Expand<\/a><\/p>\nLongshore workers turned out in force to cheer as the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved one of their own, Michael \u201cMickey\u201d Chavez, to a seat on the L.A. harbor commission on Tuesday, Oct. 20.<\/p>\n
Chavez\u2019s term will end June 30.<\/p>\n
The sudden vacancy and quick appointment was apparently unexpected, surprising many. It followed three other new appointees to the five-member panel within the past several months.<\/p>\n
The new seat was created when longtime Commissioner Ed Renwick resigned without a public announcement.<\/p>\n
Renwick, who has been a key resource on the commission for financial matters, was appointed by former Mayor Eric Garcetti and confirmed by the City Council on Nov. 19, 2013. He was elected vice president of the harbor commission on Oct. 8, 2019.<\/p>\n
Renwick \u2014 the cofounder and CEO of Raineth Holdings, one of the nation\u2019s largest owners and lessors of single-family houses \u2014 said\u00a0his departure was not pushed and that he\u2019d been \u201cmulling it over\u201d for a while.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s good to get new blood on the commission,\u201d he said in a phone interview. \u201cBeing on the commission for 14 years has been the honor of a lifetime. I love the port and I think we have tremendous staff and local community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chavez\u2019s appointment, meanwhile, was made by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who is up for reelection and faces a tight race in November. Bass made the Chavez appointment in a Wednesday, Oct. 14, letter. Chavez did not go through the usual committee vetting process, moving quickly to the full City Council on Tuesday. There is one hearing requirement, Councilmember Tim McOsker said, but that took place with the full council instead of in committee. The committee chair consented to that.<\/p>\n
Word only began to spread in the community in the last few days.<\/p>\n
But the appointment brought widespread local support, with many believing an \u201cILWU\u201d seat, which has been something of a tradition, is needed. Diane Middleton, a San Pedro attorney of 50 years, served on the commission until 2024 and had strong union ties. Middleton succeeded Commissioner Dave Arian, a well-known member and officer of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, who was appointed to the commission in 2010 and died Jan. 2, 2019, at the age of 72.<\/p>\n
When Bass did not reappoint Middleton in 2024, the Harbor Area largely expressed disappointment. Los Angeles Councilmember Tim McOsker, whose 15th District includes the Port of Los Angeles, pursued a charter amendment ballot measure, which voters approved that same year, that mandated at least two of the five commission seats be held by local community members going forward.<\/p>\n
The latest appointment of Chavez boosts that number even higher. Currently, four members of the harbor commission appointed by Bass \u2014 Chavez, Vice President Yolanda De La Torre, Sheila Lewis and Lee Williams \u2014 are residents of Los Angeles\u2019 15th Council District.<\/p>\n
Chavez is a member and leader of the ILWU and a lifelong San Pedro resident with generations-long roots in the port community.<\/p>\n
Union members turned out in force on Tuesday to support his appointment.<\/p>\n
Among them was Middleton, who said understanding port issues is crucial and is a needed voice on the panel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe voice of the ILWU and working people\u201d has been missing on the panel, Middleton told the council. \u00a0\u201c(Chavez) brings a wealth of knowledge to the commission.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others echoed that view.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need someone who has a voice,\u201d said Gary Herrera, former ILWU Local 13 president. \u201cWe haven\u2019t had one for couple years now.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s confirmation is more than just a seat for the ILWU,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s a seat for our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pointing to what is the growing issue of automation on the docks, Herrera added that Chavez\u2019s voice will be key \u201cwhen those robots try to take our jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know Mickey is the right person for this post; he\u2019s the salt of the earth,\u201d said Albert Ramirez, president of ILWU\u2019s Local 56 (the Environmental Hazmat & Ship Scalers Union). \u201cWe\u2019re in good hands and we definitely support his appointment and wish him the best. We love you, Mickey, you\u2019re a blessing to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
McOsker said he\u2019s also confident Chavez\u2019s voice will be important in the challenges that come with the port\u2019s ongoing shift to clean operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one wants a clean port more than the men and women who work there,\u201d McOsker said. \u201cIt\u2019s also important to make sure (to preserve jobs) as we bring on technology and new fuels to move goods.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chavez, in responding to questions posed by McOsker, said he served on the Harbor Clean Ports Advisory Board, and that both clean operations and keeping jobs can happen together with manned \u2014 rather than unmanned \u2014 clean equipment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI live in Pedro, we all live where we work and we\u2019re breathing the air,\u201d Chavez said.<\/p>\n
While 10 years ago, the changes appeared daunting, he added, now \u201cit\u2019s advancing and we can see it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe technology is there,\u201d Chavez said, \u201cand we want to make sure we have that while having our jobs, too. I think we can do both.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners oversees the management and operation of the Port of Los Angeles. The board is appointed by the mayor of Los Angeles and confirmed by the City Council.<\/p>\n
Commissioners serve as volunteers.<\/p>\n
Chavez comes from a family of longshoremen whose waterfront roots date back to the 1940s. Currently, he is a nightside general foreman at Metropolitan Stevedore Company, but previously served as president of the ILWU Southern California District Council. His experience spans container, bulk cargo, vessel and rail operations at the San Pedro Bay port complex, which includes both the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.<\/p>\n
Chavez also serves on the Harbor Community Benefit Foundation\u2019s Clean Ports advisory board, bringing a waterfront workforce perspective to efforts to reduce port emissions and improve conditions in surrounding communities.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Chavez) is especially qualified by reason of training and experience for the work,\u201d Bass said in her Oct. 14 letter to the council, adding that the appointment was made \u201csolely in the interest of the city.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael \u201cMickey\u201d Chavez, during his confirmation Tuesday by the Los Angeles City Council as the newest member on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[7,48,52,51,131,47,137,50,49,100,1438,1439],"class_list":["post-503199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-california","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-long-beach","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-news","tag-port-of-los-angeles","tag-san-pedro"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503199","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=503199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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