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Hermosa Beach News for 2007

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Top Stories on This Webpage: Starting April 8, 2007

Act now to save Hermosa from bars - Hermosa residents, get involved. Please sign the "Lissner Referendum." There's far too much liquor dispensing in our downtown. Police, fire, paramedic and lawsuit costs related to alcohol downtown are drinking Hermosa's treasury dry with millions of dollars being wasted providing public safety there. Hermosa's small-town quality is being destroyed. Hermosa's beach culture has been lost to car culture. City money needed for neglected infrastructure, the residents' safety and tranquility is being diverted to policing thousands of bar-hoppers for bar-operator profits.  A burned-out lower Pier Avenue bar business has been given every opportunity and more to accomplish a restoration and return to business without having to provide a single additional parking space or pay a single dollar for parking to the city. Its owner instead now prefers to increase by 2,000 square feet his alcohol-dispensing square-footage on top of his current 3,600 square feet.  Hermosa's City Council has thus thrown all logic to the wind and agreed that more alcohol square footage is OK for lower Pier Avenue. It has thoughtlessly and ignorantly changed the city's law and implicitly agreed to build the owner's additional required parking for this bar expansion on city-owned land. 

 

Sharkeez twists referendum facts - I received a brochure from Baja Sharkeez the other day about Jim Lissner's referendum. Several points made in the brochure are not true and folks need to know the truth.  Baja Sharkeez claims that Lissner's "referendum singles out Baja Sharkeez." Lissner also mailed out a letter where the only mention about Sharkeez is that the referendum "will allow Sharkeez to rebuild to the same size." He doesn't say another word about Sharkeez. How is Lissner singling out Sharkeez when the ordinance applies to all businesses on the Pier Avenue Plaza? Sharkeez also claims that the "Referendum Threatens Pier." Keep in mind Lissner's referendum overturns the new ordinance and maintains the current ordinance. Is Sharkeez claiming that the city is currently destroying the plaza? That's certainly news to me and other Hermosans.  And if that's the case, why would Sharkeez be willing to rebuild? The owners of Sharkeez also don't seem to believe in the laws of our state. They seem to think citizens should not have the right to use the referendum to stop a law passed by an elected body. In the early part of the 20th century, the citizens of California voted to allow referenda so that the citizens could overturn bad decisions by their legislators. Lissner is only exercising his right to overturn what he believes is a bad decision by the City Council.

 

HB doesn't need to change closing time - Although I don't live in direct proximity to the club on Pier Avenue, I have strong feelings about a trouble-plagued venue getting yet another chance.  The problems rooted in the downtown part of the city end up affecting everyone in the city by concentrating our already overworked Police Department in this area.  You leave your house at night at your own risk from speeding taxis, whose drivers don't seem to feel that stop signs and speed limits apply to them, as they try to squeeze in as many fares among clubs, liquor stores and all-night restaurants as they can.  If the midnight closing time will discourage actor-singer Steven Seagal from investing, perhaps that's just a huge bonus because, despite the quote from his representative citing his involvement would bring "classy elegance" to the city, those are two words I've never seen used in conjunction with Seagal.  Does the city of Hermosa Beach really need to attract any more celebrities and all the negative baggage they drag along? Most of us who live here think not. 

 

Owner says moving up closing time would hurt Seagal Club - Proposal to turn nightspot 705 into a sushi restaurant and nightclub fit for musical performances from Steven Seagal himself has hit a bureaucratic snag and local opposition.  Plans for the The Seagal Club in Hermosa Beach are under siege.  A proposal to turn popular nightspot 705 into an upscale sushi restaurant and nightclub fit for musical performances from actor-singer Steven Seagal himself has hit a bureaucratic snag and a groundswell of local opposition.  After a review of the club's permit, the city recently cut 705's usual 2 a.m. closing time to midnight, making the deal with Seagal impossible, said owner Tim Moore.  "We'll lose the sponsorship behind (Seagal)," Moore said. "It'll put 27 employees out of business."   But don't worry, Seagal fans: Moore and his lawyer plan to appeal the Planning Commission decision this week to the City Council.  "There's no way that the new business investors want to go forward with a 12 o'clock closing time," attorney Albro Lundy said. 

 

HB firefighters challenge proposed staffing analysis - Plans for an outside analysis of staffing levels in the Hermosa Beach Fire Department has rankled city firefighters, who are concerned that its purpose is to promote more extensive use of part-time reserves.  Rank-and-file firefighters Tuesday persuaded the City Council to hold off authorizing the $27,000 study for a few weeks until their union can weigh in on its methodology. The council said it would allow a revision of the questions to address concerns that the study otherwise will promote using reserves over hiring full-time firefighters.  "Seven times (the study) mentions augmenting the role of reserve firefighters," said Paul Hawkins, president of the Hermosa Beach Firefighters Association. "In reality, our reserve firefighters can only function in a minimal role. To expand their role would be unethical."

 

Will permits keep Hermosa Beach noise in check? - If paperwork is required for live entertainment, businesses could lose privileges when things get too rowdy. Proposed ordinance comes up tonight.  Do you have a permit for that karaoke machine?  Some Hermosa Beach businesses might very well need one under a proposed ordinance the City Council is scheduled to consider tonight that aims to curb noise by making businesses get a special permit to host live entertainment such as bands or disc jockeys.  An "entertainment permit" would require proprietors to spell out the type of entertainment they have, how many performers will appear, and when and how long the act will last, City Manager Steve Burrell said.  Permits must also be renewed annually and can be suspended or revoked if the business becomes a nuisance.  The permit system gives the city a quicker and easier route to pursue violators, said Councilman J.R. Reviczky, who pitched the idea a few months ago. 

 

Letters - HB slow to comply with ethics law - Assembly Bill 1234, an ethics law signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005, is designed to reduce personal expense reimbursement abuses by politicians and other officials. It took effect Jan. 1 and necessitates that Hermosa Beach council members receive two hours of AB 1234 ethics training in 2006.  The council members have delayed this almost until the deadline. Several meetings ago, attorney and council member Sam Edgerton even bragged that he didn't need more ethics training, having taken plenty already; however, City Attorney Michael Jenkins admonished him to the contrary.  The council members also still receive a $350-per-month car allowance in breach of the purpose of AB 1234. Short of Jenkins finding the council members in a legal loophole, they apparently will need to return the car allowance payments received in 2006 and submit actual car expense reports as related directly to their council duties if they desire such reimbursement.  Read all of this letter just below, on this webpage.

 

ROBBERY: Around 2 or 2:30 a.m. October 28, 700 block of Pier Ave.  The victim said she was pushed to the ground by unknown people, losing control of her purse that had been cradled under her arm.  She remained motionless on the ground for several minutes, afraid to get up.  When she did, her purse was gone.  She called her creditors the next day and learned one of her credit cards had been used at a gas station.

 

EXHIBIT A DEADLY WEAPON: 1 to 1:17 a.m. October 29, 1700 block of Hermosa Avenue.  Police arrested a man who allegedly stole property from the victim’s residence during a party.  When the victim confronted the man outside, he pointed a knife at the victim.

 

ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON: 2:18 a.m. October 27, 1100 block of Hermosa Avenue.  The victim was hit in the head with a metal straw dispenser while involved in a fight with another male.

 

Pier Avenue to go back to 4 lanes in Hermosa Beach - By a 4-1 vote, council members agree to end the four-month experiment to limit traffic flow on the thoroughfare.  Depending on whom you asked, Hermosa Beach's Pier Avenue was either a quaint, meandering road or a gridlocked, dangerous mess this summer.  The City Council bowed to the latter late Tuesday night, voting 4-1 to end a four-month experiment that reduced the town's main drag from four lanes to two.  "Sometimes issues come up where enough people from enough divergent backgrounds say, 'This isn't right, what in the heck is that about?' " Councilman Kit Bobko said. "When I hear that from so many different places, something's wrong."  While city staffers made no recommendation one way or another, they believed the lane change was working just fine, Public Works Director Rick Morgan said. 

 

Study offers suggestions for Hermosa Reach police force reform - Use of force is found to be within reason, but changes to improve morale, recruiting are recommended.  Hermosa Beach police officers generally exert reasonable and justified levels of force with no evidence of abuse, but some refinements are necessary in the department's hiring, recruiting and training policies and procedures, an independent analysis of the department has concluded.  Consultant R.M. McCarthy & Associates calculated the department typically receives about five complaints of force a year. In 2004, the number increased to eight, less than 1 percent of all arrests; and dropped to two in 2005, according to the 70-page document.   Consultants spent nearly six months studying an agency beleaguered by internal discord as well as external attacks, finding the department should have addressed internal distrust, tension and low morale years ago and is subject to civil rights suits disproportionate to its size. 

 



The Daily Breeze – April 8, 2007

Sunday Letters to the Editor

 

Act now to save Hermosa from bars

Hermosa residents, get involved. Please sign the "Lissner Referendum." There's far too much liquor dispensing in our downtown. Police, fire, paramedic and lawsuit costs related to alcohol downtown are drinking Hermosa's treasury dry with millions of dollars being wasted providing public safety there. Hermosa's small-town quality is being destroyed. Hermosa's beach culture has been lost to car culture. City money needed for neglected infrastructure, the residents' safety and tranquility is being diverted to policing thousands of bar-hoppers for bar-operator profits.

A burned-out lower Pier Avenue bar business has been given every opportunity and more to accomplish a restoration and return to business without having to provide a single additional parking space or pay a single dollar for parking to the city. Its owner instead now prefers to increase by 2,000 square feet his alcohol-dispensing square-footage on top of his current 3,600 square feet.

Hermosa's City Council has thus thrown all logic to the wind and agreed that more alcohol square footage is OK for lower Pier Avenue. It has thoughtlessly and ignorantly changed the city's law and implicitly agreed to build the owner's additional required parking for this bar expansion on city-owned land.

Residents and businesses in town know well that there is already too much alcohol concentrated downtown. So readers, please fill out and return the referendum form you received by mail. You will be giving the City Council the moral fortitude it needed to break the insidious grip alcohol businesses evidently have over it. Do this immediately as time is extremely short for this referendum's success.

n       HOWARD LONGACRE 

 


The Daily Breeze – April 5, 2007

Letters to the Editor

 

Sharkeez twists referendum facts

I received a brochure from Baja Sharkeez the other day about Jim Lissner's referendum. Several points made in the brochure are not true and folks need to know the truth.

Baja Sharkeez claims that Lissner's "referendum singles out Baja Sharkeez." Lissner also mailed out a letter where the only mention about Sharkeez is that the referendum "will allow Sharkeez to rebuild to the same size." He doesn't say another word about Sharkeez. How is Lissner singling out Sharkeez when the ordinance applies to all businesses on the Pier Avenue Plaza? Sharkeez also claims that the "Referendum Threatens Pier." Keep in mind Lissner's referendum overturns the new ordinance and maintains the current ordinance. Is Sharkeez claiming that the city is currently destroying the plaza? That's certainly news to me and other Hermosans.

And if that's the case, why would Sharkeez be willing to rebuild? The owners of Sharkeez also don't seem to believe in the laws of our state. They seem to think citizens should not have the right to use the referendum to stop a law passed by an elected body. In the early part of the 20th century, the citizens of California voted to allow referenda so that the citizens could overturn bad decisions by their legislators. Lissner is only exercising his right to overturn what he believes is a bad decision by the City Council.

Let's let the citizens of Hermosa Beach decide what is best for Pier Avenue Plaza, not the owners of a bar/disco.

-- FRED HUEBSCHER

Hermosa Beach

 


The Daily Breeze – January 26, 2007

Friday Letters to the Editor


HB doesn't need to change closing time

Although I don't live in direct proximity to the club on Pier Avenue, I have strong feelings about a trouble-plagued venue getting yet another chance.

The problems rooted in the downtown part of the city end up affecting everyone in the city by concentrating our already overworked Police Department in this area.

You leave your house at night at your own risk from speeding taxis, whose drivers don't seem to feel that stop signs and speed limits apply to them, as they try to squeeze in as many fares among clubs, liquor stores and all-night restaurants as they can.

If the midnight closing time will discourage actor-singer Steven Seagal from investing, perhaps that's just a huge bonus because, despite the quote from his representative citing his involvement would bring "classy elegance" to the city, those are two words I've never seen used in conjunction with Seagal.

Does the city of Hermosa Beach really need to attract any more celebrities and all the negative baggage they drag along? Most of us who live here think not.

-- SYLVIA SIMMONS

Hermosa Beach

 


The Daily Breeze – January 22, 2007

Owner says moving up closing time would hurt Seagal Club

 

Proposal to turn nightspot 705 into a sushi restaurant and nightclub fit for musical performances from Steven Seagal himself has hit a bureaucratic snag and local opposition.

Plans for the The Seagal Club in Hermosa Beach are under siege.

A proposal to turn popular nightspot 705 into an upscale sushi restaurant and nightclub fit for musical performances from actor-singer Steven Seagal himself has hit a bureaucratic snag and a groundswell of local opposition.

After a review of the club's permit, the city recently cut 705's usual 2 a.m. closing time to midnight, making the deal with Seagal impossible, said owner Tim Moore.

"We'll lose the sponsorship behind (Seagal)," Moore said. "It'll put 27 employees out of business."

But don't worry, Seagal fans: Moore and his lawyer plan to appeal the Planning Commission decision this week to the City Council.

"There's no way that the new business investors want to go forward with a 12 o'clock closing time," attorney Albro Lundy said.

Getting a reversal could be a hard battle, though.

The club, once known as Club 705, Pointe 705 and Saffire, has a checkered past.

City documents show the Police and Fire Departments received two-dozen calls about the club on Pier Avenue near Pacific Coast Highway in the first half of 2006, ranging from overcrowding, assaults, public intoxication and noise violations.

Nearby residents have long charged the club was too rowdy and an inappropriate landmark for the entrance to Hermosa's main commercial drag.

A little more than a year ago, the city offered a $1.1 million settlement to the club's previous owners, who alleged racism, harassment and excessive force from Hermosa Beach police officers.

Moore said his club has been punished for past indiscretions, and argued that since his company took over in June, 705 has drawn less police attention and spruced up its look. The clientele has gone from "thuggish" to upscale, he said.

And owners suspect Seagal's name would class up the joint even more.

"Steven Seagal was coming in, looking at being in a partnership and also performing to bring that classy elegance the city so badly needs," Moore said.

Attempts to reach Seagal or a representative were unsuccessful; according to his Web site, Seagal and his band are on tour in Europe.

Plans for The Seagal Club include a restaurant open from 11 a.m. to midnight daily, serving sushi and other Japanese cuisine. An adjoining sports lounge would feature televisions and appetizers, according to documents filed with the city.

The nightclub portion would allow ballroom and salsa dancing, live DJs and occasional band performances, including gigs with the martial arts star, who took his blues act to the club a few weeks ago, Moore said.

Seagal, who is very popular in Asia, would attract Japanese businessmen and "other captains of industry" to Hermosa Beach, as well as the actor's celebrity friends, the documents stated.

"It will be a mecca of sorts for (Seagal's) growing fan base, musicians, celebs, CEOs," they added, "and fans from all over the world will fly into L.A. to visit The Seagal Club."

But 705 could have a hard time convincing residents like Patty Egerer.

A vocal opponent of additional watering holes in town, she and many others believe the city's family atmosphere has disappeared and Hermosa Beach is too welcoming to new bars and nightclubs.

"We've got another 21-and-over club," she said. "We have these clubs masquerading as restaurants. This is a major issue and (city officials) just kind of say, 'OK, go ahead.' "

 


The Daily Breeze – January 11, 2007

Thursday Letters to the Editor

 

Don't miss key night for HB's future

Next Tuesday could be an important day in Hermosa Beach, a turning point. Maybe for the better, maybe for the worse. At the Planning Commission's 7 p.m. meeting, the following matters will be acted upon:

The commission will be considering the mass rezoning of city-owned properties, even though, as the Dec. 14 Beach Reporter so aptly put it, "Officially speaking, there's nothing in the works."

They will be reviewing the conditional use permit (CUP) compliance of Pointe 705.

They will be doing the annual review of CUP compliance for all the other restaurants downtown. The minutes from the commission's January 2006 meeting (available at www.hermosabch.org) reflect that not one citizen, not even this author, rose to speak during the last annual review. Be there, if you care.

-- JIM LISSNER

Hermosa Beach

 


The Daily Breeze – January 11, 2007

HB firefighters challenge proposed staffing analysis

 


Staff writer

Plans for an outside analysis of staffing levels in the Hermosa Beach Fire Department has rankled city firefighters, who are concerned that its purpose is to promote more extensive use of part-time reserves.

Rank-and-file firefighters Tuesday persuaded the City Council to hold off authorizing the $27,000 study for a few weeks until their union can weigh in on its methodology. The council said it would allow a revision of the questions to address concerns that the study otherwise will promote using reserves over hiring full-time firefighters.

"Seven times (the study) mentions augmenting the role of reserve firefighters," said Paul Hawkins, president of the Hermosa Beach Firefighters Association. "In reality, our reserve firefighters can only function in a minimal role. To expand their role would be unethical."

Here's a sampling of some other questions the city hopes the analysis could answer:

• Could the department's reserve force be more effectively utilized?

• Does the workload of 2,000 or more annual calls for service make the Fire Department busy by comparison to similar size departments in the South Bay?

• Is the department effectively delivering on its commitments to training and safety?

But specific questions aside, the union also took issue with why the study's lead analyst is a former fire chief of two California cities with no Hermosa Beach connection.

"What does he know that our chief doesn't?" Hawkins asked. "What is he willing to do that our chief isn't?"

Councilman Kit Bobko took the strongest stance against the study, wary of paying a consultant nearly $30,000 to answer questions he said he believed the fire chief could solve himself.

"I believe the chief should be making those decisions," he said. "That's why we're paying him. ... If he's not doing that or he's unable to do that, that's a different question."

Fire Chief Russell Tingley stayed mostly mum during the tense discussion, but said Wednesday an independent consultant would provide objectivity to the analysis.

"We're expecting that the outside consultant can bring experience to take a look at many facets of the Fire Department -- not only staffing -- to work with me, to work with the labor group and the city manager to further define the scope and do a proper study," he said.

The strained discussion Tuesday seemed to spotlight long-running tensions between Fire Department management and the union, which has long complained about low staffing levels.

Two years ago, the department took a unanimous vote of no confidence against Chief Tingley.

"There's a running skirmish and, over time, that's not good," Mayor Sam Edgerton said. "When I saw this (study), I thought, 'Aha! At least we're going to figure that out.' "

The city shouldn't have to wait much longer.

A representative for the firefighters union is slated to meet with city officials today to develop additional questions for the study, Tingley said.

The council will take a second look at the proposed analysis in two weeks. If approved, the study should take up to 12 weeks to complete, Tingley said.

 


The Daily Breeze – January 9, 2007

Hermosa Beach catches centennial fever

 


DAILY BREEZE

Hermosa Beach is 100.

That's no secret to the city's centennial committee, which for a year has planned the year-long celebration from the tip of its famous pier to the top of its historic windmill.

The all-volunteer committee of about two dozen people, led by Maureen Ferguson and Laura Raymond, has planned dozens of events and programs for 2007 that commemorate the city and its illustrious past.

The long-awaited ribbon-cutting for the Hermosa Beach Historical Society kicks off the celebration at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The society building, at 710 Pier Ave., has been closed for more than a year for refurbishment. Among the museum's collection of artifacts is an authentic lifeguard station, historic surfboards and hundreds of photographs. There will be live entertainment and refreshments until 5 p.m.

Also on Sunday afternoon, just down the street from the historical society, the 5-foot-tall, 50-foot-long Centennial Children's Mural will be available for viewing. The mural, on the side of the Community Center at the southwest corner of Pier Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway, depicts Hermosa Beach scenes. It was designed by P.J. Pauly and Greg Leibert.

The mural panels were painted by area students under the designers' supervision. The project is sponsored by the Hermosa Beach Arts Foundation and the Hermosa Beach Kiwanis Club.

At the end of the year-long celebration, the mural will be taken down and reinstalled, probably in a classroom or hallway inside the Community Center.

From 5 to 6:15 p.m., Hermosa Beach Mayor Sam Edgerton will give his State of the City Address at the Beach House Hotel, at 1300 The Strand.

With the conclusion of the official proclamations, the centennial vibe will enter full Hermosa Beach partying mode with a family-friendly birthday party from 6:30 to 8:45 p.m. Sunday. There will be a cake-cutting, free cookies depicting the Hermosa centennial seal and live music by Dean Torrance of Jan & Dean and the Stonebridge Band. The party will conclude at 8:30 p.m. with a fireworks display orchestrated to music.

"It is really exciting because we are the first centennial in the area. Next year is Manhattan Beach's centennial and after that it will be Redondo Beach's," said co-chairwoman Ferguson.

She added that the committee, along with sponsorship from nonprofit organizations and businesses, promises an entire year of events from "100 Acts of Beautification" to a centennial time capsule fund-raising event. The capsule will be buried in the fall on the Hermosa Beach Pier Plaza.

For centennial events and programs throughout the year, check the Hermosa Beach Centennial Web site at www.Hermosa100.com.

 


The Daily Breeze – December 19, 2006

Will nightclub hit the right notes at the Redondo pier?

 

Redondo Beach City Council tonight will consider a Santa Monica jazz and blues venue's plans to open a new spot on the pier.


DAILY BREEZE

A longtime Santa Monica jazz and blues club plans to open a new location on the Redondo Beach pier.

Harvelle's, which has been in business since 1931 on Fourth Street, has its eye on the basement spot that was most recently the home of Moxie Nightclub.

That controversial venue packed up and left in September as noise and nuisance complaints mounted, leaving the 6,000-square-foot space empty. The venue's size and location in the South Bay was a good fit for the jazz club's expansion plan in California and other Western states, said co-owner Cevin Clark. In addition to downtown Los Angeles and San Francisco, he said, Harvelle's is considering opening clubs in Las Vegas and Scottsdale, Ariz.

Clark said the Redondo Beach venue can accommodate 450 patrons, which means the business could attract bigger acts such as Etta James and Buddy Guy, along with newer jazz and blues artists.

"What we're doing is creating a West Coast circuit of Harvelle's," he said. "(Redondo Beach) will be if not the biggest among the biggest clubs that will be in the circuit of Harvelle's. I think the South Bay really needs a place like this."

The City Council is scheduled tonight to vote on a sublease agreement between the nightclub and pier leaseholder Bob Resnick, who controls the spot at 100 J Fisherman's Wharf.

The business would operate beneath Kilkenny's, an Irish pub that opened last summer at the circle where Torrance Boulevard dead-ends at the pier.

An entertainment permit setting the hours for live performances and other rules laid out by the council would be approved at a later date, city Harbor Director Barry Kielsmeier said.

Then the club would start pumping money into interior renovations, with the goal of opening by March 15, Clark said.

"It's going to look like a '20s, '30s speakeasy," he explained. "I want to create a really cool vibe."

To avoid late-night traffic jams with patrons simultaneously exiting the pier parking garage, Kielsmeier said the city likely will order Harvelle's to validate parking inside the business.

The same requirement was imposed on Moxie Nightclub. Despite those efforts, however, city leaders decided in September that a string of fights among Moxie patrons had become too much of a burden on the city's police force.

Police Chief Joe Leonardi had suspended Moxie's live entertainment privileges leading into the Labor Day weekend, citing a melee a few days earlier that drew 30 police officers from six South Bay cities.

Under the proposed sublease arrangement with Harvelle's, the city's harbor fund would receive 3 percent of the nightclub's gross sales, according to a staff report.

The pact offers an initial term of five years with three five-year extensions.

 


The Daily Breeze – December 20, 2006

Hermosa Beach - Police Log

Disorderly Conduct / Assault: 12:59 a.m. Dec. 15, 1300 block of Hermosa Avenue.  A police officer saw four people fighting at Pedone’s Pizza, resulting in the arrest of a 23-year-old man who faces charges for assault, disorderly conduct and vandalism to a police vehicle

Robbery: 1:15 a.m. Dec. 15, 1000 block of The Strand.  A robber took a victim’s wallet after threatening him with a knife, threw the wallet to the ground and then fled with another male suspect.  The victim reported $100 missing.

Robbery: 2:46 a.m. Dec. 15, 800 block of Bayview Drive.  Someone pressed a hard object into the victim’s back, threatening him and demanding his wallet.  The robbers fled with cash.

Burglary: Midnight Dec. 16, to 8:30 a.m. Dec. 17, 1600 Bayview Drive.  Unknown suspect entered victim’s residence and removed money, Xbox games, DVDs and stereo equipment.

The Daily Breeze – December 13, 2006

Assault With a Deadly Weapon: 1:40 a.m. Dec. 4, 00 block of Pier Plaza.  Someone at the Lighthouse threw a 12-ounce glass at the victim, hitting her in the face.  She required medical attention.  Co-workers of the victim, who was not working that night at the bar, told police a woman who was arguing with the victim threw the glass.

Commercial Burglary: 6 p.m. Dec. 2 to 11 a.m. Dec, 1300 block of Hermosa Avenue.  No signs of forced entry; approximately 12 pieces of clothing valued at $2,000 was taken.

 The Daily Breeze – December 6, 2006

Assault and Battery: 2:33 a.m. Nov. 25, 1100 block of Hermosa Avenue.  A participant in a fight was arrested on suspicion of fighting in public, public intoxication and resisting arrest for allegedly trying to attack another person involved in the incident as he was talking with police officers.  The report noted that the man had to be restrained when he resisted arrest when confronted by many police officers.

Obstruction: 2:33 a.m. Nov. 25, 1100 block of Hermosa Avenue.  A man was arrested on suspicion of resisting, obstructing or delaying a peace officer and public intoxication for allegedly disobeying an officer’s order to step back, yelling at officers to let a man under arrest go and slapping the officer’s are causing a minor injury while the officer was attempting to secure a perimeter at the scene of the fight.

Residential Burglary: 10:35 to 10:39 p.m. Nov. 17, 1900 block of Manhattan Avenue.  A resident heard the voices of two males in the residence, shouted at them to leave and heard them leaving.  Police officers found a trail of muddy footprints and a screw driver that did not belong to the resident.  Entry appears to have been made through a window.

Theft: 6 to 6:15 p.m. Nov. 28, 700 block of Sunset Drive.  A man in a white older model van stopped his vehicle and took a backpack containing school books.  A boy had set the bag down as he was standing outside waiting for his mother to come home from work.

 


The Daily Breeze – December 12, 2006

Will permits keep Hermosa Beach noise in check?

 

If paperwork is required for live entertainment, businesses could lose privileges when things get too rowdy. Proposed ordinance comes up tonight.


DAILY BREEZE

Do you have a permit for that karaoke machine?

Some Hermosa Beach businesses might very well need one under a proposed ordinance the City Council is scheduled to consider tonight that aims to curb noise by making businesses get a special permit to host live entertainment such as bands or disc jockeys.

An "entertainment permit" would require proprietors to spell out the type of entertainment they have, how many performers will appear, and when and how long the act will last, City Manager Steve Burrell said.

Permits must also be renewed annually and can be suspended or revoked if the business becomes a nuisance.

The permit system gives the city a quicker and easier route to pursue violators, said Councilman J.R. Reviczky, who pitched the idea a few months ago.

"This permit is something they could lose," Reviczky said. "When there's consequences for your actions, you tend to think twice about those actions. ... I don't want to keep hiring cops and keep cops down there. I'd rather attack the problem at the source."

Pier Plaza hot spot Patrick Malloy's often features live entertainment, said owner Fred Hahn. And if the ordinance is approved, the bar would need a permit. "This was a surprise to all of us," he said. "We want to find out how they want to police it. What are they going to use to gauge? There's a lot of unanswered questions."

The entertainment permit system would also crack down on party promoters who use a Hermosa Beach venue for a night, make a bundle on cover charges and leave town by the next day.

If approved, the ordinance would require them to have a permit as well. "Many times we don't know who this guy is," Reviczky said. "We've had some promoters come down here and promote some outrageous types of entertainment in the evening and are not held accountable."

Redondo Beach already has a similar permit system. The City Council in September revoked Moxie Nightclub's permit after a series of fights broke out near the club on the city pier.

Known for its active nightlife, Hermosa Beach attempted to create a permit system in the late 1990s, Reviczky said, but the proposition was shot down.

Tonight, he hopes for a different outcome.

"This also allows us to go after the problem business rather than making sweeping changes that affect everyone," Reviczky said. "We're not painting them with the same brush."

 


The Daily Breeze – December 20, 2006

Hermosa Beach - Police Log

Disorderly Conduct / Assault: 12:59 a.m. Dec. 15, 1300 block of Hermosa Avenue.  A police officer saw four people fighting at Pedone’s Pizza, resulting in the arrest of a 23-year-old man who faces charges for assault, disorderly conduct and vandalism to a police vehicle

Robbery: 1:15 a.m. Dec. 15, 1000 block of The Strand.  A robber took a victim’s wallet after threatening him with a knife, threw the wallet to the ground and then fled with another male suspect.  The victim reported $100 missing.

Robbery: 2:46 a.m. Dec. 15, 800 block of Bayview Drive.  Someone pressed a hard object into the victim’s back, threatening him and demanding his wallet.  The robbers fled with cash.

Burglary: Midnight Dec. 16, to 8:30 a.m. Dec. 17, 1600 Bayview Drive.  Unknown suspect entered victim’s residence and removed money, Xbox games, DVDs and stereo equipment.

The Daily Breeze – December 13, 2006

Hermosa Beach - Police Log

Assault With a Deadly Weapon:1:40 a.m. Dec. 4, 00 block of Pier Plaza.  Someone at the Lighthouse threw a 12-ounce glass at the victim, hitting her in the face.  She required medical attention.  Co-workers of the victim, who was not working that night at the bar, told police a woman who was arguing with the victim threw the glass.

Commercial Burglary:6 p.m. Dec. 2 to 11 a.m. Dec, 1300 block of Hermosa Avenue.  No signs of forced entry; approximately 12 pieces of clothing valued at $2,000 was taken.

The Daily Breeze – December 6, 2006

Hermosa Beach - Police Log

Assault and Battery: 2:33 a.m. Nov. 25, 1100 block of Hermosa Avenue.  A participant in a fight was arrested on suspicion of fighting in public, public intoxication and resisting arrest for allegedly trying to attack another person involved in the incident as he was talking with police officers.  The report noted that the man had to be restrained when he resisted arrest when confronted by many police officers.

Obstruction: 2:33 a.m. Nov. 25, 1100 block of Hermosa Avenue.  A man was arrested on suspicion of resisting, obstructing or delaying a peace officer and public intoxication for allegedly disobeying an officer’s order to step back, yelling at officers to let a man under arrest go and slapping the officer’s are causing a minor injury while the officer was attempting to secure a perimeter at the scene of the fight.

Residential Burglary: 10:35 to 10:39 p.m. Nov. 17, 1900 block of Manhattan Avenue.  A resident heard the voices of two males in the residence, shouted at them to leave and heard them leaving.  Police officers found a trail of muddy footprints and a screw driver that did not belong to the resident.  Entry appears to have been made through a window.

Theft: 6 to 6:15 p.m. Nov. 28, 700 block of Sunset Drive.  A man in a white older model van stopped his vehicle and took a backpack containing school books.  A boy had set the bag down as he was standing outside waiting for his mother to come home from work.

 


The Daily Breeze – December 11, 2006

Finding abodes abroad

 

Hermosa home-swap service goes Hollywood as the plot device for a major motion picture.


Daily Breeze

Longtime Hermosa Beach resident Ed Kushins loved to travel but hated expensive, impersonal hotels lacking the comforts of home.

So, about 15 years ago, he started a paper directory of people around the world willing to trade homes temporarily with strangers.

Now, after swapping his walk street home about 15 times, the 59-year-old has turned his business into www.HomeExchange.com, a popular online service with thousands of members worldwide, a handful of South Bay employees and a prominent role in this weekend's seasonal chick flick "The Holiday."

"It's a dream come true for us," Kushins said.

The film stars Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet as two unlucky-in-love women eager for a change of scenery. They find Kushins' Web site and impulsively swap homes.

Diaz's character goes to the London cottage of Winslet's character; Winslet's character winds up at Diaz's Brentwood mansion. Then, of course, hilarity and romance ensue.

Columbia Pictures approached Kushins about a year and a half ago for permission to feature his Web site in a big-screen romantic comedy, he said.

According to the film's production notes, screenwriter and director Nancy Myers was planning a vacation when she stumbled upon Kushins' site.

"I had no idea this kind of thing ever existed," she said. "On the Web site, I read about all these fantastic houses. Eventually, I realized I would have to trade mine to get one."

Trading homes provided a springboard for her film's plot line, Myers said.

"I thought it would be a wonderful starting point for two women who are both running away from something," she said. "Swapping houses becomes the first step in taking their lives back."

He didn't get paid for his cameo of sorts, but after getting a sneak peek of the film a few weeks ago, Kushins knew he made the right choice.

"We're 40 feet tall on the screen," he said. "So, that's pretty cool."

That kind of free exposure is a fantasy for any small-business owner, Kushins said. And he believes the film might help home-swapping become the next big thing.

"It's going to be trendy," he said. "The analogy we make is Internet dating. Five years ago, Internet dating was not trendy and was sort of weird."

But already HomeExchange.com has about 14,000 members all over the world, with 40 percent in the United States. The South Bay's picturesque quality and proximity to Los Angeles provide a good draw, Kushins said.

Hermosa Beach resident Mitch Gordon's listing for his 19th Street home garners inquiries from several home-swappers a week, he said.

Fed up with paying hotel bills and a mortgage when traveling, Gordon turned to homeexchange.com in 2001.

"I have an asset here and it kills me to pay for a hotel," he said. "You spend a few hundred dollars a night and you barely spend any time in the room."

Gordon has happily swapped his home about five times now. His next trip is scheduled for February -- a ski vacation in Mammoth.

Kushins said the home-swapping premise of "The Holiday" puts both characters in situations they might not encounter in hotels -- like finding love interests in local men baffled by strange women living in their friends' homes.

Kushins doesn't promise any love connections, but new friendships are a near certainty.

"There's nothing like a home-exchange vacation for comfort, for being able to live like a local, to be able to meet the neighbors," he said. "The family leaving invariably goes out of their way to have the neighbors come over, your kids play with the kids on the block."

Clients admit it requires a specific personality to handle strangers in their home, but numerous pre-trip e-mails and telephone calls help ease the transition, said Maria Carlson, a Redondo Beach resident who traded her Catalina Avenue town house a couple of times.

"I couldn't let strangers stay in my place," she said. "But by the time you exchange, you're friends. (One lady) said, 'I can't wait to meet you.' You kind of become friends."

While Carlson called "The Holiday" a cute, romantic comedy after a sneak preview, the premise of strangers swapping homes could just as easily be a horror film, or a nightmare in real life.

But Kushins swears his clients have never reported anything creepy happening while trading houses.

"No deaths, no murders, no coming home to a trashed house," he said.

Hermosa Beach resident Nancy Rogers said an Italian swapper once racked up a $700 telephone bill full of international calls while at her home, but the debt was quickly settled.

Most complaints come from clients with unmet expectations. Some expect more from the home, or one's standards of cleanliness are unmet, Kushins said.

The small business, however, has more than met Kushins' original expectations.

With little overhead and each of the 14,000 clients paying a $60 annual membership, the Web site makes a nice profit, Kushins said.

And now with Hollywood calling, who knows what will happen? But Kushins is staying put in Hermosa Beach.

"I moved to Hermosa in 1977," he said. "I'm never leaving, no matter what. I'm not going to Hollywood. (Hermosa Beach) is like being on vacation all the time."

 


The Daily Breeze – November 8, 2006

Wednesday Letters to the Editor

HB slow to comply with ethics law

Assembly Bill 1234, an ethics law signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005, is designed to reduce personal expense reimbursement abuses by politicians and other officials. It took effect Jan. 1 and necessitates that Hermosa Beach council members receive two hours of AB 1234 ethics training in 2006.

The council members have delayed this almost until the deadline. Several meetings ago, attorney and council member Sam Edgerton even bragged that he didn't need more ethics training, having taken plenty already; however, City Attorney Michael Jenkins admonished him to the contrary.

The council members also still receive a $350-per-month car allowance in breach of the purpose of AB 1234. Short of Jenkins finding the council members in a legal loophole, they apparently will need to return the car allowance payments received in 2006 and submit actual car expense reports as related directly to their council duties if they desire such reimbursement.

Except for the new council member, Kit Bobko, each council member should return about $3,500 to Hermosa's affable treasurer, John Workman.

Incredibly, during the Oct. 24 meeting, the council (with Pete Tucker absent) voted itself, without any discussion, a 77 percent increase in compensation. Edgerton coyly voted "No" while knowing full well the increase would pass, yet he made no attempt to decline such an increase for himself or any financial relation to be seated on the council when the increase takes effect. Edgerton then condescendingly predicted this letter to the editor calling attention to his disingenuous "No" vote on raising council members' compensation.

Incidentally, it is the city's money that Hermosa's council members remind the people they carefully watch.

-- HOWARD LONGACRE

Hermosa Beach


The Daily Breeze – November 1, 2006

Hermosa Beach – Police Log

ROBBERY: Around 2 or 2:30 a.m. October 28, 700 block of Pier Ave.  The victim said she was pushed to the ground by unknown people, losing control of her purse that had been cradled under her arm.  She remained motionless on the ground for several minutes, afraid to get up.  When she did, her purse was gone.  She called her creditors the next day and learned one of her credit cards had been used at a gas station.

EXHIBIT A DEADLY WEAPON: 1 to 1:17 a.m. October 29, 1700 block of Hermosa Avenue.  Police arrested a man who allegedly stole property from the victim’s residence during a party.  When the victim confronted the man outside, he pointed a knife at the victim.

ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON: 2:18 a.m. October 27, 1100 block of Hermosa Avenue.  The victim was hit in the head with a metal straw dispenser while involved in a fight with another male.

FIGHT IN A PUBLIC PLACE: 2:36 a.m. October 27, 00 block of 15th Street.  Police arrested a man on suspicion of fighting in public and public intoxication for allegedly striking another man repeatedly with a belt.

BURGLARY: 4:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. October 23, 400 block of Herondo Street.  Someone smashed ground-level windows and possibly entered an apartment.  The loss, if any, was not known at the time of the report.

BURGLARY: 8 a.m. October 21, to 8 a.m. October 26, 00 block of Pier Plaza.  A work badge was taken from a locked locker at a Los Angeles County lifeguard facility.  No signs of forced entry into the locker.

GRAND THEFT: 6 to 6:30 a.m. October 25, 10th Street lifeguard station.  The victims left a bag and purse at the lifeguard station while they went swimming; both were gone upon their return.  The loss also includes a cell phone, glasses, money, checks and snorkeling equipment. 

THEFT: 11:30 p.m. October 27, 700 block of Pier Avenue.  Purses were taken from a couch in a club.

VANDALISM: 6 p.m. October 28 to 8 a.m. October 29, 19th Street and Bayview Drive.  Someone threw a rear-view mirror through the back window of a van.

 


The Daily Breeze – November 1, 2006

Hermosa dreams of PCH takeover

 

City sees potential merit in assuming responsibility for route controlled by Caltrans.


DAILY BREEZE

If Hermosa Beach controlled its chunk of Pacific Coast Highway, it could hang advertisements across the thoroughfare as it pleased.

It could dump that pesky California Department of Transportation-mandated ban on rush-hour street parking. And the city could more easily make long-wanted improvements to the highway's median.

So, the city is considering negotiating with Caltrans for say over its sliver of PCH, which would allow Hermosa Beach to call the shots on that stretch of road.

City staffers are calculating how much the endeavor would cost, and the City Council could consider the proposal before the year is up, said Public Works Director Rick Morgan.

"It's a big cost," he said. "Whether our little city is up for that, I don't know. ... It would be interesting, if we had control, how far we could go."

Money aside, the road to an autonomous north-south arterial spanning less than 2 miles can be long.

If the council goes for the idea, officials would send a letter to Caltrans expressing interest in the thoroughfare and a series of discussions and studies could begin, said spokeswoman Jeanne Bonfilio.

"It's a process. It's a team effort," she said, adding that relinquishment of the road could take up to two years to complete. "We try to work out things that are best for both parties. ... Each particular case is studied, specific to that case."

Morgan said Hermosa's chief desire for control comes from a 2003 Caltrans ruling that ordered the city to take down a banner running across PCH near First Street.

The streamer was part of a city fundraising effort in which businesses paid $2,500 for a 4-by-30-foot sign hoisted across the intersection; all money went straight to local charities.

Caltrans gave the city 30 days to remove the banner or face large fines, charging the sign violated state regulations against private advertising on state property.

"They said if you want to have the right to do this, you should consider relinquishment," Morgan said. "Caltrans would give it to us and some money and it would be our road and we could continue it."

Mayor Sam Edgerton, who blasted Caltrans' admonishment in 2003, supported a Hermosa Beach takeover of PCH and thought the city could afford its upkeep.

"We've always had issues with Caltrans about the management of that highway," he said. "Local control is a better thing for the issue of allowing not-for-profit charities, other issues relating to parking that would favor residents and businesses."

As part of the handover, the state also could ante up some money for initial repairs.

When Redondo Beach gained control of Artesia Boulevard several years ago, Caltrans kicked in $7 million.

Lawndale got $1.6 million after it took over its piece of Hawthorne Boulevard in 1999.

A year earlier, Torrance received $5.4 million for repairs to the then-blighted Artesia Boulevard between Hawthorne Boulevard and Western Avenue.

 


The Daily Breeze – November 1, 2006

Copley exploring options for Breeze, its other newspapers

 

Breeze's parent company is taking the action because of an industry downturn and estate tax obligations.


DAILY BREEZE

The Copley Press Inc., owner of the Daily Breeze, said Tuesday that it is "exploring strategic alternatives" for its seven newspapers in Ohio and Illinois that could result in their sale.

The private La Jolla-based media company said it was taking this step because of the contraction in the newspaper industry and debt incurred from estate taxes after company matriarch Helen K. Copley's death in 2004.

In June, Copley made a similar announcement regarding its Los Angeles-area holdings including the Daily Breeze, Palos Verdes Peninsula News, The Beach Reporter and More San Pedro under the umbrella of Copley Los Angeles Newspapers, headquartered in Torrance.

Tuesday's announcement does not change Copley's effort to find a buyer for the Daily Breeze and its other Los Angeles assets, Harold Fuson, Copley senior vice president, said in an interview.

"All I can say about that is that the process is continuing, and we anticipate that it will be successfully completed," Fuson said.

Copley had hoped to conclude a sale of the Daily Breeze by late September or early October, said Art Wible, the paper's publisher. However, the continuing downturn in the newspaper industry has complicated this process, he said.

"It now looks like we'll likely need most of November to conclude if we have a deal or we don't have a deal," Wible said. "We're not having a fire sale at the Breeze. We hope to conclude a favorable arrangement. And if not, Copley L.A. will continue to be part of the Copley newspapers."

If the Daily Breeze stays a part of Copley, the parent company would pursue a partnership with one of its three main competitors in the Los Angeles market, Tribune Co.'s Los Angeles Times, Media-News Group's Los Angeles Newspaper Group and Freedom Communications' The Orange County Register.

If the Daily Breeze isn't sold, the factors that prompted Copley to put it on the block would remain, Wible said. The Daily Breeze is not sufficiently large to attract enough big national and regional advertising accounts. Therefore, the paper must establish a relationship with one of Los Angeles' three big media players to be able to compete, Wible said. Such an arrangement could involve a larger partner securing national ads for the Daily Breeze, which would in turn share the revenue.

Wible declined to discuss who had shown interest in purchasing the Daily Breeze, although industry speculation has focused on Denver-based MediaNews as the most likely buyer. Media News' Los Angeles Newspaper Group owns the Long Beach Press Telegram, the Daily News of Los Angeles, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the Pasadena Star-News, the Whittier Daily News and several other papers in the Inland Empire.

"The process included a number of interested parties, and that we are engaged with at least one party that can do some of the things that we stated (was) why we got into this in the first place," Wible said.

When Copley first announced plans to possibly sell the Daily Breeze, no mention was made of Helen Copley's estate taxes. However, if that was one of the reasons for a sale, then Tuesday's announcement makes a Daily Breeze sale less urgent, Wible suggested.

"There's not as much pressure to make this happen as when Copley entered into this in the first place," Wible said, referring to the potential sale revenue of Copley's Illinois and Ohio newspapers.

Wible criticized estate taxes, which he said "take an ugly toll on family businesses" such as Copley.

A media company selling assets to pay estate taxes is hardly unprecedented, said Jay Harris, former publisher of the San Jose Mercury News.

"If you looked at the history of (media firm Gannet Co.), I can think of several ... family-owned companies that they purchased primarily during the 1970s. And many of those were for the same reason," said Harris, a journalism professor at USC's Annenberg School for Communication.

Estate taxes notwithstanding, it has been a tumultuous year for the newspaper industry, with readers and advertisers increasingly switching from newsprint to the Internet. That dynamic has challenged newspapers, which have struggled with a resulting loss in revenue.

For example, the move to the Web factored into the sale in June of Knight Ridder Inc., the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, to McClatchy Co.

Wible declined to discuss Daily Breeze revenues, noting that Copley is a private company. He added that the Daily Breeze financials are in better shape than in 2005 and are outperforming the 2004 forecast.

Copley's Ohio newspapers include The Repository in Canton, The Independent in Massillon, and The Times-Reporter covering Dover and New Philadelphia.

The company's Illinois papers include The Journal Star in Peoria, The Register-Mail in Galesburg, The State Journal-Register in Springfield and The Courier in Lincoln. The strategic alternatives include possible mergers, sales or other transactions.

Copley began its newspaper business in 1905 in Illinois, and expanded to Southern California in the 1920s.

In a statement, Copley CEO David C. Copley, said: "The newspaper business has been very good to my family and me for over a century. The flagship remains San Diego and the moves we are announcing secure our ability to keep The San Diego Union-Tribune as an independent, locally owned newspaper for many years into the future."

If Copley sells all the newspapers it has on the block, it would have left only the Union-Tribune and the Borrego Sun, a small paper published once every two weeks in Borrego Springs.

 


The Daily Breeze – October 13, 2006

Developer rejects Hermosa Beach housing plan

 

A lagging residential market prompts Mar Ventures to explore other options for land on PCH.


DAILY BREEZE

Facing a stalling housing market, a local developer has scrapped plans for a four-star boutique hotel and adjoining high-end homes in a prominent Hermosa Beach location -- for now.

Torrance-based developer Mar Ventures is "evaluating other options" for the land on Pacific Coast Highway, said the company's president, Allan MacKenzie.

A slumping residential market has apparently detoured the development that would have included 55 condominiums as part of the developer's vision for a 72-room inn, located where South Bay BMW sat until almost two years ago.

"The market has changed," MacKenzie said. "Less for hotels, but more of the integrated nature of the project. The residential market is what's changed."

While Mar Ventures never formally submitted plans for city approval, the developer hosted a series of informational meetings for the surrounding neighborhood earlier this year.

The developer touted a rooftop pool and full-service restaurant. Condo residents and hotel guests would have shared entry points and services, a concept more popular and common on the East Coast.

The hotel component alone could have meant at least $300,000 in annual revenue for the city, said Finance Director Viki Copeland, who added that Hermosa Beach expects to receive about $1.5 million in hotel tax this year.

"We've thought a hotel would be the highest replacement in terms of revenue, instead of a car dealership," she said.

But the city might still be able to count on some sort of hotel revenue from the prime piece of real estate in the future.

"We're evaluating other options," a cautious MacKenzie said. "Whether it's a different type of project, continuing with it, or renovating, we do not have a conclusion. ... It's quite possible a hotel may happen there, but the project as we had conceived it, I don't think it will happen."

While MacKenzie said the parcels were not up for sale yet, a large sign advertising the land's availability sits outside the lot.

A leather furniture gallery currently occupies the parcel on the southwest corner of Pacific Coast Highway and 30th Street; the adjacent bit of land across 30th Street sits empty, encased in a tall wrought-iron fence left over from its days as a car dealership.

The Los Angeles County Assessor's Office valued the south part of land at $4.2 million when it last recorded a sale in June 2005.

Already, the city has been getting inquiries from people wondering what can be built there under current zoning laws, City Manager Steve Burrell said Monday.

"We were happy when they were proceeding," he said. "We wish they would continue, but I guess the market wasn't right."

Mar Ventures currently has several projects in the works throughout the South Bay, including Plaza El Segundo. The company also has business and industrial developments in Carson and Gardena, as well as a waterfront redevelopment project in the Redondo Beach marina.

 


 The Daily Breeze – October 12, 2006

Pier Avenue to go back to 4 lanes in Hermosa Beach

 

By a 4-1 vote, council members agree to end the four-month experiment to limit traffic flow on the thoroughfare.


DAILY BREEZE

Depending on whom you asked, Hermosa Beach's Pier Avenue was either a quaint, meandering road or a gridlocked, dangerous mess this summer.

The City Council bowed to the latter late Tuesday night, voting 4-1 to end a four-month experiment that reduced the town's main drag from four lanes to two.

"Sometimes issues come up where enough people from enough divergent backgrounds say, 'This isn't right, what in the heck is that about?' " Councilman Kit Bobko said. "When I hear that from so many different places, something's wrong."

While city staffers made no recommendation one way or another, they believed the lane change was working just fine, Public Works Director Rick Morgan said.

"Pier Avenue is carrying its load," he told the council, as a real-time video of traffic moving smoothly along the corridor played on a large screen behind the dais.

Mayor Sam Edgerton agreed, casting the lone vote against scrapping the project.

"This is making the town quieter, slower and safer," he said. "The whole project was done to make Hermosa Beach a friendlier place and a safer place."

Safety and friendliness aside, residents seemed to hate the project from the get-go. Complaints began flooding City Hall just days after lanes from Bard Street to Hermosa Avenue were reduced in early June.

Almost three dozen people blasted the project at a Public Works Commission meeting last month, and about 15 residents and business owners stayed until late Tuesday to complain to the council.

"Four lanes worked, it really did," said Steve Roberts, owner of Cafe Boogaloo on Hermosa Avenue. "It's changed, regardless of any study you've done."

Resident Diana Albergate said the change made driving easier and safer.

"People are committing acts of kindness now," she said. "I think this is a real asset for not only the mental stability around here, but also the retail."

Much of the opposition to the project came from residents of Eighth Street, who said their street became a detour for motorists hoping to avoid so-called congestion on Pier Avenue.

Eighth Street resident Joan Arias, for example, told the council Tuesday her home office rattled because of early-morning traffic idling outside.

But city leaders disputed that drivers were using Eighth Street or any other east-west arterial street to escape Pier Avenue.

A traffic study showed roughly the same number of cars traveled on Pier Avenue during the test period as usual; if more cars were using a detour, Pier Avenue traffic counts would be lower, officials argued.

"There's no empirical data," Edgerton said. "The car count numbers were still the same. You have to have a decrease on Pier Avenue, but that's not happening and nothing is showing that."

Edgerton said what residents on Eighth Street have experienced is a different problem that won't change if Pier Avenue were two lanes or four.

He pitched making the street one-way and banishing taxicabs from the thoroughfare, but no other council member seconded the motion.

Councilman J.R. Reviczky suggested installing traffic lights on Pier Avenue, but that idea fizzled, too.

Instead, the body allocated $20,000 to return the road to status quo, saved a stop sign at Bard Street and formed a committee to investigate beautification options for upper Pier Avenue.

"It's a lot easier to paint than tear out concrete," said Councilman Pete Tucker. "I didn't like (the change) at first, but now I don't think it's that bad. I think it's five years ahead of its time."

 


The Daily Breeze – October 12, 2006

Hermosa council members vote themselves a raise

 

Only dissenters are Mayor Sam Edgerton and Councilman Pete Tucker, with both facing re-election in 2007. 


Daily Breeze

Hermosa Beach City Council members raised their pay early Wednesday to $530, just $70 less than the maximum allowed by law.

In a 3-2 vote, council members gave themselves the 77 percent raise -- a number calculated by Councilman Kit Bobko, who applied the consumer price index to their $300 monthly salary, set in 1986.

"You haven't had a pay raise in 20 years," he said. "I don't think anyone could argue that using the CPI they use for Social Security is excessive."

Some did, though, as Mayor Sam Edgerton and Councilman Pete Tucker voted no on the increase.

"I don't think we need to do it at all. We had a tough year this year," Edgerton said, adding that the council's current pay and additional $350 monthly car allowance were enough compensation.

California's Government Code allows general law cities with fewer than 35,000 residents, like Hermosa Beach, to pay council members $300 a month, and apply a 5 percent annual increase. Had council members collected everything they were entitled to under the law, they'd pocket $600 a month.

The raise will go into effect after the city's next election in November 2007; Edgerton and Tucker are up for re-election.

 


The Daily Breeze – August 15, 2006

Study offers suggestions for Hermosa Reach police force reform

 

Use of force is found to be within reason, but changes to improve morale, recruiting are recommended.


DAILY BREEZE

Hermosa Beach police officers generally exert reasonable and justified levels of force with no evidence of abuse, but some refinements are necessary in the department's hiring, recruiting and training policies and procedures, an independent analysis of the department has concluded.

Consultant R.M. McCarthy & Associates calculated the department typically receives about five complaints of force a year. In 2004, the number increased to eight, less than 1 percent of all arrests; and dropped to two in 2005, according to the 70-page document.

Consultants spent nearly six months studying an agency beleaguered by internal discord as well as external attacks, finding the department should have addressed internal distrust, tension and low morale years ago and is subject to civil rights suits disproportionate to its size.

Further, "it should be of concern to department management" that a use-of-force instructor was involved in an April 2006 bar dispute that ended with officer Jonathan Sibbald allegedly punching another patron, the report said.

The San Clemente-based firm made a series of recommendations it says could protect the city from future allegations of excessive force as well as decrease strife within the department. The recommendations include:

• Recruit officer candidates with at least three years' experience and a willingness to undergo polygraph testing.

• Consider annual training on legal aspects of application of force for all sworn department members.

• Establish a series of measures to enhance documentation in instances of force.

• Hire an additional captain and lieutenant to address distrust in the department.

City Manager Steve Burrell, who ordered the study about six months ago in the wake of lawsuits alleging excessive force and civil rights violations, said the results are a reassurance that the department is functioning well.

But Corey Glave, a Los Angeles attorney representing several Hermosa Beach police officers suing the city for violating their rights, among other things, saw the study's findings as validation of his clients' claims.

"It indicated there was a sincere distrust of midmanagement by line officers," he said. "Enlightened management would have cured these problems years ago."

Commissioned just after the early departure of Chief Mike Lavin in February, the study was partially designed to provide his replacement with an outline of the department's strengths and weaknesses, Burrell said.

The study's findings were released only last week, but already new Chief Greg Savelli said he was considering which of the consultant's recommendations to implement during his tenure. In fact, some of the study's recommendations are in place already, Savelli said.

Recently, interim Chief David Barr established more thorough documentation requirements in instances when force is used, as suggested by R.M. McCarthy & Associates.

But some recommendations likely will remain just that, Savelli said. Hiring an additional captain and lieutenant would be welcome, but is unlikely because of budgetary restraints, he said.

The consultant's determination that Hermosa Beach officers' use of force was on par with national averages comes on the heels of a victory for the department in federal court.

Last month, a jury rejected a lawsuit from a man charging the department used excessive force when he was arrested and sprayed with pepper spray on July 4, 2003.

 


The Daily Breeze – August 14, 2006

Hermosa Beach 'lighthouse' owner remembered

 

Mary Zachary, who sold the historic home, died on April 4 at age 75. She had been living in Augusta, Ga. Friends and family gathered Sunday in Torrance to remember her.


Daily Breeze

Friends and family gathered Sunday to remember Mary Zachary, a kind-hearted missionary whose decision to sell her historic home triggered controversy in Hermosa Beach.

Zachary's daughter Dolly Zachary Rouse feted her late mother -- who died April 4 at age 75 at her Augusta, Ga., home -- in Torrance.

"My mom was a good Samaritan," Rouse said. "She had a kind, generous heart."

Zachary, a former English teacher at Redondo Union High School, made headlines in 2004, when she urged the Hermosa Beach City Council to save the "lighthouse" home she had sold two years earlier.

Zachary had lived in the 100 The Strand home for 26 years before returning to her native Georgia, where she owned two properties, son-in-law Scott Putnam said. Putnam had lived with Zachary in the home.

At the time, several of Zachary's neighbors criticized her for not gaining landmark status for the building, which featured a distinctive turret that inspired its nickname.

"She didn't think anybody would ever want to tear it down," Putnam said. "We all told her to simplify her life. She took that (advice) and sold the house."

Zachary sold the home for $2.4 million to developer Mike Mulligan, who sold it to developer William Campbell about a year later for the same price.

On Jan. 27, 2004, the City Council brushed aside Zachary's bid to save the house and declined to declare it a landmark. The decision allowed Campbell to raze it to build a $4.5 million Italian-style mansion.

Zachary, who was born and raised in the South, had come west with her husband, Glenn Zachary, for ministry work.

Zachary fed her interest in nutrition and dieting by joining the National Health Federation, founded in 1955. She also collaborated with Adelle Davis, author of the "Let's" nutrition series, and Gladys Lindberg.

She taught English at Redondo Union High. She also worked as an aide to developmentally disabled students.

When she lived on the West Coast, she attended Rolling Hills Covenant Church.

She is survived by four children -- Dolly, Malinda Zachary Putnam, Glenn Thomas Zachary Jr. and Bonnie Zachary-Jurk -- and 12 grandchildren.

 


The Daily Breeze – August 13, 2006

Aquarium on the Pacific

 

Hermosa Beach's ultramodern aquatic zoo gained wide attention during its 10-year run.


Daily Breeze

These days, sharks and piranhas stalk Pier Avenue only at bars on Saturday nights, but they had a permanent home in Hermosa Beach in the 1950s.

Octopi, sea horses, giant turtles and the like once filled the giant glass-fronted tanks of the Ocean Aquarium just south of the pier and west of The Strand, drawing nearly 2 million visitors in its nearly 10-year run in town.

Hermosa Beach's own mini Sea World stood just south of the pier where Shumacher Plaza now is -- or as the Daily Breeze put it in 1956: "Just walk to the foot of Pier Avenue and turn your feet to the right before they get wet. In front of you is a large gray building housing numerous specimen from the sea next door. It's the Ocean Aquarium."

The large blue building, which opened in 1947, was round, so visitors could walk in a circle along the building's edges, said longtime Hermosa Beach resident Terry Bose.

The underwater zoo clocked about 1.8 million visitors, including more than 25,000 group tours from the Boy Scouts and other youth and school organizations.

Kids and adults alike were fascinated by the daily animal feedings, suitable for viewing and participation.

"I remember you could buy three sardines for a nickel and feed the world's fattest seal there," Hermosa Beach resident Rick Koenig said.

Ocean Aquarium gained nationwide notoriety through television programs that aired footage of the creatures that made their home there.

In its time, the giant fish bowl was considered one of the largest and most modern aquariums in the country. Other tanks tried to replicate its "modern appointments," the Breeze wrote.

As other South Bay aquariums might attest today, the Ocean Aquarium's ocean-side location had its advantages, though they weren't as great as one might expect.

On the upside, the sea provided constant saltwater for tanks, but Hermosa's warm, balmy weather made the water too warm for many creatures -- including a particular species of octopus that preferred his water a chilly 52 degrees.

So, while water was plentiful, aquarium operator A.D. McBride had to bring in refrigerators to keep it cool enough.

The underwater zoo had its fair share of strange occurrences in its time.

In the early 1950s, Redondo Beach resident Deo Fisher broke the world's record for the most time spent underwater when she was submerged for 55 hours, 39 minutes and 16 seconds in a porpoise tank as a publicity stunt.

Once when McBride expected four elephant seals to arrive at the aquarium in early February 1955, he got five instead. As the large seals -- named for their fleshy, trunk-like snouts -- made their way on a truck from San Diego to Hermosa Beach, a mama seal gave birth to a baby, according to the Breeze.

While Marineland of the Pacific -- a descendent of Hermosa's aquarium, according to a book detailing Hermosa Beach's history in pictures -- entertained tourists on the Palos Verdes Peninsula for more than 30 years, the Ocean Aquarium wasn't nearly as lucky.

By all accounts, the facility enjoyed barely a 10-year run.

An apparent squabble between McBride and the city over a 40-year lease calling for the development of a new pier caused both parties to hire lawyers in January 1956.

According to a Breeze article, the city was offered the aquarium's land and several nearby parcels for $85,000 in June 1958, and bought the land several years later.

After the fish were shipped out, the underwater zoo apparently sat vacant for some time, Bose remembered.

"It was an eyesore and it got dirty," she said.

Demolition on the structure began March 19, 1962, to make way for a parking lot.

 


The Daily Breeze – August 12, 2006

South Bay may lose pro beach volleyball events

 

Two tournaments might leave the beach or be played earlier or later in the season, the tour owner says.


Daily Breeze

The owner of the AVP Manhattan Beach Open and Hermosa Beach Open volleyball tournaments is threatening to pull up stakes if a state coastal panel doesn't grant concessions he says are necessary to make the events profitable.

The announcement comes on the eve of negotiations between the Association of Volleyball Professionals' Pro Beach Volleyball Tour, the city of Manhattan Beach and the California Coastal Commission for operating agreements covering next year's events.

"We've transitioned from lifestyle to a professional sport," said Leonard Armato, AVP chief executive and commissioner. "To remain a professional sport, you have to have a viable business model."

Armato, a sports marketing executive who acquired the tour in 2001, says he could move the South Bay events off the beach or reschedule them before Memorial Day or after Labor Day. The Manhattan Beach competition is considered the Wimbledon of volleyball. The event runs through Sunday.

So far, Armato's attempts to increase revenue at the two South Bay events (and the Huntington Beach Open) have been thwarted by coastal regulators. Armato wants to charge a $20 general admission, implement paid parking and sell beer and other concessions.

Armato predicted he would lose about $500,000 on this year's Manhattan Beach Open.

A call to the commission's executive director, Peter Douglas, was not returned. A city administrator said Manhattan Beach isn't in a position to grant Armato those requests.

"The Coastal Commission is a higher power than the city," said Sherilyn Lombos, deputy city manger. "They control what happens on the beach."

The commission issues a coastal permit that allows Armato to stage the event. Since 1993, the commission has allowed AVP to charge admission on 24 percent of its attendees, which include corporate sponsors and ticket-buyers of courtside seats.

On July 18, the commission and City Council jointly approved agreements. The commission oversees public access to the beach, while the city's agreement governs the location of the bleachers, the cash prizes and other items.

Players and fans attending Friday's event weren't thrilled about the prospect of shifting the Manhattan Beach Open to another venue.

"The game is on the beach," said Casey Jennings, a Manhattan Beach resident who plays on the men's tour and is married to Olympic beach volleyball gold medalist Kerri Walsh.

"That's where it was born. That's where it should stay."

Katie Lindquist, one half of a team with sister, Tracy, said the event would continue to draw fans if it were moved to September.

"After Labor Day, we would (draw fans) because it's still summer," Lindquist said. "It could be the last hurrah."

While organizers are touting the admission fee as the ticket to profitability, fans said it could have a chilling effect on attendance.

"They'll lose a lot of people and hurt themselves," said Gene Anselmo, 50, of Manhattan Beach.

Winners of the Manhattan Beach tournament get their names etched into the pier, a draw city leaders say could be enough to change Armato's mind about moving it out of town.

"If you want to call it leverage, Manhattan Beach's beach has that leverage," Lombos said. "The players want their names on the pier. (Armato) is doing what he can to get the Coastal Commission to see his side."

 


The Daily Breeze – August 10, 2006

HB trustees supporting bond measure can't muster the votes

 

Facing a community split over whether new debt is necessary to meet the school district's needs. 


DAILY BREEZE

Facing a community split over whether new debt is necessary to meet the school district's needs.  The bond measure supporters on the Hermosa Beach City School District board could not muster the votes to place the issue on the November ballot.

The split board failed to take action Tuesday on a resolution that would have asked the community to approve up to $13.1 million in bonds. Instead, trustees directed staff to reconvene a committee to study a future ballot measure to pay for improvements at North School as well as other projects.

"We'd rather take time to make sure we're building facilities that will meet community needs," President Greg Breen said, while at the same time acknowledging concerns about increasing construction costs.

Trustees Lance Widman and Lisa Claypoole supported placing a bond measure on the ballot, but others worried it was too early to take that step.

"It was clearly a 3-2 division on the board as to whether to put it on the ballot in 2006," Widman said. "We've got some important facilities needs and I was disheartened that the board chose not to put it on the ballot."

Four votes were needed to place a bond measure on the November ballot.

Trustees had reviewed a staff plan Aug. 2 to renovate the district's North School site along with other projects and directed staff member to draft a bond resolution that would pay for the construction.

Many Hermosa residents who turned out Tuesday said they would not support a new bond measure and voiced concern about the district's ongoing Hermosa Valley School gym project funded under the $13.6 million Measure J approved four years ago.

Voters rejected a proposed $13.1 million bond on the June ballot. The board was considering a list of projects for the November ballot that would have ranged from $4.4 million to $13.1 million.

Some residents of the North School neighborhood, like Marie Rice, are in favor of the improvements. She presented a statement signed by 20 neighbors supporting the plan.

"I think that more research and assessment needs to be done before we decide what the bond is and what the use of the school will be," Rice said. "I'm glad we'll be part of the discussions."

Under the proposed staff improvements, the site at 417 25th St. in Hermosa Beach would be used to house most of the district's kindergarten students. Under the district's plan for North School, which is currently rented by the Seasprites Preschool and South Bay Adult School, buildings would be replaced, eight classrooms would be constructed, parking areas repaved and a grassy area installed.

"The board doesn't want to divide the community," said Superintendent Sharon McClain, who said slight enrollment increases could mean North School campus should be better utilized to meet the district's needs. "What they are doing is trying to get more information about what the community wants and needs."

Other construction priorities that had been outlined by staff included constructing three new classrooms at Hermosa Valley School and reconfiguring the school's parking lot to increase off-street parking.

Hermosa View School enhancements were also on the district's wish list, which included asbestos abatement, technology improvements and classroom rehabilitation.

"We still have facilities needs that haven't been met through Measure J expenditures," Trustee Linda Beck said. "But based on input I received at the Aug. 2 meeting and interaction with community members, I didn't know if we had the support to do it now."

 


The Daily Breeze – June 8, 2006

142 votes win Bobko a spot on HB City Council

 

"I thought it was gonna be close," said the victor, who will take over the vacant seat in July.


Daily Breeze

Patrick "Kit" Bobko emerged with a narrow victory to capture the vacant seat on the Hermosa Beach City Council, beating his closest competitor by 142 votes.

Bobko, who finished behind Jeff Duclos in November, won 40.7 percent of the vote Tuesday to runner-up Duclos' 36.2 percent. He is expected to take office in mid-July.

"I thought it was gonna be close," Bobko said. "I can't say I was expecting to win."

For Duclos, it was "always the bridesmaid, never the bride." Duclos finished fourth in the race for three council seats in November. When the second-place finisher, Howard Fishman, stepped aside to care for his ailing wife, two council members wanted to appoint Duclos to fill the vacant seat.

The other two objected, prompting Tuesday's special election.

"When we were forced into this special election, I had $187 left in my campaign funds," Duclos said. "I knew I was never going to be able to spend what my fellow candidates did. I'm really proud of the campaign we ran. It was an old-fashioned grass-roots effort."

Bobko, 36, is a municipal attorney and former Air Force captain. Duclos, 61, is a home-based communications consultant. Bobko said he hopes to work on improving infrastructure, disaster preparedness, and public safety during his term on the council.

"The council makes decisions too much based on personality," he said. "The first thing I want to do is bring a sense of optimism and enthusiasm back to the council."

Duclos, a longtime Hermosa Beach resident, said he was disappointed by Bobko's campaign.

"I'd be less than truthful if I didn't express my disappointment in him for his deceptions at the end of the campaign," he said. "It was a little too much old-school Hermosa Beach politics."

 


The Daily Breeze – May 29, 2006

Contract lawsuit at center of council candidates' concerns

 

All four Hermosa Beach candidates say the action brought by Macpherson Oil Co. must be resolved. They differ on the most effective way to do that.


DAILY BREEZE

Just how to handle an oil company's $500 million breach of contract lawsuit against the city of Hermosa Beach has emerged as a central issue in the race for a City Council seat.

All four candidates in the June 6 special election said the suit by Macpherson Oil Co., which could potentially bankrupt the city, is one of their main concerns, and they don't agree on how to best resolve it.

Jeff Maxwell said he would settle, while Janice Brittain would not. Patrick "Kit" Bobko said he wouldn't rush into a settlement; he would wait for now. Jeff Duclos said he would like to see a resolution to the suit, but couldn't say if he would settle now, not without knowing the terms.

Macpherson acquired oil drilling rights in 1992 through lease arrangements with the city. Before any drilling started, voters in 1995 passed Measure E to ban oil drilling in town. The Hermosa Beach City Council voted in 1998 to deny Macpherson drilling permits based on a consultant's opinion that it would be unsafe.

Later that year, Macpherson filed a lawsuit alleging breach of contract. In 2002, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge upheld Measure E as an effective and legal end to a slant-drilling lease held by the Santa Monica-based petroleum company. But an appellate court overturned that decision last summer. The city appealed to the state Supreme Court, which denied the appeal in November.

Bobko, a municipal attorney who prosecuted cases for Hermosa Beach from 2000 to 2004, said the city should "watch and wait" on the Macpherson case.  "This is like buying a used car," he said. "You can't go in and tell the salesman you're going to buy, no matter what. Settlement is always an option, but it's important to be patient."

Maxwell said he sees the Macpherson issue "as a time bomb waiting to explode."  "There's a 50 percent chance here that we'll go bankrupt," he said. "If I were on the City Council, I'd look to settle."

Brittain said she would be reluctant to settle.  "I think the city should stick with the process," she said. "I don't think that we should give up and settle for the big amount (Macpherson Oil) seems to be asking for."

Duclos said he, like most others, is looking for a resolution to the conflict that has been raging for the past 15 years or so.  "The numbers that have been thrown out make it a significant issue for the city," he said. "But that said, I don't think the numbers are anywhere near realistic."

Duclos said apart from the Macpherson lawsuit, he only sees two major issues in Hermosa Beach.  "Public safety and infrastructure," he summarized. "Our quality of life in this town largely depends on those two factors."

The city must find a way to allocate money to keep its streets and key facilities in good shape, Duclos said.  "Our fire facility is in a state of disrepair," he said. "Our City Hall seems worse than a World War II bunker. We keep doing patchwork here and there. We fix stuff, but we're not enhancing or building our community in any way."

Maxwell said his primary goal as a councilman is to remain accountable to his constituents.  "I don't think there's much accountability right now," he said. "People are not getting answers to their questions. I'd like to change that."

Keeping the beach clean is also high on his priority list, Maxwell said.  He said neighboring Manhattan Beach got its wake-up call in January with a massive sewage spill that flooded homes and discharged 2 million gallons of raw sewage onto the sand.  "I think we need to be alert and work toward avoiding situations like that," Maxwell said.

Brittain said her main concern is communication.  "I don't think city officials are communicating very well with the public," she said. "The city needs to clarify their policies to people."

Brittain gave the example of the issue of lot mergers that came up recently with a property owner on Prospect Avenue.   The owner had gone through the planning process with the understanding that he could build two homes on his lots, but was told later that the lots must be merged.  "That should've never happened," Brittain said. "City policies and regulations must always be clear and well communicated."

Bobko said his big issues apart from the Macpherson case are public safety, parking, density and "infusing optimistic leadership" into the council.  "Our Police Department is going through a crisis," he said. "We need to go through the process of strengthening not only our Police Department, but also our Fire Department and improve our level of disaster-preparedness."

Bobko said he would also be eager to create a "fertile business environment" in the city, which he said is one of the best ways to increase city revenue.  "By creating a business corridor in Hermosa Beach, we'll increase our sales tax base," he said.

Three out of the four candidates -- Bobko, Duclos and Maxwell -- ran, and lost, in the November council election. Howard Fishman, who was elected to the council in November, declined to take his seat after his wife was diagnosed with a serious illness. It is this seat that the candidates are vying for in the June election.

 


The Daily Breeze – May 26, 2006

3 Hermosa Beach city council candidates boycott a forum

 

One says the Q & A format "didn't feel right." Janice Brittain was the sole contender to attend the session.


DAILY BREEZE

Three of the four Hermosa Beach City Council candidates vying for the vacant seat in the June 6 election said they would not attend a candidates forum held by a community group Thursday night because they were not comfortable with the format.

The Hermosa Beach Neighborhood Association, a community watchdog group founded by resident Al Benson, announced its first candidates forum this year.

But as it turned out, it ended up as a question-and-answer session between one candidate, Janice Brittain, and the audience.

Candidates Jeff Duclos, Patrick "Kit" Bobko and Jeff Maxwell took a pass on the event.

Brittain is the only candidate in this election who did not run in November. In the fall contest, Duclos finished fourth behind incumbent J.R. Reviczky, Bobko finished fifth and Maxwell was seventh among 10 candidates vying for three seats.

Howard Fishman, who collected the most votes in November, declined to take office after his wife was diagnosed with a serious illness. It is this seat that will be filled in the June 6 election.

Maxwell said he was overwhelmed with the amount of information Benson sent him to prepare for Thursday's debate.

"The questions were leading," he said.

It was after another local debate held by the League of Women Voters that the candidates met briefly and discussed Thursday night's forum, Maxwell said.

"I think we felt that it wasn't a debate forum, but a personal forum for Mr. Benson," he said. "It just didn't feel right."

Brittain said she had made a commitment to Benson that she would attend.

But Brittain said she shares the other candidates' feelings.

"In most debates, questions are open-ended," she said. "Here, it feels like we're writing a research paper."

Benson, himself a City Council candidate in November, said his intention was not to overwhelm candidates.

"The council packets are usually the size of two phone books," he said. "So you'd think they'd get used to seeing a lot of information."

The questions were meant to be "direct and pointed," Benson said.

"I'm worried about public safety issues," he said. "I'm worried about our Police Department, the bars, the alcohol and our quality of life."

Duclos said the candidates' decision not to attend was nothing personal against Benson.

"There were some issues in relation to the tone and direction of this debate, which was enough to influence our decision on whether to participate," he said.

Benson said all he wanted was to give candidates time to prepare their answers and asked for their responses so he could ask follow-up questions.

"I'm not disappointed they're not coming," he said. "I'm disappointed that they had this little powwow on this issue and made a collective decision behind my back."

 


The Daily Breeze – February 9, 2006

3 file suit against HB police over 2004 incident

 

Complaint alleges that two officers attacked at Pier Plaza, filed false statements and lied under oath.


Copley News Service

Three people who were acquitted last year on public intoxication and resisting arrest charges have filed a lawsuit against the Hermosa Beach Police Department, claiming officers roughed up two of them, filed false reports and lied in court about the arrests.

Michelle Myers, Robert Nolan and Joel Silva filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Tuesday, claiming Hermosa Beach police Sgt. Raul Saldana and officers Michael Frilot and Todd Lewitt violated their civil rights.

The allegations stem from a May 23, 2004, incident at Pier Plaza. The lawsuit contends that Saldana approached Myers, Nolan and Silva from behind in a patrol car "maliciously blasting his air horn to frighten plaintiffs."

The suit said the three jumped away, "condemning Saldana for his juvenile behavior." Saldana then drove past them and directed the other officers to go after Nolan.

The lawsuit contends Nolan was "attacked, choked, knocked down and maliciously struck and injured by Lewitt."

Lewitt later kicked Silva and struck him in the head, according to the complaint by lawyer Thomas Beck, who has filed several lawsuits against the department stemming from incidents at Pier Plaza.

Myers, Nolan and Silva were arrested and charged. They complained about the officers' conduct to department officials, but a sergeant investigating their allegations called them "whiners," the lawsuit states.

Last year, the three were acquitted on the misdemeanor charges after a jury trial. The lawsuit contends Saldana, Frilot, Lewitt and other officers "gave knowingly perjured testimony" during the trial.

The lawsuit does not seek specific monetary damages from the city.

Hermosa Beach City Attorney Michael Jenkins said he has not seen the complaint but was familiar with the case.

"The city is very familiar with the facts and is very familiar with the circumstances," Jenkins said. "The city intends to defend the case vigorously."

 



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