While the justifiable outrage over Fred Brown’s Recovery Services is taking place in southern San Pedro, a potentially even greater disaster is already planned for northern San Pedro. And for good measure, we have a new controversy in the middle of downtown.
Everyone would agree that Rancho San Pedro, the WWII-era public housing project on N. Harbor Boulevard that became a center for gangs, drugs, and crime, has been an eyesore for decades. Redevelopment was decided upon years ago and is now proceeding with the construction of the midrise at 327 N. Harbor Blvd. to house displaced RSP residents.
But while a new, improved RSP is longed-for, does San Pedro really need to replace the current 478 homes with up to 1,553 residential units? I think we can safely assume that tripling the number of homes would at least triple RSP’s population and at least double the number of vehicles. Could it also lead to a rise in crime?
San Pedrans have had to suffer for decades now, with overdevelopment leading to parking and traffic issues (thank you, Rancho Palos Verdes). Counting Eastview, the population has probably doubled in my lifetime, meaning at least twice as many vehicles on our streets. And in that same period, not only has a single lane not been added to any of our main arteries—Gaffey, Pacific, Western, and Harbor Boulevard—but lanes have actually been removed to make room for bicycles.
How can we justify adding more vehicles without adding more traffic lanes?
As for the future of the site of the former county courthouse on Sixth Street, lines have already been drawn between those who want to see Port of Los Angeles High School expand and those who favor adding still another hotel and more retail to downtown.
Give it to the kids. They have a brighter future than Downtown San Pedro, which, with or without a new hotel and more businesses, has four months until Harborgeddon. And all I want is a large, FREE parking lot.
MORE SAN PEDRO-RELATED BOOKS
I had no idea that when I started listing books about San Pedro or written by past or current San Pedrans, it would go on this long. I thought this would be the final installment, but there is more to come.
BIOGRAPHY
Terpsihori: A Greek Woman, an American Immigrant: A Story of Love, Courage, Hardship and Survival by Michael George Markulis.
George John Markulis: The Mythical Greek God of Coal Mining and Beyond by Michael George Markulis.
Mrs. Oswald Chambers: The Woman Behind the World’s Bestselling Devotional by Michelle Ule.
Overflowing Faith: Lettie Cowman and Streams in the Desert by Michelle Ule.
Thomas Ince: Hollywood’s Independent Pioneer by Brian Taves. One of several Hollywood-related biographies by the San Pedro native.
The Six: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush. Includes the story of San Pedro High graduate Anna Lee Fisher (nee Tingle).
On a Mission: The Smithsonian History of US Women Astronauts by Valerie Neal. More on Fisher.
The Bridges Yuri Built: How Yuri Kochiyama Marched Across Movements by Kai Naima Williams. Williams is the great-granddaughter of the San Pedran, formerly known as Mary Nakahara.
Rad American Women A-Z by Kate Schatz (includes Kochiyama).
Yuri: The Life and Times of Yuri Kochiyama by Mayumi Nakazawa.
Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama by Diane C. Fujino.
History of the Harbor District of Los Angeles by Ella A. Ludwig. Early history of San Pedro and Wilmington.
ANTHOLOGY
Many of the following are only available through the San Pedro Bay Historical Society or the author.
Homeport—1991. Prose, poetry and art by members of the San Pedro Writers’ Guild and the San Pedro Art Association.
San Pedro and Other Poems by Mabel Ward Cory.
Turning Tides by Richard Leach.
Ischia Mia Bella (My Beautiful Ischia): Nostalgic Poetries from California in the Ischian Dialect by Tony De Girolamo.
Home Port Pourri. Prose and poetry by members of San Pedro Writers’ Guild.
The Rubaiyat by Dick E. Wolfe.
Bravo, San Pedro, Ole! by Dick E. Wolfe.
San Pedro…here and there by Edgar L. Strong.
Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski. Just one of a number of books by the notorious underground poet/author, who moved to San Pedro in 1978, died in 1994, and is buried at Green Hills.
San Pedro faces & places by Debbie Marr. spt
San Pedro native Steve Marconi began writing about his hometown after graduating from high school in 1969. After a career as a sportswriter, he was a copy editor and columnist for the News-Pilot and Daily Breeze for 20 years before joining the L.A. Times. He has been writing monthly for San Pedro magazines since 2005, and in 2018 became a registered longshoreman. Marconi can be reached at spmarconi@yahoo.com.
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