PORTS O’ CALL LEASING MANAGER JAYME WILSON SAYS LOS ANGELES OFFICIALS MISTAKENLY THINK THE CITY’S RESIDENTS WORK FOR THEM; DISGUST LED HIM TO  STEP INTO THE CRAMMED LOS ANGELES COUNCIL RACE

By Diana L. Chapman

Ports O' Call leasing manager Jayme Wilson leaped into the jostling pile of 11 candidates in an attempt to snatch an open Los Angeles council seat after becoming frustrated that officials seem to think “we are the ones who work for them.”

The broken sidewalks, untrimmed trees, and cost prohibitive expenses that others pay –items the city should be taking care of in the Harbor Area and Watts – leaves him “disgusted.” Los Angeles is such a mess and seems to focus most of its financial efforts to downtown Los Angeles and affluent areas, such as Bel Air and Brentwood. “Show me the broken sidewalks there,” he fumes.

 “City managers, officials and politicians don’t seem to understand that they work for us,” said Wilson, 59, who lives on his 90 foot boat, Spirit, docked at Ports O’ Call in San Pedro. “We don’t work for them.  The whole problem is they think that we are their servants. “It’s that mentality that permeates the city of Los Angeles. The city has failed us. The city does not work. It needs common sense.”

He has some evidence to prove it, said Wilson, who owns a 16.8  percent interest of Ports O’ Call Restaurant, Spirit Cruises and Ports O Call Village. 

The remaining percentage belongs to other partners, he said. Besides managing the restaurant, Wilson also handles leases for smaller businesses at the sea port village.

Wilson contends that he’s the best candidate to vote for in the Nov. 8 election to  replace former Councilwoman Janice Hahn, due to his understanding of city operations and the large chunk of volunteerism he’s done for the Harbor area. Hahn left the post when she was elected to congress.

The candidate also suggests city employees, such as two candidates in the running, Senior lead police officer Joe Buscaino and Firefighter Pat McOsker, who took a leave from his union post as president of United Firefighters of Los Angeles City Local 112, have no business running. 

They both have conflicts, he charged, and are lining themselves up to get large city pensions and $179,000-a-year job.

If he wins, Wilson said, he will donate back $50,000 each year to non-profits and will not take a dime in matching funds the city offers to candidates running for council seats. He’s using $50,000 of his own money in the race and $75,000 in public donations.

Asked if he too has a conflict with partial ownership at Ports O’ Call which falls under the venue of the Port of Los Angeles --Wilson said if he wins, he either will: immediately hand over those businesses to his children or brother; will liquidate them or put them into a blind trust. If the business remains in his family, he will only need to rescues himself from votes involving Ports O’ Call which are a small part  in “ten miles of waterfront.”

Also, he would relinquish his job as lease manager for smaller businesses at the New England style village that hugs the main harbor. (The port in 2014 plans to go out to bid for a new developer  for the village – which may or may not renew the  Wilson’s contract.)

Calling himself a “newbie” because he didn’t move to San Pedro until 1979, Wilson points out he’s done an enormous amount of work for the community, including helping to start up the Port of Los Angeles Charter High School and where he served as president of the board trustee for three years.

Besides his understanding of city operations, he said, he’s held many posts including: president of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce three times; resides as chairman of San Pedro’s Community Redevelopment Agency and has done so for seven years;  remains on the Harbor Area Boys and Girls Club which he’s served for seven years; and is currently vice president of the San Pedro Business Improvement District.

The improvement district is where he learned firsthand, he said, that the public was not only paying, but doing the city’s work. For example, the downtown trees hadn’t been trimmed for years and the sidewalks remained filthy.

His district, determined to attract business to downtown, voted to care for the trees and sidewalks. To do so, the district had to pay the city for an $8,000 a permit to trim the city trees.

Then, Wilson said the city forced them to pay an additional $7,000 to obtain a permit from the city’s Department of Public Transportation department to post no parking signs while the work was done.

“We are the street sweepers,” he said, “We are steam cleaning the sidewalks. We have security 16 hours a day. I have spent my free time as a volunteer improving the community. We must not accept second class service. They don’t have these issues in the Pacific Palisades or Bel Air.”

Also irritating, he added: the plans along the waterfront change each time a new mayor arrives in office, slowing down development and keeping the port  from moving forward. If he wins the council seat, he will work hard to make sure what’s planned now -- happens.

“Let’s just go forward with these plans now,” he said. “we don’t have to stop because we have a new mayor. I’m 100 percent behind the Wilmington and San Pedro water front plans. We don’t need to change anything.”

Should he win, he said, he would turn things around by working closely with the district’s seven neighborhood councils.  The region includes Watts, Lomita, Harbor Gateway, Harbor City, Wilmington and San Pedro.

The councils, working tightly with the city council office, could reshape how the district is treated, Wilson explained. That’s the weapon he plans to use to shore up a district that’s “at the end of a cul-de-sac.”

“If you empower the people, they rise to the occasion,” Wilson said. “I don’t have a blueprint for” the district, he added. That would happen, he said, by designing them with the Neighborhood Councils. That’s where the strength resides, he argued, to make the city more responsive.

NEW SEVEN GOLDEN SECRETS TO WRITING STARTS WEDNESDAY AT THE CORNER STORE; TO START, JUST SHOW UP WITH YOUR CHILD

Has your child learned the joy of writing? Not yet?

Coming to love the craft makes for a great and solid writer -- at any age. Long time writer Diana Chapman currently teaches students from 6 to 14 her Seven Golden Secrets to Writing in an enjoyable and nurturing environment. Students who once could barely write are now receiving As in English!


Not only that, but she makes writing fun. Six sessions in a row, starting this Wednesday at the Corner Store, costs $60. Students are also allowed to drop in to each class for $10. There are no refunds. 

Class begins at 4:30 p.m. and ends at 5:45. The Corner Store is located at 1118 West 37th Street in San Pedro. For more information, email Diana at hartchap@cox.net

How Do You Pitch With Your Feet at Major Baseball Fields Around the Country?

Tom Willis Can Tell You

By Diana L. Chapman

 He’s flown more than 32,000 air miles, traveled countless times by trains and bus, driven himself around the United States  – and pitched 14 times at national baseball stadiums in the U.S.A .  That may seem like no triple run.

 For Tom Willis, it’s a homer. Born without arms, he pitches with his feet.

Despite his lack of appendages, Willis, 52,  of San Diego, never let that stop him. He  threw a ceremonial pitch across home plate at Dodger Stadium in April  before doing the same this past summer at the Boston Red Sox, Arizona Diamondbacks and Houston Astros ball fields.

As a  “congenital bilateral, upper amputee, a fancy way to say no arms,” Willis said, he settled on one decisive goal:  to convince all 30 stadiums in the U.S to let him do the open ceremonial pitch so he can show off just what the disabled can do. So far, he's visited 14.

 Each time he does it, he’s greeted with thunderous applause from thousands.

“My main message is I look different, I act different and it’s o.k. to be different,” Willis explained. “That’s the message I’m driving home for kids. For adults, the message is: “You learn to take what life gives and move forward. Give it the best you have. I want people to think ability – not disability.

“I wanted to be a baseball player, but I couldn’t. But this is what I can do.”

Willis’ story is long – filled with endless body casts and cruel surgeries -- and sad – if you want it to be. His drive, however, forces him to pursue one major achievement after another so he has little time for sadness.

 This is why he drives a car using a foot-steering controls, earned his Master’s degree in adult education from the University of Maryland, took a public relations job with the U.S. Department of Agriculture that flew him around the country --  and later decided he should pitch at every U.S. Major League stadium.

It’s this very attitude he brings to schools when doing motivational speaking – shocking students when he tosses toys and balls directly at the person he’s aiming for. He also has no problem standing up for himself. He took issue with KROQ Talk Show hosts Kevin and Bean when Kevin claimed Willis was stupid  for trying to attempt these pitches. Willis contacted them, went on the air and called Kevin to the plate for his ignorance.

Kevin apologized, he said.

Tom with his father, Richard.

No Easy Life

None of this means his life was easy.  When he was born in 1959, several doctors and a priest impressed upon his parents, Richard and Frances, how much better the armless infant would be in an institution.

Strong Catholics, the parents responded with: “Bring us our baby,” Willis wrote in his unpublished book called “No Hands, No Arms, No Problem.”

While things began to look up, at 10-months old, his father died unexpectedly from cancer, leaving Frances, to care for Willis and his two older siblings. His mother turned out to be a mountain of strength.

“My mother sucked it up and raised all three of us kids, “Willis explained. “My mother taught me: “This is who you are. You can sit around and watch TV or you can go out and do.”

And do he did – despite many interruptions along the way from frequent hospital visits to several major surgeries to falling down repeatedly on his face while  learning to walk.

At age three, scoliosis slipped into his spine and began to curve it – which eventually became life threatening despite that as a little boy he wore body braces, casts and did traction. The scoliosis insidiously forced the curvature to continue and by age seven, it reached an 80 degree angle slowly crawling toward 90. It’s like “your body is being folded in half and compressed,” Willis said.

So he wouldn’t die, this meant spinal fusion surgery at 7-years-old, one day after his birthday. Before the surgery, he was put in another plaster body cast from his neck to waist so doctors “could get me as straight as they could.” Then, two metal Harrington rods were infused into his vertebrae to keep him erect.

“They slapped me into another body cast and sent me home,” Willis explained adding that he would wear it for an entire year even during the muggy summer months. Employees at his deceased father’s company pooled their money together – and bought the family an air conditioner so he wouldn’t suffer even more.

Willis Kept Going

Despite the agony, Willis kept going. After all, it was the way his mother had raised him. She volunteered every day at his school to help pay for her children’s attendance.

Besides his mother – who continued to work as a nurse until age 83 – the pitcher said he’s grateful to Our Lady Sorrows Catholic Church in Takoma Park, Maryland which ran the elementary school he attended. The school, he said, instead of fearing his lack of arms, embraced him and his entire family.

“I was never taunted, nor teased,” explained Willis, who believes it was his mother and school officials that made him courageous enough to pursue things he could not do – at least not in the traditional way. He joked that students didn’t risk teasing him because they would likely face strict punishment from the nuns.

Students there also adapted baseball – a game Willis adored -- so he could play too. They had him run for several batters. It might have helped that his two older siblings, Kathy and Michael also played.

In high school, he opted to try out for soccer despite knowing he wouldn’t make the team. He poured his guts into practices and forced himself to make at least  a “pitiful” goal. He paid for it later. He was in burning pain for the rest of the day.

As he predicted, the list of soccer players who made the team did not include him.  But the soccer coach called Willis into his office and said: ““I’m making you team manager.””

That worked well for everybody, Willis added.

In high school, he went on and did several plays. His friend, who was directing, gave him the role of an armless pirate in Peter Pan. Of course, in college he learned no one would bend rules for him. That was the “reality.”

And while he did have a chance at a bit of normalcy by using artificial arms when he was younger, that didn’t work entirely for this armless kid.

After awhile, No Prosthetics Needed

About age 3, Willis received prosthetics which he wore to school every day as he learned to read, write and paint. But in the evening, he took them off and started doing the same things with – his feet.

“Those suckers are heavy,” Willis added of the instruments.

But once the major surgery was performed, he could no longer wear them and went without the artificial limbs for an entire year, which strengthened his ability to use his feet.

Finally, once the neck-to-waist body cast was removed a year later, Willis was placed back into a brace that included mounts  so artificial arms could be plugged in.

The arms were expected to make his life easier.

But their weight alone caused him to wither in exhaustion. The arms, he said, pushed away from his central force, causing him imbalance and pain. Frustrated, he found himself repeatedly removing them.

“When I got home at night, I would take off the heavy, cumbersome prosthesis,” he wrote in his book. “I was a tiny child and it was a heavy machine made of wood, metal and wires – no space age materials back then. Once the prosthesis was off, which I much preferred, I immediately began using my feet and toes for everything.”

And that’s when he really began to focus on working with his feet.

He learned to paint, color, write, dress, brush his teeth  – and later pitch – with his feet. He can do anything, he said, that any other person can do. He just does it with those two appendages he stands on.

His feet, he concluded, were his shot at freedom. 

Could Willis pitch a baseball with his feet?

In 1980, Willis finished college at the University of Maryland with a Bachelor’s Degree in radio, television and film production – magna cum laude -- and earned his Master’s degree in educational technology in 1988.  He held a variety of careers, first  working for Arbitron Ratings and later at the U.S. Department of Agriculture where he held posts such as a video and satellite television producer and a public affairs officer.

Now married to Mary Lou, a single mother, and having a step-daughter Melissa, he  landed a public affairs job for the department’s forest service in San Diego and launched Tomsfeet Productions. He became a “motivational speaker” with the goal of  breaking down barriers the public has with the disabled – in particular kids.

One day, Willis displayed to elementary students his abilities – pitching tennis balls at the audience -- and  caught the eye of a Cox Channel 4 reporter who covered the San Diego Padres.

The reporter suggested Willis come to Petco Park and toss the ceremonial pitch for the team.

The trouble was, Willis wondered, could he pitch a baseball – which is much heavier than a tennis ball – and make it from the pitcher’s mound to home plate -– a throw that had to be at least 60’6’’?

Because Willis didn’t turn down challenges, his friend Michael Million, a Little League coach, prepared him for the opportunity.

Together, they worked out a plan. Within ten days, Willis had tossed 100 pitches a day, three days a week using what he calls their ABC plan:

a)     Alignment—Feet have to have proper alignment on the mound.

b)    Ball—He had to have a good grip on the ball

c)     Catcher—Make sure he had eye contact with the catcher’s mitt

d)    Dig—Left foot must be dug back to maintain proper footing

e)     Explode --Whip right leg out carrying the ball and make the pitch (He is right-footed instead of right-handed.)

Even with all that practice, Willis could only pitch 58 feet and he worried incessantly that the ball would drop just short of home plate by two feet. He didn’t want to settle for that.

Finally he decided:  “I’m going to go up to that mound. I may never have a chance to get to a (professional) pitcher’s mound again. Success was going to be getting up and doing it.”

In 2008, he did his first pitch for the Padres and “it was terrible.” Still, he learned the club’s patrons were amazed and exploded with applause.

“I thought I should do this in every stadium in the country,” and ever since he’s been roaming the country like a western cowboy. Now, however, he can throw the ball across home plate and does look for donations to help him pay the travel costs.

While Willis is pleased so far that’s he hit up about half of the stadiums, he won’t consider this a success until he’s pitched at all the country’s Major League baseball stadiums. He wants to continue his mission to peel away the mixed messages people carry about the disabled.

In this world, he explains, as his mother always did:

“You take what you get,” Willis said he tells his audiences. “You adapt and you move forward. Otherwise, you go nowhere.”

As always, Willis is going somewhere.

To find out more about pitcher Tom Willis, visit his website: http://www.tomsfeet.com or email him at tom@tomsfeet.com. Visit his other site: www.pitchforawareness.com. He can be reached at (619)-723-4015.

PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS REGARDING THE LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL ELECTION OR ANYTHING ELSE DIRECTLY TO THE UNDERDOGFORKIDS BLOG;

Dear Readers:

I have noticed many of you have posted blog comments on the ongoing Los Angeles City Council election. Unfortunately, when I've opened them nothing came through. I have been unable to fix this. Please feel free to send your comments via email regarding the race. I would enjoy reading and posting them. My email is hartchap@cox.net. They will be posted with your name or anonymously if requested. Please understand I will only run things that fit this blog, meaning it must be kid clean!  -- Diana

 FAMILY FUN DAY CELEBRATED AT THE ALANO CLUB THIS SATURDAY; 

A  STRAW POLL IN THE LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL RACE WILL BE PART OF THE EVENT

The Alano Club launches its fourth annual Family Fun Day this Saturday which will be packed with bands, food and games and in an unusual twist -- a straw poll will be taken of the 11 candidates running for Janice Hahn’s former Los Angeles Council seat.

From 10 a.m. until midnight, the club will host nine separate bands, an array of children’s games and loads of food. Day entry is free and will start off with bands, such as the local group, Last Day Off at noon, One Ten South at 3 p.m. and Choyce at 4 p.m.  The Alano Club serves hundreds of residents in recovery from alcohol and drug abuse.

During the event and possibly even more enticing for some adults: a straw poll of the current candidates running for former Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn’s seat will be conducted from noon to 5 p.m.

 The non-binding poll will add some additional spice to the event, said Bob Ahl, the club’s general manager.

“We are civic minded and we feel this is a civic thing to do,” Ahl said.

The evening events, which will cost $10 per entry, will begin at 7 p.m. with Belly Love and at 8 p.m. with Electra, a Greek musician who has received broad accolades for her rock music and writing who typically charges $2,000 a night for her events. She’s donating her time, Ahl said, for Alano’s cause.

Acidic will perform at 9:30. That group, Ahl said, “of four young talented musicians,” recently signed a record deal.

The non-binding straw poll will be reported later in a Random Lengths story.

LA Firefighter Pat McOsker says he's the right man for the City Council seat Janice Hahn vacated.

FIREFIGHTER PAT McOSKER SAYS HE’S THE RIGHT CHOICE FOR THE OPEN LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL SEAT; HIS POST AS A FORMER LABOR LEADER TRAINED HIM FOR THE JOB

By Diana L. Chapman

Los Angeles City firefighter Pat McOsker – one of two safety officers running in a jammed race for the only open City Council seat  -- contends his labor background  makes him the best candidate for the Los Angeles post.

As the president of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City Local 112, he’s grappled intense negotiations between labor and city officials for more than a decade which has prepped him to step into council seat, he said.

He along with 10 others are vying for former Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn’s seat, who left for congress.

“I bring in constituents that no one else has,” said McOsker, a city firefighter since the age of 19 who took a leave from his president position to avoid any conflicts. “I am a labor leader. If I want to get something done, I get it done. The support of labor base is critical in LA as far as getting anything done.”

His contentious job as a union president, McOsker said, trained him how to deal directly with and understand how City Hall works – in particular its budget. The fireman, who was born in San Pedro, adds he can stir up the labor strength to get  tasks completed – in particular the highest on his list: the  Los Angeles Port’s proposed $1.2 billion development called the Bridge to the Breakwater.

The giant, 30 year, 400 acre waterfront project, expected to revive the once thriving seaside San Pedro community, has produced a $14 million fountain perched alongside the cruise ship docks, a giant open space park at 22^nd Street , a new Cabrillo Marina expected to be unveiled within the month and numerous other projects, said Phil Sanfield, the ports media relations director.

What has stalled, however, is the proposed eight mile walkway from Vincent Thomas Bridge to the Cabrillo Breakwater. The Port plans to coordinate the walkway with the ultimate development of Ports O Call, a retail village that sits along the main harbor. The current Ports O Call lease, held by Jayme Wilson, another candidate for the council job, runs through 2014. However, the port plans to begin the process next year (2012) of reviewing potential retail developers of the site, Sanfield said.

With labor union backing, McOsker believes he can reinvigorate the walkway project  because not only would it rejuvenate San Pedro it would flush in thousands of desperately needed jobs for Los Angeles.

In addition, he vows to bring safety – both police and firefighters – to the top of his list, especially since 18 Los Angeles fire companies, four ambulances  and several paramedic supervisors have been eliminated due to budget cuts.

That includes the four member hazardous waste squad at 16^th Street and Grand Avenue in San Pedro.  That group was specifically designed to help the port with hazardous material. In an incident, such crews have to be brought in from other parts of Los Angles, he said.

“It’s a ghost company there,” McOsker explained. The Los Angeles port “has the greatest potential for spills and death and I did everything I could to prevent it from closing.”

As a councilman, he said, he wants to restore that station and many others along with jobs in both firefighting and police. Los Angeles police officer Joe Buscaino is the other safety officer running in the race stacked with mostly novices and two hardcore politicians, Assembly Warren Furutani, representing the 55^th District, and former Los Angeles Councilman Rudy Svorinich Jr.

One of his biggest offerings to the public, McOsker said is that he follows through with what he promises.

“I will do whatever is necessary to get it done,” he explained. “If someone on my staff isn’t doing their job, they’re gone.”

For example, he explained, he’s got the guts to go after needed projects sweeping across the Harbor region and – understands how Watts  currently struggles especially after residents tried to reopen a closed down gym that has left teenagers on the street. Once in office, he said, he will make every effort to aid the Watts Task Force to do so and added because of his firefighting post he knows practically every corner and street in the district.

Despite a rough and tumble start, McOsker who works at Station 101 in San Pedro on 25^th Street, took a leave of absence from his leadership job at the United Firefighters after several firefighters complained that his campaign was a conflict-of-interest with his post.

 Complying with those firefighter’s request, he quickly stepped down and soon after received  his union’s endorsement.  He remained a San Pedro firefighter because a “working man still has to put bread on the table” and will resume the president post if he loses.  

Another area he plans to focus on is businesses. He wants businesses in his district to open their doors more quickly – as fast as 30 days -- despite the obstacle course presented by the city – which keeps an array of small businesses from ever opening, he said. Part of his plan, he explained, would launched monthly meetings in which downtown LA city officials are brought down to district offices to “help walk businesses through the process.”

Like two other candidates, one issue haunting McOsker is that he had to return to the district to run. He moved with his wife, Carla, from Redondo Beach to the Vue apartments downtown San Pedro.

 Svorinich  and candidate Gordon Teuber, a former Hahn aide, moved from the Palos Verdes Peninsula back to San Pedro.  To run, candidates have to live in the council district which serves Wilmington, San Pedro, Harbor City, Harbor Gateway as well as Watts.

Despite the move, McOsker touts his deep roots steeped long in a town that was once considered a small fishing village. His father, Kevin “Mac” and mother, Patricia, raised five boys and a girl in San Pedro. His father became a Los Angeles firefighter in 1962  and worked at Station 101 for 17 years.

The firefighter said it took him 28 years of seniority to gain the privilege to follow his father’s footsteps and work at 101. His brother, Mike, is also are retired Los Angeles firefighter.

McOsker added he “missed San Pedro everyday of his life” and wouldn’t have moved to Redondo,  but his wife’s family also had lived for years in the beach city and “I had to respect that.”

No women on the Los Angeles City Council is too "disturbing." She had to run, says Rebecca Chambliss, who is one of only two women running for Janice Hahn's former council seat against nine men.

WITH FEW WOMEN SIGNING ON, A SAN PEDRO WOMAN  BRAVELY CLIMBS INTO THE RACE FOR THE LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL SEAT ONCE HELD BY JANICE HAHN

 By Diana L. Chapman

Fearing no women would run, realtor Rebecca Chambliss dared to do what only one other woman was courageous enough to do  – run for an open Los Angeles  seat against nine men.

Once  former Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn went off to congress, Chambliss, 41, perused the stats and found something she considers disturbing – only one woman, Jan Perry, remains on the Los Angeles City Council. Perry, termed-out, recently launched a campaign to become the city’s next mayor.

That leaves zero women on a council that serves more than four million residents – and “that does matter,” Chambliss explained. She went for it despite that she is  facing two old-time politicos, former Los Angeles Councilman Rudy Svorinich and Assemblyman Warren Furutani representing the state’s 55^th District.

“Los Angeles is made up of more women than men,” she said. “It’s shocking that women could soon have no voice on the 15 person City Council. Women have a different perspective, we are generally more sensitive to issues about children, education, seniors, public safety and have different priorities where resources are allocated.

“In order for the City Council to best serve the people who live in Los Angeles, the council should be reflective of the people who live here.”

Only one other woman has stepped up to the political plate – M. “Candice” Graham, a community activist and business woman in Wilmington.

Chambliss , who has toyed with running for office in the past, said she’s discouraged how her community of San Pedro deteriorated more than ever under Hahn’s watch. If she wins, Chambliss is already planning ways she’s going to improve the council area that stretches from Watts south to Harbor Gateway and spreads out across Wilmington, Harbor City and San Pedro.

To start, Chambliss said, she wants to back up to the days when Hahn – “who was always looking for her next position,”  allowed 40 officers to be removed from the Harbor Area due and moved to other locations. She wants all 40 back, because without safety, a community plunges into  darker days that comes complete with more drugs, gangs and crime. That drags an area further down.

Without addressing safety issues, she said, as a Palos Verdes Peninsula realtor who lives in San Pedro, a community can’t move forward and real estate values decline.

“We’ve been a stepchild for so long, that people have just resigned themselves,” the realtor said. “The community has gotten weaker then when I was a kid. San Pedro and the Harbor area are different places.

“There is disrepair of the streets, the parks and the pride of the area is not what it used to be. I first and foremost have the passion to return this area to what it used to be.”

Chambliss offers an interesting dichotomy of experience outside local politics. As a realtor, she understands contracts, large financial purchases along with  zoning  and tax issues. That allows her to better understand city jargon and what issues residents are really facing. Besides her real estate job on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, she started a non-profit rescue for Tibetan mastiffs and worked on large spay and neuter events.

She’s also proud that she spent hours picketing against the controversial Ponte Vista development, a project which initially proposed 1,700 plus townhomes to be built at a former military site along Western Avenue in zoning for single family homes. That proposal eventually was rejected.

Her strength, she said, is: “I do what I say I’m going to do,” said Chambliss, who attended San Pedro High and owns two Tibetan mastiffs, Riley and Raja.

Issues she plans to jump on beside beefing up safety officers  include:

--Diligently attempting to relocate the butane tanks on northern Gaffey, which could destroy hundreds of homes and businesses, perhaps thousands, in the event of a disaster, she said. Two of tanks there can carry up 25 million gallons of butane and an additional 300,000 gallons of propane. The tanks, she said, never should have been installed in such a dense community in the first place.

“It’s not like we are benefiting from these,” Chambliss contended. “They need to be relocated if there’s any threat to the population.  The city, she said, has the power to force the move.”

--She will focus on the issues of the district – and not outside factors as other council members have done in the past, pointing to the wobbling and limp Los Angeles City Council’s boycott of Arizona goods and services when that state went after stricter immigration laws. Too often, she added, the council at large spends too much time on matters that are not their concern.

--Improve and redevelop the New England style village along the port called Ports O Call. “That used to be such a great place when I was a kid,” she said adding that its now shabby and run-down. “It has to be redone. We need to sit down and look at other areas that have done this, like in Long Beach. Right now, no one wants to go to Ports O Call,” she claims because there’s not much there.

--The usage of private and public partnerships, she said, are a way to redefine what residents want by selecting the best agencies to run city operations that are failing the public.  For example, she pointed out, Los Angeles city aquatics kicked out parents who wanted to watch their children swim at Peck Park Pool.

“In some cases, it’s just better to have it in private hands,” she explained. “You get in proposals and find someone who can run it better” and a group that addresses the public’s needs.

--Chambliss said she will advocate for businesses, so it’s not so difficult for them to open and run their operations. She adds that most business ventures will not come until officials in the district start cleaning up the crime, the graffiti and the trash currently on the streets, which is unappealing and unacceptable in her book.

“We are at a critical time and we’re going downhill fast,” Chambliss explained. “I don’t think we need more politicians. We need fresh faces and fresh ideas and fresh solutions.”