Urban renewal at its finest.
OPA! (not)

This is yet another indicator of the urgent need to be rid of Hahn.

She isn't going to stop until she has sucked the last drop of character out of our town and "re-imagined" it as a human petting-zoo for yuppies.

Tear down the ridiculous "Janice Hahn Memorial Park" at the end of the 110 and put a Marie Callender's there.

Papadakis Taverna is San Pedro. Janice Hahn is not.

It's too bad The District Weekly didn't include the entire quote in this short article. Hahn also said at the same time, "Papadakis Taverna has really been the heart and soul of downtown San Pedro. People have come from all over because of that restaurant."

I also find it ironic that a reader is criticizing Hahn as not being "San Pedro" and that a writer in an L.B. paper characterizes her statement as a gem. Hahn is Pedro. She's lived here a long time and her presence in the media gives us some positive attention throughout the L.A. area. Don't be stupid a kick someone who helps us.

Read the Daily Breeze article. The story is really more about John Papadakis wanting to move on with his life and possibly retire. It has nothing to do with Hahn or the redevelopment agency. The redevelopment agency is just the excuse that John needs to move on. Sadly though, he should just come out and say that he's getting older and he wants to retire instead of making the redevelopment agency look like the bad guy.

The truth is that the redevelopment agency is doing good things in cleaning up the crime in downtown S.P. while still maintaining the character and integrity that is "Pedro." Unfortunately the author of the article makes it sound like the redevelopment agency is forcing John out. It's not. John wants to retire, and he has every right to. The man has wined and dined us for a long time and he deserves a good sendoff.

Let's do it the right way and not create new enemies when we say goodbye to him.

I read the Daily Breeze article first, fully understood all the big words, and then commented. It's Paul who is reading things into both articles. I didn't see anywhere that John P. was using the redev agency as an "excuse" to retire. Which he's entitled to do.

And like the LB redev agency, independent businesses can't pay the big rents that the realtors and developers making up those boards love so much. So much for "maintaining the character and integrity that is "Pedro". Google "Marie Callendar's" and "San Pedro" and see how many matches you get.

I too read the article in the Breeze before reading this one. John Papadakis' desire to "retire" is qualified; the redevelopment agency's goal to put a chain restaurant in place of his taverna is not.

"Cleaning up crime" is, of course, laudable. Driving out the working-class people who help give SP its special character by making it impossible for them to afford to live here is not.

Hahn is, first and foremost, a politician. She knows how to deliver a death sentence couched in praise. She will speak glowingly of every local business steamrollered by her plans to turn this town into "another Santa Barbara."

If she wants a soulless, corporate town with plenty of shiny surface glitz and no soul, let her cross the Vincent Thomas and move eastward a couple of miles.

I want to vomit on Janice Hahn.

I don't believe people are beating down the walls to live in San Pedro.

Is she the one behind the suburban food court that replaced The Pike?

Trading Papadakis Taverna for Marie Callender is equivalent to the Lakers trading Shaq for average players. I vote for keeping this excellent Greek restaurant over a good, but average chain restaurant.