Ports O’Call merchants sue port for $25 million
By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor
Virginia Pavkovich has operated the Mexilatin Gifts at Ports O’ Call Village since 1962.
“I have the most unique gifts from Latin American countries,” the long time proprietor explained. “I’ve been here for more than 50 years. This is my bread and butter. I can’t be thrown out into the streets just like that. We’ve been here long enough to deserve some respect.”
Akibu Jamal, owner of the African American Gift Shop for the past 28 years, expressed similar sentiments.
“They act as if we were nothing,” Jamal said during the Sept. 19 press conference at which he and his fellow shop owners announced they were suing the port over its handling during the redevelopment of Ports O’ Call. “They asked us to leave and left the big shops alone … to stay…. We’re both here doing business [referring to the larger tenants such as the San Pedro Fish Market and Spirit Cruises]. They shouldn’t discriminate. If they wanted to demolish this then everyone should have to go. This is America.”
Pavkovich and Jamal, like more than a dozen other small Ports O’ Call business owners, thought the Port of Los Angeles was going to negotiate in good faith with “successful” businesses that wanted to continue operating in the new San Pedro Market Place.
What they got instead were recurring conversations about relocating elsewhere with no promise of return to the San Pedro Waterfront, while the San Pedro Fish Market, Spirit Cruises and Port’s O’ Call Restaurant were guaranteed space in the new San Pedro Market Place.
Everything came to a head this past June when the port issued eviction notices to 15 shop owners that would be effective Oct. 2.
In response, the shop owners filed a $25 million lawsuit against the port for intentional and negligent misrepresentation and false promises, among other charges.
One after another, the tenants said they were mislead, if not downright lied to about their ability to stay after the redevelopment was completed.
Among the items the shop owners are calling for are:
- Relocation to a temporary location at Ports O’ Call during the construction, noting that there are two large potential lot space areas available: one north and one south.
- The temporary location to be made up of 15 portable mobile offices or bungalows ranging from 500 square feet to 1,500 square feet.
- Signage at all streets and freeway exits leading to Ports O’ Call Village for visitors
- That the developer rebuild the historical Ports O’ Call Village about 1,500 square feet in the new development project
- That shop owners have the first right of refusal in the new development.
- Assurance that the new project shops rent will be reasonable to current San Pedro area market rates.