The Weekly Newspaper of Manhattan Beach Herald Publications - El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 Vol. 9, No. 12 December 3, 2015 Inside This Issue Certified and Licensed Professionals...................4 Classifieds............................2 Community Briefs...............2 Food.......................................5 Pets........................................6 Weekend Forecast MCHS Orchestra and Band Raising Money to Travel to Carnegie Hall JD Damarillo and George Rochelle held their first “Gig” at the office of Ignited USA, playing cello duets for an appreciative audience. Thus begins a joint effort between Mira Costa High’s Orchestra and Band programs to send their 260 members to Carnegie Hall in May 2016. “Gigs4Carnegie” hopes to raise enough money to completely fund the trip: if you would like to get involved or support the program, send an email to costa2carnegie@gmail.com or make a donation of any size online at www.gofundme.com/qx36guw4. Photo by Napolitano Hopes to Take Problem-Solving to Next Level Napolitano, page 2 By Brian Simon While still a college senior at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in 1990, Steve Napolitano opened up a newspaper and learned it was the last filing day to run for the Manhattan Beach City Council. Born and raised in the South Bay coastal community and a resident there to this day, the then-24-year-old had seen first-hand various changes over the years that didn’t sit well with many of the locals. “We went from a little beach town with low-profile development to one where people were coming in and tearing down the old beach cottages and putting up huge homes that covered the entire lot that they would then sell on spec,” Napolitano recalled. “I decided I had a choice to either just complain about the way things were going in the city or do something about it.” So with just two hours to get his paperwork together before the deadline, Napolitano scrambled to compile the minimum 20 signatures from registered voters required for him to make it onto the ballot. He managed to do so and filed in the nick of time—only to find out that one of the “voters” on the list was not registered after all, thus nullifying his submission. Rather than wait another two years to give it another shot, Napolitano opted to run as a write-in candidate. “That’s not an easy thing to do when your name is Napolitano,” he said. “People have to write your name down correctly on the ballot and punch the hole. A friend and I went doorto door across the entire city—something nobody had done before—and spent about $1,200. I had a whole lot of ballots thrown out for misspellings and hanging chads before anyone else knew what a hanging chad was. I beat one of the incumbents, but finished in third about 100 votes away from victory.” Undaunted, Napolitano joined a commission soon after the election and ran again in 1992—this time garnering the most votes and becoming at 26 the youngest person ever elected to the Manhattan Beach City Council. He won again two more times before terming out in 2005. During his lengthy tenure, Napolitano initiated a number of “firsts,” including emergency call boxes, campaign finance reform, a tree ordinance, required postings of construction site rules, and the volleyball walk of fame, among other items. “We reduced bulk and density in homes, protected our environment through our innovative ‘Ocean Safe Campaign,’ created a private/public partnership that resulted in the Metlox project, built a new public safety facility, redid The Strand, created playing fields out of TRW parking lots along Marine Avenue, and rezoned Rosecrans from industrial uses to allow commercial development. We were also one of only three cities in the state to achieve a AAA bond rating—and there is no better measurement of fiscal responsibility.” Now no longer the new kid on the block, Napolitano hopes to make a difference on a broader scope in his quest for a seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to serve the Fourth District. If he succeeds, his goal is to build on the legacy of Supervisor Don Knabe who will leave the County in 2016 due to term limits after 20 years. Napolitano has served as Knabe’s long-time Senior Deputy, originally joining the team only a month after departing the Manhattan Beach City Council. “When I got the call from Supervisor Knabe, I saw it as a great opportunity to do what I had done in Manhattan Beach on a bigger scale—work to make a difference, make things better, and give a voice to those who felt they had none,” he said. Over the past decade, Napolitano has become a fixture at countless events in the South Bay as the Supervisor’s representative and point person for El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Lomita, Manhattan Beach, Marina del Rey, Playa del Rey, Redondo Beach and Torrance. More than that, though, he views himself as a problem-solver who oversees several departments (e.g. Beaches and Harbors, County Counsel, Arts, Museums, Libraries) for the Supervisor as well as economic development, transportation and environmental issues. Listing some key accomplishments for the Fourth District, Napolitano noted that he helped create the County’s new Business Concierge program, worked to reduce film permit fees, and averted a major problem after the Health Department suddenly decided that snack stands at Little League fields had to meet the same rules and permit requirements as standard restaurants. “Working quickly with the Health Department, the Supervisor and others, we were able to get new rules in place to keep the snack stands open without the onerous restaurant requirements,” he said. Napolitano added that he worked on several environmental and green initiatives, leads the Supervisor’s $45 million Operation Libraries project, administers Knabe’s Arts Education Partnership Program that provides grants for many area schools, and oversees the LA County Arts Commission. “In tracking the legal issues that County Counsel has to deal with, I also review and make recommendations to the Supervisor on the many practical and legal issues facing the County, including jail reform and use of force issues, improvement in our healthcare system, and the County’s foster care system,” he said. The arts and legal realms were no strangers to Napolitano. While still serving on the Manhattan Beach City Council, he parlayed his Fine Arts degree from LMU into a Friday, Dec. 4 Mostly Sunny 68˚/50˚ Saturday, Dec. 5 Mostly Sunny 76˚/51˚ Sunday, Dec. 6 Partly Cloudy 73˚/52˚
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