Posted on March 10, 2022
A 10-year Port of Los Angeles policy that’s provided millions of dollars to create parks, fountains and waterfront promenades in San Pedro and Wilmington should be made a permanent fixture in the port’s budget, supporters say.
The Board of Directors for the San Pedro Property Owner’s Downtown Business Improvement District was the latest group to weigh in, requesting the port’s Public Access Investment Plan be extended beyond its 2025 sunset year and be made permanent.
The program, passed in 2015, dedicates 10% of the port’s operating income to invest in waterfront projects designed to improve community access. Over that time, it is estimated, the program will provide $233.7 million to the various projects.
The Los Angeles harbor commission has not yet discussed a possible extension of the program.
In September, the port awarded some $4 million to new waterfront access projects — though the allocation came later and was lower than expected.
Because of the pandemic, Michael Galvin, director of the port’s Waterfront and Commercial Real Estate, told harbor commissioners at the time, costs went up. The budget, he said then, was limited this time as a result. Going forward, Galvin said, the port remains committed to funding various projects until the program ends.
“This would be the opportune time to make it permanent,” said PBID board member Alan Johnson, who made the proposal.
Port revenues are up, Johnson said, and a new Los Angeles City mayor will be seated before the end of this year, meaning a reconfigured harbor commission would follow.
The board approved Johnson’s motion to write a letter in support of making the policy permanent, adding its voice to similar support already expressed among other community groups.
The funds have been used for a number of high-profile projects. San Pedro projects include the Cruise Ship Promenade, Gateway Fanfare Fountain, the town square, the reconfiguring of Harbor Boulevard to create a more seamless entry to the future waterfront redevelopment, the 22nd Street Park, the Downtown Harbor Dock, West Harbor development infrastructure, and Cabrillo Way Marina.
In Wilmington, projects have included the Wilmington Waterfront Park, the promenade project, and the ongoing Avalon Promenade and Gateway developments.
Most recently, program money was allocated to draw up a $500,000 “connectivity” plan, a blueprint for how to better connect the Harbor Area’s attractions in the downtown areas and along the waterfront.
That project is especially important to San Pedro’s downtown community, with its focus on ways to better connect to the town’s nearby waterfront. Key elements will include making sure people can easily move around the area via public transportation and plenty of available parking, along with signage and physical connectors. The idea is to create a destination where people can park once and move throughout the waterfront, downtown and southerly beach areas easily so the area will be seen as a daylong destination.
Making sure there will be money in the future to execute those plans, Johnson said in an interview on Friday, is paramount now that waterfront plans are moving more quickly.
“This has been the infrastructure decade,” Johnson said, “and the port’s got a great start.”
But the finishing touches, he said, are still needed.
“Now is the time to do it,” he said, “to make (the allocations) permanent.”
