Life With Iron Giants: Empowerment Zone

Last night, radio host Kevin James (Kevin James Show, KRLA 12-3a.m) attended our Coastal Neighborhood Council Meeting. He is touring many of the Neighborhood Councils in the Southland to get a better feel for the issues facing neighborhoods, and to support the local work they do. This is a contentious issue as the Councils have been struggling to keep funding going from the City of Los Angeles, and this is especially true in San Pedro (which has three councils for each of our distinct geographical areas). We have not had our just due from the City for over a century, and although the worm is finally turning in some respects, the Neighborhood Councils here remain the only place to truly intervene on local issues. With the lion's share of city revenue streaming in from our port, and a mere 1/4 of a City Council seat to show for it, we are the true victims of 'taxation without representation'.

When I came home from the meeting, there were a few things that had happened in the meeting that bothered me, so I wrote to him at the station.

Dear Kevin:

After leaving the meeting I realized that you may not return any time soon, and I wanted to point out a few things. San Pedro has a huge PR problem. Until a few weeks ago there wasn't even a Visitors & Convention Bureau for a town with millions of tourists passing through every year - this tourism revenue goes straight back to Los Angeles. Just one of of the many inequities we face as a city annexed by L.A. early last century to drain our resources for the city coffers with barely a nod when it comes to representation or financial compensation. You may not realize this but we are tethered to the city of L.A. by a thin 20 mile corridor running through other cities, created to attach us, but we might as well be a hundred miles away for the historical injustice we've suffered due to pollution, noise, and traffic from the giant port complex the city built on our doorstep. The Visitors and Convention Bureau for San Pedro, like many organizations here, began on a grassroots level by involved community members who, like me, are frustrated by the image that our town has to the rest of the Southland. An image that is simply wrong, mis-informed, and often fueled by vague racist fears.

In fact, San Pedro is a deeply rooted, multi-cultural town with the strongest sense of community I've experienced, and I've lived in every part of Los Angeles. Independent-minded, our 80,000 populace ranges from disadvantaged, middle class, to wealthy, and we all identify as San Pedrans, not Angelenos. Multiple generations of ethnically diverse families live here in relative harmony. No-one ever talks about that. And loyalty? You won't find it stronger anywhere than here. The reason our lead LAPD officer said "criminals live in San Pedro" is not because we house the region's criminals, but because Pedro lawbreakers, like everyone else here, stay in San Pedro, their hometown, and it makes it easy for authorities to track them. This remark may have been misunderstood by someone who doesn't see the context.

We do live in an urban area, and crime is a part of life. But I was annoyed by the use of 'carjacking' to describe an attempted theft, and a later stolen automobile in Redondo Beach. These were car thefts, not carjackings (which infers violent interaction with a driver), and there was an allusion to the fact that someone might have followed this lady from San Pedro all the way to Redondo Beach to steal her car. Unless Anna drives a one of a kind luxury vehicle, the idea seems ridiculous, but our Council members even made an offhanded follow up remark to watch our cars in the parking lot! Our family rides our bikes in this area all the time and down by the beach, it's as safe as any place in L.A. I've had my car stolen, and so have friends - from Los Feliz and Hancock Park respectively. Never here in San Pedro.

We do face some serious environmental issues here, and lately the Port has been responding, I believe due to timely pressure from government, interest groups, and a forward-thinking management team at the Port. Our north Pedro air quality is getting much better, but we still need to keep the pressure up to employ all necessary funds and legislative tools to make businesses comply with new directives. And tourist-friendly development on our waterfront is finally happening after 20 years of debate, 18 of them with a Port and City Council that refused to take us seriously. These things are changing, and as a relatively new resident here, I'm thankful to be part of these changes.

So please remember that many residents of San Pedro often don't care what 'outsiders' think, and after decades of misjudgment and stereotyping, they've just given up. Don't take that stoic, self-deprecating attitude as proof these opinions are accurate.

San Pedro is a complex and fascinating town on a striking sea-wrapped peninsula - truly unique. Give it the multi-dimensional look it deserves.