Environmental consultant Heather Altmanand documentary filmmaker Frank Martin are among the guests on this week’s edition of Greater Long Beach Radio with Dave Wielenga, which goes live this morning at 11 and will be rebroadcast this evening at 7 on KBEACH.org.

The ever-controversial Second+PCH hotel/retail/residential development will likely get an up-or-down vote from the Long Beach Planning Commission this evening—the meeting begins at 5 p.m. in City Council chambers—and Altman will present Greater Long Beach Radio listeners with some of the cons and cons that await if commissions approve the project. That’s right, the cons and cons.

“There is no upside for anybody—not the people ofLong Beach, not the developer, not the landowner—if the Planning Commission approves the Second+PCH project as currently presented,” says Altman.

The specifications of the development are basically a list of zoning-law violations, a set of problems that a report byLong Beachcity management staff recommends solving by changing the zoning laws after the project is approved. That’s done all the time, just about everywhere.

However, it’s illegal at Second+PCH because the land lies in the Coastal Zone, where the California Coastal Commission holds ultimate authority. Not that the current Coastal Commissioners have much decision-making leeway on the matter; they are prohibited from approving a project that does not conform to existing zoning rules. To get Coastal Commission approval for Second+PCH’s extreme overreach—such as the 12-story hotel that is proposed where a 35-foot height limit exists—the zoning laws must be changed first … and that promises to be a time-consuming, public process.

If the Planning Commission approves the project, it next goes before the City Council, where approval would send it to the Coastal Commission—although probably not before a detour into the courts. That’s what happened several years ago when a Home Depot was proposed on the edge of the Los Cerritos Wetlands. The judge in that case gave the city a tongue lashing and threw the project aside.

Filmmaker Frank Martin will offer his perspective on Sunday afternoon’s screening of his documentary about the often-overlooked and the more-often-misunderstood contributions by some of Americasmost-committed soldiers. The screening comes more than a week after Veteran’s Day, but in the case of For Love of Liberty:The Story of America’s Black Patriots, it adds to the historical accuracy.

Recognition for the crucial parts that African-Americans have played in the military history of the United Stateshas always tended to arrive late … when it has shown up at all. For Love of Liberty has been shown almost continuously—on PBS, at the United Nations, the Smithsonian, in Veterans Administration hospitals—since its release in February 2010 after 10 years of research and production.

Martin will personally bring his film to Sunday’s screening, which is presented by the NAACP’s Long Beach Chapter beginning at 3 p.m. atErnestMcBridePark. The park, named for the man who founded the NAACP inLong Beach, is located at1550 Martin Luther King Blvd.

In its entirety, For Love of Liberty runs four hours and is presented in two parts. But only the 35-minute segment devoted to Black Patriots in the Civil War will be shown Sunday. A reception will follow the program. It is free and open to the public with a reservation. To reserve your seat, email mnaacp@gmail.com.