The Weekly Newspaper of Torrance Herald Publications - Torrance, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 6, No. 21 - May 19, 2016 Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.....................12 Classifieds............................4 Crossword/Sudoku.............4 Elections...............................8 Film Review..........................2 Legals..................................10 Real Estate...................13-15 Sports....................................5 TerriAnn in Torrance..........7 Weekend Forecast Hot Rods on Display at the 11th Annual Edelbrock Car Show The 11th Annual Edelbrock car show was held on May 13 at Vic’s Garage in Torrance. The car show benefits Rev’ved Up 4Kids, which supports the “Center for Learning Unlimited.” The car show also featured the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow Engine challenge where high school students tear down and rebuild engines in a timed competition. Photo by Carlos Rivera. • Fire Department to Receive Donation in Form of Electronics By Cristian Vasquez Members of the Torrance City Council approved a recommendation by the City’s Fire Chief Martin Serna to accept the Bachem Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] Supplemental Environmental Project [SEP] donation. The donation consists of 12 iPad Pros along with 10 Dell Tablet/Laptops, along with the needed cases, software and necessary licensing to the Torrance Fire Department. Bachem Inc. is located in the City of Torrance and received a $50,000 fine from the EPA; as an alternative to having the company pay the full penalty the EPA made the recommendation of the SEP to Bachem Inc. “Most federal actions against businesses or individuals for failure to comply with the environmental laws are resolved through settlement agreements,” explains the EPA website. “As part of a settlement, an alleged violator may voluntarily agree to undertake an environmentally beneficial project related to the violation in exchange for mitigation of the penalty to be paid. A Supplement Environmental Project (SEP) furthers EPA’s goal of protecting and enhancing the public health and the environment. It does not include the activities a violator must take to return to compliance with the law.” The equipment to be donated through the SEP is valued at $30,000 and will be used by the Torrance Fire Department for emergency planning and preparedness efforts. “We will be gathering, reporting and storing community information/data which will be needed for emergency planning and preparedness (in compliance with Municipal, State and Federal regulations,” states the staff report signed by Chief Serna. “The project will give the Torrance Fire Department the ability to process and report data while on scene/location.” The Torrance Fire Department was approached by Bachem with the EPA Supplemental Environmental Project; through collaboration they were able to present a SEP to the EPA, receiving a verbal agreement to move forward with the project. The department expects the donated equipment to result in an improvement in customer service, as well as becoming more efficient while better complying to local, state and federal laws. “Currently there is no budget or alternatives to accomplish this without approval of the Bachem EPA Supplemental Environmental Project,” concludes the staff report. Council Approves Emergency Medical Services Coordinator Job Description The City Council said yes to a recommendation of the Human Resources Administrator to approve the job description for Emergency Medical Services Coordinator. “The Emergency Medical Services [EMS] Nurse position in the Fire Department is vacant,” states the staff report signed by Human Resources Manager Melody P. Lawrence. See City Council, page 10 Board Accepts Grant Money For Professional Development By Cristian Vasquez In a unanimous vote during Monday night’s Torrance Unified School Board meeting, members of the board approved to accept the 2015-2016 Educator Effectiveness Block Grant in the amount of $1,805,266. The grant, which comes from the California Department of Education, was also adopted for expenditure as presented during the board’s May 2 regular meeting. Through the passage of Assembly Bill (AB) 104, Section 58, as well as Senate Bill (SB) 103, Section 8, a total of $490,000,000 were allocated to school districts, county offices of education, charter schools and state special schools for their use of the Educator Effectiveness program. This program allows school districts to use funds for “professional development, coaching, and support services,” states the board agenda item. The Torrance Unified School District is scheduled to receive $1,805,266 in funds, which breaks down to $1,466 per certificated FTE and which is to be spent between 2015-2018. Money from the Educator Effectiveness fund can be spent on beginning teacher and administrator support and mentoring as well as “professional development, coaching and support services for teachers who have been identified as needing improvement or additional support,” states the agenda item. The funds can also be used to carry out Friday AM Clouds/ PM Sun 66˚/57˚ Saturday AM Clouds/ PM Sun 66˚/57˚ Sunday Sunny 68˚/57˚ See School Board, page 12
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