{"id":375328,"date":"2026-06-26T02:57:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T02:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/375328\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T02:57:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T02:57:14","slug":"can-you-hit-the-pause-button%e2%80%95former-courthouse-parcel-becomes-battleground-over-san-pedros-next-chapter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/375328\/","title":{"rendered":"Can You Hit the Pause Button?\u2015Former Courthouse Parcel Becomes Battleground Over San Pedro\u2019s Next Chapter –"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PauseButton\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

By Devonte Barr, Columnist<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you hit the pause button?\u201d<\/p>\n

Elise Swanson, president of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce and a former trustee of Port of Los Angeles High School, stood before a packed community meeting at the school last week with a pointed question for administrators.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not about the high school. It\u2019s not about educators. It\u2019s not about the students,\u201d Swanson said. \u201cThis is about process.\u201d<\/p>\n

At issue: the future of a 2.3-acre former Los Angeles County courthouse property in downtown San Pedro\u2014and whether it should become an expanded campus for POLAHS or remain available for commercial development.<\/p>\n

The property returned to county control at the end of 2025 after a private developer failed to secure financing for a proposed mixed-use project.<\/p>\n

Now, competing visions have emerged for one of downtown\u2019s most visible publicly owned parcels.<\/p>\n

POLAHS currently serves around 900 students\u2014the maximum its authorization from LAUSD allows. The school can\u2019t grow enrollment, but administrators say existing programs are bursting at the seams.<\/p>\n

Principal Tim Duffy walked attendees through the school\u2019s constraints: career technical education programs operating under tents on the blacktop; only 12 welding pods when demand exists for 24; no dedicated gym; and theater classes held in a multipurpose room.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have students that are banging on doors in order to get into welding and construction,\u201d Duffy said. \u201cWe just can\u2019t house them because we don\u2019t have the space.\u201d<\/p>\n

The school\u2019s Career Technical Education programs serve about 275 students\u201429% of enrollment. Marine transportation, welding, and construction classes currently operate in temporary structures. Basketball and volleyball teams use Peck Park because the school has no gym.<\/p>\n

Around 70% of students are socioeconomically disadvantaged. The graduation rate is 94%.<\/p>\n

The proposed expansion would include a skilled trades building, a CIF-regulation gym with theater space, a dance studio, and an amphitheater that could host community events like farmers\u2019 markets and concerts on weekends.<\/p>\n

School officials emphasized community access: evening and weekend availability for workforce training, partnerships with local organizations, and integration with downtown events like First Thursdays.<\/p>\n

Robert Janest, who has lived in San Pedro for 48 years, argued the project would address youth isolation by connecting young people to career opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see this particular workforce development center as being a wonderful pipeline for employment,\u201d Janest said. \u201cThis will give them, not a job, but a career beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swanson, speaking as Chamber president and a longtime advocate for downtown redevelopment, questioned the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of us have worked for over 30 years on the redevelopment of downtown San Pedro, our historic core and our arts and cultural district,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Swanson noted the courthouse site could support tourism, retail, and arts venues\u2014opportunities that align with decades of downtown redevelopment efforts. She asked whether the county would bring in an economist to study \u201chighest and best use\u201d of the property and consider multiple proposals\u2014rather than what she called \u201csole sourcing a premium piece of property.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was designed as an urban campus,\u201d Swanson said of POLAHS. \u201cThis was not ever thought about, that we were expanding towards the historic core on 6th Street.\u201d<\/p>\n

She emphasized she wasn\u2019t opposing school expansion itself, but wanted a broader evaluation of sites and economic impact.<\/p>\n

School board members responded that they\u2019ve explored expansion for seven years, reviewing multiple downtown locations, warehouses, and port properties before determining the courthouse site best met their needs for walkability, appropriate zoning, and program requirements.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Lamarque, representing Supervisor Janice Hahn\u2019s office, explained at a recent neighborhood council meeting that the California Surplus Land Act<\/a>\u2014amended in 2021\u2014limits the county\u2019s options.<\/p>\n

The law requires the property to either remain in public use by transferring to another public agency or prioritize affordable housing development.<\/p>\n

That provision, Lamarque said, \u201cdoes complicate\u201d proposals for hotel or commercial development that some community stakeholders have discussed.<\/p>\n

Supervisor Hahn\u2019s office said it will continue collecting public input before determining the property\u2019s future. For now, the courthouse site remains vacant as residents, educators, business leaders, and public officials debate what should come next.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Devonte Barr, Columnist \u201cCan you hit the pause button?\u201d Elise Swanson, president of the San Pedro Chamber…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375329,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[908,131,133,132,120973,9722,80140],"class_list":["post-375328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-sanpedro","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-polahs","tag-rln","tag-sanpedrocourthouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}