. Can you say Harbor Gateway Succession from Los Angeles?

Bike Lanes a Pain

In another example of how disconnected Los Angeles is from San Pedro, new bike lanes have been added to Capital and Westmont streets. Not only are these streets not the ones that bikers actually use when they ride around the peninsula, they are on steep hills riders would not go up. And with all the conversation against skateboard bombing, these new bike lanes make it easier and better for skateboarders to bomb San Pedro streets. At some point someone will realize that these bike lanes are a waste. At some point someone will realize that a single lane up Westmont causes more traffic and more air pollution as cars spend more time in traffic. Los Angeles is a far cry from San Pedro. It would be good if the traffic folks actually understood the town's traffic patterns before adding bike lanes to roads that are too steep to ride up. The good news is that the government is good at wasting money so they may have no problem putting the roads back.

Rail Yards are Good for Pedro

As I drive along our waterfront near the LAPD building in San Pedro I continually see lines for trucks producing smog. To help improve our air the Port of Los Angeles has proposed using more rail lines to transport goods. I appreciate that the truck drivers' jobs will be at risk. However, this change will help make our port more competitive and keep overall jobs here. With the advent of a wider Panama Canal we need to be proactive to save jobs here. And, as a life long Pedran, having cleaner air only helps. One day I will have less soot piling up on my car. One day we will have even cleaner air. But to make this happen tell one of those protesters against rail yards to take a look at the big picture. ILWU jobs and clean air go a long way to make our community better in the long run then just saving a few jobs (less truckers).

110 Toll Road - 40% Are Rich

The March 23 "Daily Breeze" confirms an earlier declaration that the 110 Toll Road is for the rich. The paper indicated that 40% of the Toll drivers were single drivers. This means that 40% of the drivers do not qualify for the high occupancy discount. This means that 40% of the users can afford to pay sometimes $15 dollars one way to save time into Los Angeles. When you consider that not everyone has a car, not everyone has a computer (or smart phone), and not everyone can afford the extra money to use the Toll road, the demographics lead to a strongly rich population of Toll users. What the paper failed to ask is whether the Toll road is being used more than before. And where is this money going when our councilman want to propose a bond to fix our roads. And how does a Toll road help to bring all Los Angelenos together when not everyone has access to the road. If Los Angeles cared about the poor they would speak up.

Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council Has Lost Its Mind

It is amazing that someone can buy a home or rent an apartment next to a power plant or refinery and then ask the power plant or refinery to move. In Redondo Beach it is the power plant that has been there for years. In San Pedro it is the storage tanks that has been there for years on North Gaffey. Worse is that the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council seems to miss/avoid the refinery right next to the tank!! Do people just have too much time on their hands to protest? Or maybe they are too greedy and self centered? I mean the power plant provides energy and jobs to the region. And the storage tanks provides a necessary service as well as jobs. I mean, if you were too stupid to buy a home in what could be a blast zone, are you really smart enough to tell someone to move? Pedro Guy says: If you don't like the risk, move!!!

Pedro Parks Are the Best

I just finished reading how the Palos Verdes Skate Park effort was set back due to soil issues at one of their few parks. Too bad they don't have a freeway to build the skate park under. I am just kidding. But it does highlight a difference between the folks on the "hill" and San Pedrans. Whereas San Pedran's tend to find a way, laws be damned or skirted. The folks on the hill just tuck in line like sheep. Whereas San Pedran's put a priority on parks and actually look for more space and ways to make what they have better. The folks on the hill live on big lots with little open space. This is why they come to Pedro Parks to play basketball to swim and hang out with their children during the day. This is why we love San Pedro and wear "Pedro" shirts. This is why the folks on the hill where "Pedro" shirts. Pedro rocks. Have a good day.