Two more departing harbor commissioners bid farewell amid some tears — but also a festive mariachi band performance — on Thursday, April 27, marking the end of an era for the Port of Los Angeles as the longtime panelists make way for new members who LA Mayor Karen Bass recently nominated to succeed them.
It was the final meeting for board President Jaime Lee, who was praised for her calm and steady demeanor leading the panel through difficult years, and Commissioner Lucia Moreno-Linares, who was a voice for the Wilmington community during her more than five years on the panel.
Former Commissioner Anthony Pirozzi was the first to depart, doing so on April 13.
The nominees to replace all three are:
- U.S. Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (replacing Moreno-Linares).
- Michael Munoz (replacing Pirozzi).
- Lee Williams (replacing Lee).
The nominees must first go before the City Council’s Trade, Travel and Tourism Committee and then confirmed by the full council. They are expected to be seated by the time the commission meets again, typically in about two weeks.
Remaining on the five-member panel are Commissioner Diane Middleton and Vice President Ed Renwick. It is unclear if any further appointments are coming from the mayor’s office.
Moreno-Linares, confirmed on Sept. 20, 2017, was taken aback when she was approached by the office of then-Mayor Eric Garcetti for a nomination to the commission.
“I thought, ‘You’re kidding,’” she said in remarks on Thursday. “I thought it was a prank call.”
But the question posed to her, she said, was whether she’d be willing to serve.
And she was, she realized.
“I want my community to be better and I’m willing to do my part to make it better,” said Moreno-Linares, who is a Wilmington native and has been active in numerous causes in her hometown.
Wilmington abuts the northern boundaries of the Port of Los Angeles and has long been impacted not only by the industrial pollution but also the heavy container truck traffic and stacks of empty containers on some corner lots.
It was Moreno-Linares who gave voice — because she also experienced it first-hand — to the issues that the community encountered.
“What an incredible pleasure it’s been to work with you,” Lee said. “Your dedication to people, how you care about your neighbors, the calming presence you’ve always had in our meetings. You always knew what was right in your mind and you never wavered from that position.”
For Lee, a member of the Korean American community whose experiences as a rising young real estate executive — who served on numerous boards centered around the downtown L.A. area — coming to the port was an education.
She was confirmed on April 13, 2018, and was elected president of the board only about a week later.
“When I was in college (at USC), a family friend was appointed to the commission,” Lee said.
That was attorney Kaylynn Kim, who served six years before leaving the commission in 2011.
“She was the first Korean American woman on the commission and I was in awe of her and what she’d accomplished,” Lee said. “I never dreamed that could be me someday.”
Lee, who served on multiple boards throughout the city, confessed she was “thrown into the deep end” when it came to understanding the niche world of the huge commercial seaport.
“I had no idea what I was doing,” she said. “I’d toured the port in 2014 and knew there were some ships and some containers.
“I had no idea what all these people expected me to say.”
But what she did know, and knew well, was the world of real estate and development, knowledge she brought to the commission while becoming a quick study on the other matters that came their way.
“I did my best to drive consensus,” she said, “but I never insisted on having a unanimous vote.”
It often is a diversity of opinion, she said, that “forces us to sharpen our minds.”
“You’ve done a fabulous job,” Renwick said. “You had an ability to maintain a sense of decorum but also a magnificent sense of fun.”
The tributes also noted how much the panel had been through together, including a global pandemic, a challenging launch to a zero-emissions operation, industry-wide moves toward terminal automation, along with pandemic-related cargo surges and cargo slowdowns.