Saturday, September 27, 2008

Missed opportunity for ATEP?

I came across a story (LA Times) about the recent purchase of the Boeing plant in Long Beach. It looks like it will now be converted to an enormous film studio: a million square feet!

One of the names that came up in the story was familiar. I do believe that the people who are going forward with this project are among those turned down by our Board of Trustees in the course of development of our district’s ATEP facility on 68 acres of the old Tustin helicopter station.

As I understand it, our board was not convinced that these people were for real, moneywise.

Well, clearly they were.

So it looks like our efforts to develop ATEP will now proceed with a tad less “dearthiness” in So Cal, filmstudiowise.

KABC’s story (from a week ago: Long Beach airplane hanger goes Hollywood) includes a brief video of the Boeing facility and its new owners.

NOT LONG AGO, a reader requested that we present some Curtis Mayfield. Evidently, Mayfield's "Move On Up" has become somewhat of a semi-official Obama campaign song. Here's a performance from 1987:

MOVE ON UP


I've never been much of a soul fan, but I do have my favorites. This one could be my all-time fave:

James Carr's DARK END OF THE STREET


This one goes out to My Own Private Idaho! Be well, be happy,  ST.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who did the board sign on with again at ATEP? The Sound-of-Music Singers?

Why'd they deep-six Kopocky?

Anonymous said...

Bow down to the King, indeed. What a man. Wasn't that recorded just before that terrible accident?

Thanks for the post, Chunk.

Obama has better taste in music than Clinton. (Fleetwood Mac?)

Anonymous said...

Why are you no longer using the Chunk Wheeler byline? Have I missed something?

I feel like you're suddenly more like Clark Kent or Peter Parker. Not that that's a bad thing.

Signed,
A Fan

Roy Bauer said...

* "Deep-sixing Kopecky" was and is a somewhat mysterious event. It is, however, obvious that efforts to develop ATEP have been slow and difficult. I'm told that the city of Tustin has been particularly troublesome, etc. Naturally, Mathur looks for fall guys. Perhaps Kopecky was simply that, a fall guy.

* Mayfield's accident occurred about three years after this performance. Yes, Obama's taste in music is infinitely better than the Clintons', with their lame, edge-less pop.

* I phrased out the "Chunk Wheeler" pseudonym in part because I've grown tired of the abject cowardice and/or diffidence of faculty (et al.) in this district. So, though I have never hidden my identity, I wanted to present a clear example of dissenting, dissenting strongly, dissenting openly--and surviving.

At our last senate meeting, I made a plea for having a stronger voice (as faculty) at board meetings. Why don't we routinely present our thinking to the board, I asked.

In the end, I said: "It is undignified not to show up to battle."

And that pretty much nails how I feel.

Anonymous said...

"It is undignified not to show up to battle."

Well said, Chunk.

Here's my take on the subject. People that choose to be faculty are characteristically non-confrontational and "battle" requires energy and commitment. It is much easier to be critical in the safety of your own camp but to change circumstances one must engage in "battle." And because of the high risks involved one needs to have the courage to confront.

You are a rare one indeed to have an abundance of courage to do battle, Chunk. The key to success, however, is to inspire your colleagues to follow. That is a far greater challenge than simply doing battle.

Bohrstein said...

"It is undignified not to show up to battle."

Meaningful because it comes from a pacifist!

I saw Reb the other day on campus while walking to my car with my friend (a student of hers). I was feeling mighty bashful (I'm a shy bastard), Hello Reb!

By the way (Reb), my friend is confident about his major: he wants to be a math teacher. He seems pretty good at just about everything he attempts.

I hope the year is going well for the Dissenters, and other professors, as well as any and all faculty who read this!

Anonymous said...

"Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us.
- Jerry Garcia

Charlie said...

Re: the Long Beach Hangar development

As I recall, the "Buddy Group" was the working name of the group that put together the competing plan to develop ATEP into a film studio site. They didn't even make the shortlist of final presenters as they were deemed too financially lightweight. Camelot was the prohibitive favorite going in, and everybody has seen how that played out.

While it is easy to say WTF was everybody thinking at the time as the district clearly backed the losing horse in that one, it still remains to be seen if the Buddy Group can pull it off at LB. They are just getting started and it will take a lot of work to make it happen, as has been seen in Tustin. Maybe they will make it and maybe they won't.

Interestingly, the Buddy Group is comprised of mostly ex-Saddleback students from our department. I know all of them and wish them luck. Makes a similar development at ATEP a harder go, though.

Charles Myers

Anonymous said...

No one lost but the students. What could have been a unique opportunity was completely bollixed by the district simply out of greed and may I say, stupidity.

It frankly amazes me how short-term some people think. Should the smaller groups been allowed to carry through the benefits would have come through within the first few years of operation.

Anonymous said...

there is a "soulman" and two "soul sisters" at IVC

heheheheeee

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...