Council votes to take jurisdiction over port project

Oh boy - now we're in for it. The council voted 15-0 to review the Port of L.A.'s decision to nix a proposal by Gambol Industries to reopen the old Southwest Marine shipyard. The plan originally had been encouraged by port officials, but they later concluded that it would get in the way of a channel-deepening project, a very big deal considering that the port cannot accommodate large ships. Those large ships will soon be able to get through the Panama Canal, which is in the process of being widened. Without a deeper channel, the L.A. port might lose business to other facilities on the west coast. Anyway, Gambol Industries President Richard Stein has mounted a full-bore effort to revive his project by hiring a bunch of lobbyists and going directly to the City Council, which has the ultimate say. And this morning the council did what the council tends to do - discuss, defer, and delay. The matter will now be heard before Councilwoman Janice Hahn's Trade, Commerce and Tourism Committee. Hahn says that the Gambol plan would bring jobs to port communities and could be done without harming the deepening project (no word on where she's getting her information). Oh, and did we also mention that Stein contributed $6,500 to Hahn's lieutenant governor's campaign? Some background from the LAT, Daily Breeze and LA Weekly. By the way, the Breeze first reported Stein's campaign contribution to Hahn in 2010.