Greetings Everyone,
Shortly after my Update last month,
it was learned that a desalination demonstration project was being planned by
the West Basin Municipal Water District (WB) for a portion of the AES power
plant site. Like the City of Redondo Beach, I learned of this potential
use of our waterfront just days before an agreement between AES and the WB was
to be voted on by their Board of Directors.
I made a point to attend this board
meeting in Carson on July 21st to introduce ourselves to their Board and
comment on their proposal. Redondo Beach City Councilman John
Parsons was also there and managed to get this item pulled from their agenda
to allow for discussions with the City before they proceeded. I spoke
with several of the Directors and staff beforehand though, including our
elected representative, Carol Kwan. All were very cordial, but surprised
to hear that there had been two referendums halting other development projects
and an advisory vote for a park at this site. I detailed some of this in
testimony under what had now become a non-agenda item.
Since it has been postponed
for a couple of months, the South Bay Parkland Conservancy has decided to hold
an informational symposium for the public we are calling the "Desal PowWow" on
Thursday, September 14th, 7-8:30 p.m. at the Veterans Park Library - see
attached flyer and please share with your neighbors and friends.
Now, I could spend considerable
time here discussing all this, but the SBPC has not taken a position on it for
lack of information plus, the experts on both sides of this issue will be
speaking at this event on the merits of the project, and what impacts it may
have to the Santa Monica Bay and our waterfront. If you are interested
in reading about the WB and what this proposal is all about, including a draft
of the Memorandum of Understanding between AES and WB, check out the links
provided below.
There are quite a lot of
elements around the already complex issue of cleaning up this site and
restoring it for public use. This November, Proposition 84 will be
on your ballot to provide $5.4 billion for projects like Heart Park.
Stay tuned for more info. This could prove to be a very
important time for our efforts.
Sincerely,
Bill
Brand
President
South Bay Parkland
Conservancy
PO Box
7000-408
Redondo Beach, CA
90277
310-809-4405