Hermosa Beach celebrates its 1st 100 years

The city's yearlong festivities begin today with a series of events, including a party with live music and fireworks at Pier Plaza.

By Andrea Sudano
Staff writer

In Hermosa Beach's early days, there were no mechanical bulls, no fancy lifeguard headquarters and definitely no Sharkeez.

But it was always fun, said 84-year-old Ted Kerwin, a lifelong resident.

"You talk about wall-to-wall people now," he said. "When I was young, you couldn't get through to the beach. It was a resort in the summertime."

Since the beginning, kids were always coming to Hermosa for some sun, sand and live music, he said.

So, proving that the more things change in 100 years the more they stay the same, Hermosa Beach is doing today what it does best to celebrate its centennial anniversary: party.

Droves of people are expected to flood town to help Hermosa commemorate its Jan. 14, 1907, incorporation with events, activities and all-around revelry the city is famous for.

Today's fireworks and music kick off a yearlong birthday celebration that will include improvement projects, a car show, time capsule burial and ongoing sales of centennial-centric apparel.

"It's a great moment for Hermosa and it shows how much the city has matured over the century," Mayor Sam Edgerton said. "It's also really special because Hermosa really wants to recognize all the contributions of people over the years and the things taking place in our city."

As any Hermosa Beach party promoter will attest, a good bash takes some time to organize, and the city's centennial bash was no exception.

Plans got under way about two years ago, when a special committee formed to organize a year's worth of centennial celebration and find a way to pay for it. So far, the group has helped raise more than $171,000 to pay for the festivities, proving Hermosa Beach residents are always up for a party.

But it could be said centennial plans have been in the works for more than 100 years now.

Residents of the tiny seaside town began pushing for incorporation in August 1906, according to former Mayor Pat Gazin's history of Hermosa Beach, Footnotes on the Sand. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors set a Christmas Eve election for incorporation, and the proposal passed by a slim margin, Gazin wrote.

On Jan. 2, 1907, the state declared the city's incorporation, but things weren't official for almost two weeks, when incorporation papers arrived from Sacramento on Jan. 14.

The population since then has swollen to more than 19,000, filling the town with its share of quirky characters and prominent families, including the Kerwins, who landed in Hermosa Beach in 1910, eventually opening a bakery and popularizing surfing in town.

These are the kinds of people and contributions the city will celebrate Sunday, said Edgerton, a 24-year resident.

Will Kerwin attend the festivities?

"Probably," he said, "but I've got a lot of football to watch."

Hermosa joins free disaster-rescue program for animals

City becomes the first South Bay city to sign up with Noah's Wish, a nonprofit that tends to lost and injured animals during crisis situations.

By Andrea Sudano
Staff writer

If a tsunami or other major disaster strikes Hermosa Beach, there's not just the people to consider, there are the pets that could be abandoned by the hundreds in the event of a citywide evacuation.

With the city's cramped kennel facilities suitable for just a handful of pets, Hermosa Beach is ill-prepared to handle a surge of four-legged friends during emergencies like the fire that hit Malibu earlier this week, city officials say.

So, this week, Hermosa Beach became the first South Bay city to sign up with animal rescue organization Noah's Wish, a Sacramento-based nonprofit that steps in and tends to lost and injured animals during crisis situations nationwide, for as long as needed and for free.

"Any city would be overwhelmed," Hermosa Beach Police Chief Greg Savelli said. "That's when we would ask for Noah's Wish to come in and help round up all animals. They bring in portable kennels, trailers and food, and they do this all through donations."

All South Bay cities have emergency plans in place for residents, but in these more and more pet-friendly times, Hermosa is taking a step to make sure animals receive care, too.

Usually, when the city's community services officers find a stray cat wandering the streets, officers bring it to the city's kennel before taking it to a nearby county animal shelter, Savelli said.

The city's chain-link cages were empty Thursday morning, but an earthquake, large fire or tsunami could quickly fill the facility, leaving the city shelter overstocked with animals.

Under the new agreement, one phone call to Noah's Wish would bring volunteers, supplies in tow, to Hermosa Beach, said Jennifer McKim, the organization's director of communications.

With more than 1,200 volunteers, Noah's Wish has similar agreements with 36 other cities nationwide, including Slidell, La., where volunteers stayed for three months after Hurricane Katrina, she said.

The nonprofit operates on donations only. Hermosa Beach would be responsible only for finding housing for the volunteers, Savelli said.

"We always say, it's great that it's here and we have this great line of communication, but we hope we never have to use it," McKim said. "But it's a great safety net."

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.

By Gene Maddaus
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."

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.

By Deepa Bharath
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.

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.

By Deepa Bharath
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."

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.

By Matt Krasnowski
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."