Hermosa Beach News for 2005

Top Stories on This Webpage: Starting January 6, 2006

HB School gym suit may target bond money - Hermosa Beach Valley School neighbors who have filed a lawsuit to block construction of a gymnasium at the school are contemplating an amendment to their suit that calls into question the district’s plans for a host of other bond-funded, school construction projects.  “We didn’t mean to, but we’ve opened a bees’ nest and the bees are coming out,” said Gerry Compton, one of the neighbors behind the lawsuit.  The school construction projects are slated to be paid from a $13.2 million bond measure approved by voters in November 2002. 

From the above news story: Lawsuit filed by - Committee For Responsible School Expansion

Hermosa police arrest carjacking suspects - Pair are suspected of robbing a 50-year-old woman of her car on Hermosa Avenue in Hermosa Beach. Earlier, they allegedly attempted to kidnap a woman and take her car on Faymont Avenue in Manhattan Beach.  A young man and a 17-year-old boy, found riding in a car stolen at gunpoint from a woman in Hermosa Beach, remained in custody Friday.  Rodney Gene Parker, 24, and the unidentified juvenile, both of Los Angeles, were arrested at 10:40 p.m. Thursday in South Los Angeles, police said.

Police search for suspects in car theft, kidnap attempt - Beach cities' authorities look for men who pulled off two crimes. One victim ran to safety, the other fled to her house after watching assailants drive her car away.  Failing in an attempt Thursday to kidnap a woman and steal her car in Manhattan Beach, carjackers went to north Hermosa Beach and robbed a woman at gunpoint of her Mercedes-Benz.  Neither woman was hurt in the crimes. One woman ran to safety. The other fled to her house after watching the assailants drive her car away.  Police in both cities were searching Thursday night for two suspects in the silver 2001 Mercedes-Benz S500 sedan.

The Beach Reporter – January 6, 2006

Hermosa Beach News

The State of the City (1/6)

By Mayor Peter Tucker

There are many reasons to celebrate the beginning of the new year.

The city celebrated the completion of the long-envisioned pier renovation project, bringing to the community a new lifeguard facility, public restrooms and a walkway entrance to our pier. This project was a joint effort of citizens of Hermosa, Los Angeles County and state agencies working to bring a beautiful venue to Hermosa. This project completes the pier plaza street scene.

The Tim Kelly Memorial was unveiled giving Hermosa its first public artwork. This project was privately funded to preserve the heritage and dedication of the lifeguards who protect our beaches.

Our parks continue to be improved thanks to the efforts of the Friends of the Parks. Fort Lots Of Fun was reopened in October giving our residents a great new venue for recreation. The city valued this partnership and will continue to upgrade our park system.

Pier plaza received plaques honoring the great jazz musicians who have filled our city with great music then and now. These plaques were made possible with private donations under the leadership of Ozzie Cadena.

The city entered into a franchise agreement with Verizon Communications making Hermosa the first city in the Los Angeles area to receive fiber-optic cable TV. Residents of Hermosa will now have a choice of cable TV providers.

Our California Distinguished School District continues to attract families wanting academic success for their children. The contributions to support the School District made by the community show the source of civic pride the community has for our children. The district continues to improve the facilities along with the construction of the gymnasium.

The Hermosa Pavilion is now open with nationally recognized tenants. During the coming year we will see a new office complex downtown and new hotel which will help improve our tax base, which has declined from the loss of the major auto dealers. The city will also begin to improve Aviation Boulevard, upper Pier Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway.

Thanks to resident support of Proposition IA, our city will now be able to plan a budget knowing what state funding is available to our city. This will allow the city to continue to provide police and fire services at the high level our residents have come to expect. The other advantage in knowing this funding is available is the city will continue our aggressive plan to improve our streets and sanitation understructure.

The city purchased a large piece of property just south of the civic center. Within the coming year, plans will be developed to add public parking (approximately 250 spaces) and a new public safety facility to the civic center complex.

All of the public events that Hermosans have enjoyed will continue with the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, AVP Tour, Sunset Concerts on the beach, Fiesta Hermosa and many more.

This year begins the countdown to Hermosa Beach’s centennial celebration in January 2007. The nine-month celebration will bring everyone in Hermosa together to share in the pride of our city.

I am honored to represent Hermosa and serve as your mayor. The residents and businesses continue to make Hermosa Beach a resort that is the envy of the South Bay.

The Beach Reporter – January 6, 2006

Hermosa Beach News

Five apply for consideration for City Council appointment (1/6)

By Whitney Youngs

With a vacancy still open on the Hermosa Beach City Council, a few residents wishing to be considered for an appointment to the elected body if the four current members vote to approve such a process have filed their applications with the city clerk’s office by this week’s deadline.

The candidates up for possible appointment - Patrick “Kit” Bobko, Janice Brittain, Jeff Duclos, Steve Francis and Jean Lombardo - filed their applications by the deadline of Tuesday, Jan. 3.

Brittain, who is retired and has been attending council meetings regularly, said she would run for a special election if one were held.

“I didn’t run for the election because I was supportive of Fishman and I was pleased with the council as it was, so I thought, ‘Why not, it’s a good time to do it.’ There is not a woman on the council so I thought I’d put my name in,” said Brittain.

Next week, the council will make the decision of whether to appoint one of the applicants to the open seat or to hold a special election in June estimated to cost about $42,000. If the elected body deadlocks on the matter of appointment, then it will fall to a citywide election by default in accordance with California law.

Duclos, who is a communications specialist and has lived in town for more than 25 years, said if a special election is held, he will become one of its candidates.  “My commitment to serve the community as a member of City Council remains the same. Yes, I will run,” he said.

Lombardo, who did not run in the November election, said she applied for the possible appointment because she felt qualified to serve as an appointee. Lombardo is currently a Public Works Commissioner and is a very active member of the community as a volunteer with several organizations such as the Women’s Club of Hermosa Beach.  “I just felt, ‘Why not me if anyone?’ I have as much experience as many people on the council except for a couple,” said Lombardo. “But this doesn’t necessarily mean that I would run in a special election if the council decided to have one.”

Francis, who is currently a Parks and Recreation Commissioner, was unavailable for comment.

In December, the council voted to postpone its decision on how to fill the vacancy until its first meeting in January, and began taking applications from those who wished to be considered for an appointment.

“The election code leaves it to the City Council to appoint and there is a reason for that, and if they come to an agreement to appoint then they do and if they don’t then the operation of law takes over,” said Bobko on the matter. “Assuming they don’t appoint anyone, I will run again.”

The council was faced with how to fill an open seat when Howard Fishman, who won the second of three open seats on the City Council during the Nov. 8 election, announced in November that he was giving up his seat due to family reasons. The two other winners of the race, incumbents J.R. Reviczky and Keegan, were sworn into office at the Dec. 13 meeting.

“For me I’d like to see some continuity with an appointment, I’d hate to see the council with an open seat for so many months,” added Lombardo.

Both Bobko and Duclos ran against Fishman, Keegan and Reviczky and ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, in a race that saw 10 candidates.

If the council does appoint one of the applicants, the requirements are that the person is a registered voter, a Hermosa Beach resident and the selection has to be approved by a majority vote. The council will continue to vote with only four members until the fifth colleague is sworn in.

The council is required to make its decision within 30 days of November’s election results being certified which gave it the chance to make a decision at either its Dec. 13 or Jan. 10 meeting.

According to official results, Keegan ranked first with 2,463 votes, followed by Fishman with 2,027 votes and Reviczky with 1,994 votes. Duclos finished with 1,807 votes and Bobko with 1,367 votes.  A total of 4,404 votes were cast at the city’s six precincts and 1,777 votes constituted absentees out of 13,312 registered voters.

The Beach Reporter – January 6, 2006

Hermosa Beach News

Centennial group selects artwork for the coming year (1/6)

By Whitney Youngs

As Hermosa Beach enters a new year, 2006 won’t comprise the average 365 days for one particular group as this year will see the planning and preparation for the city’s 100th birthday that will begin next January and continue throughout the year.  As a way to bring awareness to the yearlong centennial tribute slated for 2007, the Hermosa Beach Centennial Committee of about 18 members, which is open to new volunteers, organized an artwork contest and recently selected the winners of it.

The committee consists of city officials and employees, residents, members of the Chamber of Commerce and volunteers from other community groups.  “The committee was originally appointed by the city manager at the direction of City Council,” said committee co-chair Laura Raymond, a post she shares with Maureen Ferguson. “In addition, we have liaisons from a variety of community groups who have volunteered to help share information and coordinate activities for 2007.”

In April, the Parks and Recreation Commission voted to approve the formation of the volunteer committee.  “The Centennial Committee has an extremely limited budget and all proposed events and activities are contingent on finding sponsorship dollars,” added Raymond. “We are currently working on a sponsorship package which will be available for distribution shortly.”

According to the city’s Web site, the first official survey of Hermosa Beach came in 1901 in relation to the construction of a boardwalk on the beach.  In 1904, the first Hermosa pier was built, extending 500 feet out to sea. The waves washed away most of it in 1913. The city held its first election on Christmas Eve in 1906 and the state incorporated the city in January 1907.

The city’s Parks and Recreation Department received a formal letter from Ferguson and Raymond about their interest in forming the Centennial Celebration Committee.

A panel of judges selected three pieces of artwork as winning pieces of the contest. The first was picked as the centennial seal designed by Public Works Director Rick Morgan who received help from graphic designer Michael Thompson of Thompson Media Group in transforming his drawing into a computerized version. The seal will be used on things such as city documents and vehicles.

Morgan, who was once a comic book artist for Disney in the 1970s, sketched the drawing and used a font similar to one used for the city’s yellow and brown street signs since the 1940s.  “The drawing really grew out of the slogan ‘100 years of beach culture’ and I was really hoping to help create a slogan like that, one that the city could get behind,” said Morgan. “The images around the slogan were pretty obvious - the beach, the pier, the surfboard and volleyball. It’s a lifestyle. The whole beach town is very unique and is worthy of celebration.”

The second piece was the centennial logo that will be used for banners and marketing efforts, and was designed by local South Bay graphic designer and Hermosa Beach native Chris Davis.

The third piece came from the youth artwork contest that saw submissions best highlighting the Hermosa Beach lifestyle, which was won by Valley fifth-grader Briana Stone, 10. The committee will also feature her work throughout the year.

“With the help of a panel of judges comprising local residents with much expertise in a variety of areas (retail, marketing, printing, art and design), the winning submissions were chosen because they best depict the culture and diversity of Hermosa Beach,” added Raymond.

The seal and logo will be used in a variety of ways to assist in this year’s fund-raising efforts and sponsorships that will subsidize future activities and events affiliated with the yearlong celebration.

“We are currently in the process of actively planning, scheduling and confirming events for the centennial,” said Raymond. “Our goal is to plan a Centennial Celebration kickoff event for January 2007. We also plan to have a variety of events and activities for people of different interests to choose from during the celebration; to leverage all of the great events that take place in Hermosa each year; and to wrap up with a big event in the fall to celebrate and thank the community.”

In November, the council voted to approve a $7,000 allocation of funds that will pay for Web site development costs and sponsorship packets for the city’s Centennial Celebration.  The committee requested $5,000 for the development and maintenance of a centennial Web site, and $2,000 for sponsorship kits to solicit both donations and sponsors.

“During the course of the year, we also plan to create opportunities for the community to make Hermosa a little better with 100 acts of beautification,” explained Raymond. “Another key element of our planning process is to find ways to celebrate our unique history and bring it to life for people. Hermosa is a terrific community with very involved and committed volunteers, a great atmosphere, terrific city staff and a unique history.”

The Easy Reader - May 12, 2005

Documents show gymnasium ballot lapse

HB Valley School Gym project moving forward

by Robb Fulcher

A mistake that omitted a proposed gymnasium from a 2002 citywide ballot measure can be traced to a resolution approved by the Hermosa Beach City School Board, according to documents on file at the Los Angeles County Registrar’s Office.  Two School Board members said the mistake was not caused by the board, however.

The mistake has been seized on by residents who are suing to halt construction of the gym at Hermosa Valley School. The residents claim that the gym cannot legally be built because it was not among the construction projects listed on the Measure J ballot in 2002, when Hermosa voters approved $13.6 million in school bonds.

In the resolution, adopted in July 2002, the school board directed the Registrar’s Office to include only a brief summary of the construction projects – with no mention of the gym – on the November 2002 ballot.

The School Board’s resolution, received by county election officials July 25, 2002, did include an itemized list of construction projects – including the gym – that the board labeled “Exhibit B.” However, the resolution did not direct the Registrar to include the “Exhibit B” list on the ballot. The resolution did direct the Registrar to include “Exhibit A,” which was the shorter summary without the gym.

The resolution, signed by the board’s then-President Cathy McCurdy and then-Superintendent Robert “Duffy” Clark, is on file at the Registrar’s Office in Norwalk.

School board members contend that despite questions over the ballot, voters knowingly approved a gym. They point out that the gym was mentioned in the ballot’s arguments in favor of the bond measure – signed by McCurdy and others – and the gym was mentioned in ballot arguments against the bond measure. Board members also point out that the gym project was frequently discussed at school board meetings, in the pages of local newspapers and in the election campaign for Measure J.

Mix-up - Current School Board President Lance Widman has blamed the mistake on a mix-up between the school district’s former bond attorney and the Registrar’s Office. This week Widman said his view of the mix-up came from a “comment” made to the School Board.  “Some time ago that comment was made, and frankly I can’t recollect who said it,” Widman said.

But Widman and McCurdy said they believe the bond attorney, the firm of Stradling, Yocca, Carlson and Rauth, was responsible for seeing that the resolution was proper before it was passed along to the Registrar.  “We hire people to do that work, we hire consultants,” Widman said. “The [school] district did what it was supposed to do.”

Neither Widman nor McCurdy had reviewed the resolution after questions were raised about the wording of the ballot measure. McCurdy said the resolution was among documents that the School Board has requested from the Registrar, to help answer questions about the ballot.

An attorney for Stradling, Yocca who worked on Measure J was not available early this week.

Full steam ahead - Despite the lawsuit by the roughly 30-member Committee for Responsible School Expansion, Widman said the school board plans to seek a construction contractor and stay on course with the gym project.

The lawsuit seeks to block the project and force the school board to consider changes in the gym’s size and location, but the lawsuit does not ask for a temporary halt to the project while those issues are thrashed out in court, Widman said.  “That’s right from the lawsuit itself. There’s nothing in there that says we can’t pass go,” Widman said. “…We are proceeding with what we’ve got to do.”

Gym ‘not important’ - A pre-election survey by a school district consultant found that the gym was “not viewed as important” by residents.

The consultant, Evans/McDonough Incorporated, suggested that the district split Measure J in two, asking voters to approve new classrooms and the gym separately. The consultant also advised that “possible opposition to a gymnasium could cause problems with the passage of a bond measure,” according to official minutes from a June 26, 2002, meeting of the school board.

Enough money? - Meanwhile, a construction consultant has estimated that the school district has fallen about $1.3 million short in revenues needed to build the $6.3 million gym building, said Sam Abrams, chairman of a committee that oversees how the bond money is spent.  That estimate, released in late March, followed an estimate three months earlier by the same consultant that the gym project was falling about $1 million short.

The school district started out with $15.6 million in local and state bonds for new school buildings and for an overhaul of plumbing, electricity, safety features, handicapped access, heating, air conditioning and technology-lab features at the 3-8 Valley School and the K-2 Hermosa View School. The upgrades cost nearly $10 million, leaving the district with $5.8 remaining for the new buildings at Valley School.

The gym building, as planned, would be placed near the southwest corner of the campus on Valley Drive. The 34-foot-tall, 26,000 square-foot building also would include a new science lab, library and classrooms. ER

Legal action from the above news story:

Lawsuit filed by - Committee For Responsible School Expansion

The Easy Reader - May 12, 2005

HB Police Beat

House robbed - Somebody came in through an open bathroom window May 2 and swiped more than $16,000 worth of stuff from a house on Bayview Drive.  Taken in the daytime caper were a 50-inch plasma TV set that had been mounted to a living room wall, a 42-inch liquid crystal display TV set, designer clothes, a computer, camera, camcorder and paintings.  A second Bayview home also appeared to be targeted, as police found signs that someone had tried to get in through a window there as well.

Strand fight - A Hawthorne man was taken to an area hospital following a fight at the beach about 5 p.m. Saturday, April 30, police said. Despite the trip to the hospital, no serious injuries were reported.  According to witness accounts, a bicyclist pedaling by on The Strand brushed the 21-year-old Hawthorne man with one of his handlebars, words were exchanged and the Hawthorne man challenged the other to fight, police said.  The cyclist, along with at least one fellow cyclist, beat up the Hawthorne man, police said.  The cyclists, described as heavily tattooed men between ages 20 and 30, pedaled away, police said.

Retiree ripped off - A retired Manhattan Beach woman lost $160 while shopping in a Hermosa grocery store April 30, police said. The woman believes it happened when a person engaged her in conversation, distracting her as her purse sat in her shopping cart. She believes a second person lifted the money from her purse during the conversation, police said.  Before shopping, she had withdrawn the money in $10 bills from a bank. ER

The Easy Reader – April 21, 2005

HB School gym suit may target bond money

by Kevin Cody

Valley School neighbors who have filed a lawsuit to block construction of a gymnasium at the school are contemplating an amendment to their suit that calls into question the district’s plans for a host of other bond-funded, school construction projects.  “We didn’t mean to, but we’ve opened a bees’ nest and the bees are coming out,” said Gerry Compton, one of the neighbors behind the lawsuit.

The school construction projects are slated to be paid from a $13.2 million bond measure approved by voters in November 2002.  The suit, filed two weeks ago, challenges the adequacy of the gymnasium’s environmental impact report. The contemplated amendment, Compton said, would challenge the district’s authority to spend bond money on the gym.  “State law restricts the spending of bond money to projects listed on the ballot and the 2002 ballot didn’t mention a gymnasium,” Compton said.

Nor did the ballot mention many other bond projects that are underway, or contemplated, including new restrooms, new computers, and upgrades to the cafeteria. Compton said that he and his fellow plaintiffs support bond project improvements, with the exception of the gym, and if their suit interfered with projects other than the gym it would be an unintended consequence.

Board member Lance Widman said this week that it had been the board’s intention to list the gym as well as all other proposed bond projects on the ballot. But a mix up between the school district’s former bond counsel and the Los Angeles County Registrar/Recorder resulted in only an abbreviated description of the proposed bond projects appearing on the ballot.

Widman said the district has been assured by its current bond counsel that despite the ballot mix-up, expenditures of bond money on the gym, as well as other projects listed in the bond resolution attachment, were legal.

The school district’s attorney Rob Anslow, of Bowie, Arneson, Wiles and Giannone, said this week, “If voters needed every scrap of data to make an informed decisions, ballot pamphlets would look like telephone books.” He added that the law regulating bond expenditures cannot be understood solely by reference to the single section of the State Constitution on which Compton and other plaintiffs are basing their challenge to the gym expenditures.

The plaintiffs’ attorney Douglas Carstens of Chatten-Brown and Associates said this week that he is still doing research on a suit amendment that would seek to block expenditure of funds on a gym, and potentially on other bond projects. ER

Read the lawsuit referred to in the above news story:

The Committee For Responsible School Expansion v. The Hermosa Beach School District

The Easy Reader – April 14, 2005

Lawsuit filed against Valley School gym

 by Robb Fulcher

Neighbors of Hermosa Valley School have filed a lawsuit seeking to halt construction of a gymnasium on the campus. The lawsuit seeks a fuller review of alternative sites for the gym building – which also would include classrooms and teachers’ offices, and possibly subject the project to a fresh public vote.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in Superior Court by the Committee for Responsible School Expansion, claims that the city school board did not take adequate measures to ease excess noise, traffic and parking congestion in the surrounding neighborhood.

Health District angle - Two elements of the lawsuit – a claim that the gym project would eat up too much of the campus’ open space and a claim that the gym would be too tall – hinge upon a joint use agreement the city school district signed with the Beach Cities Health District. Under the agreement, the Health District would be allowed to use the gym after school hours for yoga classes and the like, and the school district would be able to seek about $1 million in state funds that are set aside for joint-use projects.

School construction is generally exempt from city requirements for height and open space. But if the gym is used for “non-instructional purposes” by an agency such as the Health District, it would not be exempt from those requirements, said Douglas Carstens of Chatten-Brown and Associates, lead attorney for the citizens group.

If subject to city codes, the lawsuit claims, the 34-foot tall gym building on the Valley Drive campus would stand nine feet too tall, and the 26,000 square-foot building could not be erected without a vote of the public on the open space question.

Carstens said the city school board could “possibly” resolve the height and open space questions if it can back out of the joint agreement with the Health District. But, he said, questions of parking, noise and alternative gym sites would remain.

The neighbors - Carstens declined to say who had retained his legal services for the lawsuit, citing “freedom of association” of people seeking legal representation.

He said he did not know how many people belonged to the citizens group.

“We don’t have a membership list,” he said. “At the meetings I’ve attended there have sometimes been dozens of people.”

Carstens said some members want the gym project halted entirely, but a “large contingent” of the membership simply wants the school board to make the project “less burdensome” on the neighbors.

School neighbor Douglas Robins said he believes an “overwhelming” majority of the neighbors want the gym project modified, not halted. He said the neighbors filed the lawsuit to make sure their concerns would be addressed, adding that the statue of limitations for such a lawsuit would have soon expired.

Robins, who also is an attorney, said he envisions an agreement in which the school district would be required to address noise and traffic concerns, and the neighbors would drop the lawsuit.

For the defense - The day before the lawsuit was formally filed, school district Superintendent Sharon McClain said she feared that further delays in construction could doom the project, as building costs continue to skyrocket. She said costs have tripled over the course of an overall school construction project – set to include the gym – that is funded mostly by a $13.6 million school bond approved by Hermosa voters in November 2002.

She said she was saddened by what she sees as continued opposition to a construction project that voters long ago approved.

Ballot snafu - The 2002 citywide election also has been called into question. School board members last week acknowledged that the ballots in the polling places did not contain the full text of Measure J, which asked the public for the school bonds.

School district officials and the district’s current bond counsel were trying to determine how that happened, McClain said.

Some critics of the gym project have claimed the election should be considered invalid, but the district’s bond counsel – its legal representative in the matter – shrugged off that contention. Rob Anslow, a partner in the firm of Bowie, Arneson, Wiles and Giannone, said the statute of limitations to challenge such election results runs only days or weeks, and any challengers would be years too late.

Some critics have also said that because the ballot’s official analysis and summary did not mention a gym, the building of the gym might not be legal. McClain said Anslow was looking into that, and Anslow declined to comment in detail, saying he would not share advice he might give his client in fighting a potential lawsuit.

Struggle continues - Some neighbors and other residents have long insisted that proper steps have not been taken to mitigate the effects of noise and traffic. In February residents put their comments in writing as the school board sought state approval for the gym project.

The district had predicted that noise from the gym would have a “less than significant” impact on neighbors, and that traffic congestion would not significantly worsen. A district report did predict that parking problems in the neighborhood would be significantly worsened, and stated that the school district can offer no relief from those problems.

Resident Jerry Compton, an architect whose home stands near the school, urged the school board to consider building the gym next to Valley Drive instead of on the Southwest corner of the campus.

Compton complained that the board’s current plan would result in “catastrophic” parking congestion.

School neighbors Earl and Kristine Keegan wrote that “the noise and activity level in the surrounding residential neighborhood will be substantial” once the gym is in use…Currently there is no nighttime use of the school facility.”

The Keegans urged that the gym doors remain closed whenever it is being used, to muffle excessive noise, and asked how the district plans to protect adjoining classrooms from gym noises such as bouncing basketballs and referees’ whistles. The Keegans also urged the school board to study ways to ease traffic on an “overburdened” Valley Drive when after-school games are played from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. ER

The Daily Breeze - April 9, 2005

The Daily Breeze - April 8, 2005

The Daily Breeze - April 8, 2005

Hermosa Beach – Police seek help in finding suspect

Police in Hermosa Beach sought the public’s help Thursday to find a transient suspected of stalking and threatening to kill his former wife.

Michael Rhodes, 43, is wanted on a $170,000 warrant seeking his arrest on felony charges of stalking and making criminal threats, Hermosa Beach police Sgt. Paul Wolcutt said.

Rhodes frequents hotels and bars in the beach cities.  “Rhodes is considered to be violent and dangerous,” Wolcutt said.  “Do not approach him.  Call the police.”

Rhodes’ former wife, who obtained a restraining order to keep him away from her, told police he approached her in March while she was on a date and threatened to kill her, Wolcutt said.

Anyone with information about Rhodes’ whereabouts is asked to call Detective Dean Garkow at 310-318-0348.

Anyone who sees him should call 911, Wolcutt said.