Mayor Karen Bass’s first two appointments to the Los Angeles harbor commission, which she announced this week, have drawn mixed reactions in the city’s port communities, with folks particularly concerned about the potential panelists not being local.
Replacing two local commissioners, one each from San Pedro and Wilmington, with nominees from downtown Los Angeles seems to go against the more recent trend of ensuring the communities next to the behemoth Port of Los Angeles — which are all too familiar with its various impacts, from pollution to traffic — have strong representation on the five-member panel.
So far, Bass has nominated former U.S. Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard to take the seat now held by Lucia Moreno-Linares of Wilmington; and Michael Muñoz, research director for the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, to replace Anthony Pirozzi of San Pedro.
The nominations must make their way through a City Council committee and then be confirmed by the full panel, which isn’t expected until elected officials return from the current spring recess on April 10.
But if Bass’s appoinments get confirmed, the only local commissioner remaining would be Diane Middleton, a San Pedro resident who served on the mayor’s transition team, though more nominees are anticipated to come.
Bass, in a written statement, said her appointments “recognize the port’s role locally, nationally and globally, as will future appointments that will be made soon.”
“Together,” the mayor added, “these two appointees have decades of relevant experience and a wide breadth of expertise of the port and surrounding communities.”
Councilmember Tim McOsker, who represents the Harbor Area and sits on the committee that will hear the nominations, said it’s the mayor’s job to make appointments but that he anticipates, in the end, there will likely be two local commissioners on the panel. He said he’s reached out to Bass with his thoughts and advice.
“I have a strong…
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