The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Torrance, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 106, No. 33 - August 17, 2017
Inside
This Issue
Calendar of Events.............2
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.....................14
Classifieds............................4
Community Briefs...............3
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Entertainment......................6
Legals............................ 12,13
Obituaries.............................2
Real Estate...........8-11,15,16
Sports.............................. 5,14
Weekend
Forecast
Friday
Sunny
70˚/64˚
Saturday
Sunny
71˚/64˚
Sunday
Partly
Cloudy
71˚/63˚
Summer Fun: CA to NC
Herald Publications CEO, Heidi Maerker has summer fun with her niece Emily Nosko (left) and her friend Rita Goforth, who were both visiting from North Carolina.
City Council Continues to Hammer
Out Final Details on TopGolf
By Brian Simon
On Tuesday night, the El Segundo City
Council (with Mayor Pro Tem Drew Boyles
absent) received updates on the final group of
revisions to the due diligence agreement with
CenterCal Properties regarding the long-pending
TopGolf project. The goal was to iron out any
lingering sticking points before a first reading
on September 5 and final vote on TopGolf
on October 3. Mission almost accomplished.
While the group agreed on other lease
revisions summarized by City Attorney Mark
Hensley, one item remained unresolved after
a lengthy discussion. According to Mayor
Suzanne Fuentes, TopGolf at the beginning of
the negotiation process committed to paying
two golf professionals during the six-month
construction hiatus as a way to ensure those
individuals stay on and don’t leave for another
golf course. TopGolf’s point person at the
time, Randy Starr, was reportedly impressed
with the Good Swings Happen (kids instruction)
Iffy Weather Expected for
Monday’s Solar Eclipse
By Rob McCarthy
South Bay residents should get the first
peek of a solar eclipse that hasn’t been
seen in North America in nearly a century,
though they may need to head inland to
catch it. The National Weather Service has
forecast partly sunny skies and patchy fog
along the coast for The Great American
Eclipse of 2017, which starts at 9 a.m.
Monday and will last about three hours.
Solar eclipses aren’t rare. However, this
celestial event is different.
Solar eclipses happen every 12 to 18
months, but Monday will mark the first
time since 1979 that an eclipse will be
visible across the entire country. It is a
total eclipse, but only along a 70-mile band
running from Oregon to South Carolina,
according to published reports. Here in the
South Bay, the eclipse will be noticeable
at 9:05 a.m. and be fullest at 10:21 a.m.
when the moon passes between the earth
and sun. At its peak, the eclipse will block
70 percent of the sun and create a halo
effect across the region. The visible band
of sunlight is considered dangerous to look
at without protective eyewear. Special
solar-viewing glasses are recommended
and available at retail stores. Sunglasses
do not provide enough eye protection from
the eclipse’s damaging rays.
See Iffy Weather, page 12
program at The Lakes at El Segundo
and wished to keep that in place. Fuentes
reported that Starr’s eventual successor also
reiterated the commitment to the pros.
Fast forward to earlier this month when
there was a major change announced to the
agreement (negotiated by the Golf Course
Subcommittee) to have golf pros work under
the City’s auspices instead of TopGolf’s supervision.
In relinquishing control, TopGolf
no longer felt it should be obligated to pay
the pros.
Further details came to light on this matter
on Tuesday. TopGolf’s Mark Foster explained
that his company’s position is that the golf
pros are independent contractors and there
is no guarantee they will stay on at the El
Segundo facility even if compensated during
the months the golf course is closed.
The reluctance to pay them was “because
of their ability to go elsewhere,” according
to Foster, who added that TopGolf did make
an employment offer to “some people” that
was not accepted.
Good Swings Happen Director Josh Alpert
confirmed he had a meeting with Starr five
years ago when the latter told him that if
TopGolf got the go-ahead on the project, it
“would be in a position to do a make-youwhole
kind of a thing.” Alpert said there
have been no discussions since, but did see
a description of an employment opportunity
from Foster. He went on to explain that the
preference not to be an employee was not
any negative reflection on TopGolf, but on
the desire to “teach the game of golf in as
true a setting” as possible.
See City Council, page 7