(May 12, 2008) -- Downtown businessman John Morris (Smooth's Sports Grille) whose unofficial 2007 "State of the City" message argued that Port expansion cost LB its major assets -- clean water, clean air and downtown beach -- for which the City deserves compensation, not unconditional Port expansion, is taking his show on the road (again).

His latest in a series of presentations to community groups comes on Wednesday May 14, 5 p.m. at the Westside Redevelopment Project Area Committee's meeting at LBPD's West Division Substation (1835 Santa Fe Ave.). Mr. Morris is expected to bring along a Power Point presentation similar to the one he was allowed to present as the final item at a recent LB Harbor Commission meeting.

It includes archival photos that support his argument that Port expansion artificially turned the L.A. River's mouth so it's now aimed eastward toward LB's beaches instead of toward the Port. Mr. Morris argues that the L.A. River should be restored so that it's turned back toward the Port...where he says shipping interests and the federal government that benefit from Port expansion are the proper parties to pay to clean up its consequences.

Mr. Morris advocates a special container fee to help pay for LB city infrastructure...noting that the Port has already levied such a fee to expand its own Port-related infrastructure.

He also urges state action (that the City Attorney says would require a statewide vote of the people) to allow revenue from a container fee and other Port revenue to fund LB infrastructure in an expanded area (marked in yellow) beyond the current narrow shoreline/tidelands strip.

In October 2007, LBReport.com covered Mr. Morris' Rotary "State of the City" presentation in detail...which ignited discussion of the issues. In January 2008, LB Mayor Bob Foster made an unscripted reference to Mr. Morris' L.A. River proposal in the official "State of the City" message...stopping short of supporting it but saying it was among options deserving study.

Port management responded by preparing a written internal memo critical of several aspects of Mr. Morris' River proposal and at the suggestion of Harbor Commissioners, it was developed into a Port staff Power Point presentation for Harbor Commissioners.

Port staff called Mr. Morris's L.A. River approach too expensive and potentially detrimental to Port operations...and (backed by Harbor Commissioner James Hankla) urged more aggressive enforcement of existing L.A. River water discharge rules, which if enforced should prevent the trash and toxics from reaching the River and LB.

However the L.A. River water discharge rules were subsequently blocked by a lawsuit filed by multiple upriver cities (including Signal Hill and Lakewood), delaying the rules' implementation for a now-undeterminable period.

LB Harbor Commissioners gave Mr. Morris a publicly agendized opportunity to present his materials to them.

They listened politely, voiced support for their current direction which includes "greener" operations along with major infrastructure projects that they contend will bring efficiencies and cleaner operations...and received and filed (took no action on) Mr. Morris' proposal.

(Mr. Morris' presentation did spark a Harbor Commission procedural reform: Harbor Commissioners changed their public testimony procedure to let people wishing to speak on agendized items do so when the items are called (as at LB City Council meetings), not just en masse before the items are individually discussed. The Harbor Commission's previous procedure caught activists present to speak on Morris' item by surprise.)

Meanwhile, the Port's major desired infrastructure projects are moving forward. Key among them is a plan to rebuild the Gerald Desmond bridge, a structure completed at taxpayer expense relatively recently in the 1960s. The Port wants the bridge rebuilt to raise it higher...so mega-size container ships -- significantly larger than current vessels -- could enter LB's inner harbor and bring larger container volumes into LB.

The Port of LB is separately poised to roll out a major proposed redevelopment/capacity expansion of its middle harbor facilities.

Proponents of the Port projects contend they'll bring greater efficiencies ("faster freight, cleaner air") with less pollution...and further argue that the pollution reductions can't occur without the new infrastructure.

However, there's no statutory requirement in place that legally ensures that there'll actually will be a net decrease in pollution, or even "no net increase" with the Port expansion.

State legislation to require no-net-increase in pollution with Port growth, authored by State Sen. Alan Lowethal, was blocked by Assembly Democrats in August 2006...and Senator Lowenthal has since refused to pursue it.

LB's two downtown area Councilmembers -- Vice Mayor Bonnie Lowenthal and Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal -- while publicly supportive of cleaner water and cleaner air (including pursuit of federal and state projects to improve the L.A. River's water quality) haven't endorsed Mr. Morris' call to redirect the L.A. River, levy a container fee for city infrastructure or urge state measures (that might ultimately need a statewide vote of the people) to expand Tidelands areas where Port revenue could be spent.

Westside Redevelopment Project Area Committee
Wednesday May 14, 5 p.m.
LBPD West Division Substation
1835 Santa Fe Ave.