Hawthorne Press Tribune
Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - November 30, 2017
El Camino Men’s Cross Country
Finishes Seventh in State Finals
The El Camino men’s cross country team finished seventh in the State Championships in Fresno two weekends ago. Pictured L-R: Coach David Cardona, Cole Goldman, Matt Arruda, Mijo Sestich, Carson
Bix, Caleb Ko, Brian Huang, Michael Yaskowitz, Coach Dean Lofgren. Photo by Tom Harmon.
Council Adopts Cleaning, Airport
Commercial Project Ordinances
By Derrick Deane
In one of the briefest meetings of the year,
the Hawthorne City Council spent its post-
Thanksgiving get-together approving a pair of
ordinances that will affect businesses in the
community. The first came from the approval
of the previously mentioned Ordinance 2152,
which would require commercial centers in
the city to maintain a cleaning schedule.
“This ordinance adds teeth to the Hawthorne
Municipal Code requiring that shopping
centers have a cleaning schedule for highpressure
cleaning, graffiti removal, building
façade cleaning, landscaping and liter
removal,” Councilmember Olivia Valentine
said. Valentine spearheaded the ordinance
after receiving numerous complaints from
residents about shopping centers in the city
allowing trash and debris to accumulate on
their properties.
“The cleaning schedule would require that
the name and phone number of the person
responsible for the cleaning be made available
as well as a schedule be posted and provided
by all tenants,” Valentine added. “I am hoping
this is going to be the beginning of a great
period in which the shopping center owners
who are negligent in keeping their shopping
centers clean will have more motivation to
do so.”
The ordinance will be revisited in six months
to assess its effectiveness and further necessity.
“Ideally, I would like to have this reviewed
in six months and that we make a decision
on whether or not to keep it,” Valentine said
in response to Mayor Alex Vargas’ question
on the long=term plans for the ordinance.
The second ordinance approved (with
Councilmember Nilo Michelin dissenting and
Councilmember Angie Reyes English absent),
concerned the area around the Hawthorne
Municipal Airport. Ordinance 2151 establishes
a protection from any future commercial
developments in the Runway Overlay Zone
for the airport.
“What we had was that it was zoned for
commercial development and now it is not
going to be, so adopting this ordinance--now
there’s no commercial development, especially
building any structure in the zone,” City
Manager Arnie Shadbehr said. “Finally we
have a protection in place for [the zone] that
nobody can submit a development.”
The ordinance cleans up one of the forgotten
issues from previous administrations. “We are
cleaning up our codes with this ordinance
and therefore we will be in full compliance
with the FAA design guidelines and grant
insurances,” Shadbehr said.
The Council had previously heard a proposal
for the development of a restaurant in the
Runway Overlay Zone, which would have
put the City in conflict with the FAA on a
number of safety and development standards.
“All these years, we were not aware of it,”
Shadbehr noted about updating and approving
the ordinance. “[The] previous City Planner
had zoned it a commercial area and I don’t
know what the reason was for it.”
City Attorney Russell Miyahara added that
when the restaurant development plan was
first proposed, there was an environmental
impact report included that prohibited any
buildings in the Runway Protection Zone--but
at that point around 2012, the development
agreement for the project expired. Then,
according to Miyahara, “it fell through the
cracks in terms of enacting a new ordinance
to prevent further structures in the Runway
Protection Zone.”
The Council also introduced Ordinance
2156, which would approve the joint powers
agreement for the Los Angeles Community
Choice Energy Authority and authorize the
implementation of a community choice
aggregation program. The ordinance would
provide greater flexibility and choice in
power supply for residents by allowing more
renewable energy options and reducing energy
costs for consumers.
The Council also officially canceled its
final meeting of the year on December 26,
which also coincides with City Hall being
closed on that date. “I bring this up because
it’s been tradition every year. We just have
to go through the formal ratification of being
able to say, ‘Wait until January for the next
meeting,’ because a lot of the residents aren’t
even here to begin with,” Vargas explained.
The Mayor concluded the meeting along
with his colleagues in thanking volunteers
and organizations in town for sponsoring
and facilitating numerous events throughout
the holiday last week. “Thank you to all
the different organizations that had the
Thanksgiving events and holiday giving
of turkeys and food,” Vargas said in his
closing statement. “We have a great spirit of
volunteerism here in the city of Hawthorne
and there’s definitely a lot of different events
coming up, so we hope that the residents of
Hawthorne will participate, give, volunteer
and enjoy themselves.”
Vargas added, “I ask that you support all
of my Councilmembers’ different charities
that they participate in, events that they are
promoting. Everybody has a series of things
that we need your support and participation in.”
The final Hawthorne City Council meeting
of 2017 will take place on December 12. •
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................5
Classifieds............................3
Film Review..........................2
Finance..................................7
Food.......................................5
Hawthorne Happenings....3
Legals................................ 6-7
Looking Up...........................6
Pets........................................8
Politically Speaking............4
Seniors..................................2
Sports....................................4
Weekend
Forecast
Friday
Sunny
68˚/54˚
Saturday
Mostly
Cloudy
71˚/54˚
Sunday
Partly
Cloudy
68˚/52˚
The Weekly Newspaper of Hawthorne