The Weekly Newspaper of Torrance Herald Publications - Torrance, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 5, No. 24 - June 11, 2015 Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.....................10 Classifieds............................4 Crossword/Sudoku.............4 Film Review..........................4 Food.......................................5 Legals....................................9 Police Reports.....................3 Real Estate.........................12 Sports....................................6 TerriAnn in Torrance..........7 Weekend Forecast Counseling4Kids and Kinecta Hold Sports4Kids Outreach Event Counseling4Kids’ Outreach Coordinator Jasmine Miller (second from left) and Torrance Community Liaison Neslie Akkol (third from left) with Kinecta Federal Credit Union volunteers and their families at the Counseling4Kids outreach event at the LA Galaxy Soccer Center in Torrance on May 30. Twelve volunteers from Kinecta donated their time to work with the children and families under the dynamic leadership of managers Lisa Longoria and Ray Romero. For more photos, see page 3. Photo by Todd Quan. Council Orders Improvements In City’s Lighting District By Cristian Vasquez After a short public hearing, the Torrance Mayor and City Council adopted a resolution that confirmed the diagram and assessment for Fiscal Year 2015-2016 presented by the public works department. The resolution also orders for the improvements related with the City of Torrance Lighting District No. 99-1 to take place. In order to pay for the ongoing maintenance and servicing of streetlights, safety lights and traffic signals, the city needed to levy assessments, which led the city council to adopt three resolutions on May 19. The resolutions allowed for the proceedings to levy assessments within the City of Torrance Lighting District No. 99-1 for the 2015-2016 fiscal year, approved the 2015-2016 fiscal year engineer’s report for the City of Torrance Lighting District No. 99-1 and set the public hearing to address the assessments. “The City of Torrance Lighting District No. 99-1 pays for street lighting citywide,” Engineering Manager with the City of Torrance Steve Finton said. “We have 10,877 lights that we operate on a daily basis. These proceedings are required by the Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972, to levy annual assessments.” During the 2007-2008 fiscal year the rates levied on property owners reached their maximum level so the 2015-2016 fiscal year assessments will remain the same. As a result of the assessment rates being maxed out, the increased costs associated with maintaining and servicing lights in the district will be covered by the city’s general fund. Yet, any decreases in costs will become savings to the city’s general fund. The maintenance costs for fiscal year 2015- 2016 is projected to be $3,196,905 with the net assessment to property owners set at $1,327,730, leaving the $1,869,175 balance to be covered by the general fund. From 1977 to 1996 the City of Torrance had Street Lighting District No. 17, which paid for all costs associated with the servicing and maintenance of the city’s street, safety and traffic lights. However, after 20 years the district’s tax-collections ended. So on November 1996 California voters approved Proposition 218 to allow taxpayers the right to decide on local government’s tax increases and special assessments on property. As a result of the approval of Prop 218 the owner of “each parcel subject to an assessment had the opportunity to cast a ballot in favor of, or in opposition to, the formation of a new assessment district under the Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972,” states the staff report. Through the Landscaping and Lighting Act of 1972 local agencies are authorized to impose assessments on properties that would benefit from installing, building and maintaining landscaping and lighting facilities, including traffic signals, street and safety lights. Contract for Commuter Transportation Consulting Services Approved A contract not to exceed $65,520 was approved by the mayor and city council for consultant services from transportation consultant Kim Fuentes. The contract will be in effect from July 1-June 30, 2016 and will provide the city with Commuter Transportation [Rideshare] consultant services. “The City of Torrance Rideshare Program has about 500 employees in it and also operates a multi-employer vanpool program,” Fuentes said. “The program was first put together to comply with the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Rule 2202, that rule looks at employer operations and has a goal of reducing vehicle trips to the worksite; specifically for the City of Torrance is the hours between 6 and 10 a.m., Monday through Friday.” The staff report presented indicates that the funds for the contract are made available through the 2015/2016 Rideshare Program Budget, which are not from the city’s general fund. Fuentes, who was retained as a consultant for the city in 1994 for the implementation of the SCAQMD’s rideshare mandates, has worked with Los Angeles County as the trip reduction manager and has experience working with local cities and their employees to reduce the amount of vehicles to the workplace. The goal for the City of Torrance is a 1.5 reduction, which equals a decrease of 33 percent of vehicles arriving at the worksite, and that the city has met several years. Fuentes’ research indicates that there are an estimated 236 vehicles per week that do not make their way to the worksite, putting the city’s average at above 1,000 vehicle trips avoided each month. “Imagine what that means to your city streets,” Fuentes said. “It is a wonderful program, Friday AM Clouds/ PM Sun 71˚/62˚ Saturday AM Clouds/ PM Sun 70˚/62˚ Sunday AM Clouds/ PM Sun 70˚/61˚ See City Council, page 8
Torrance_061115_FNL_Lorez
To see the actual publication please follow the link above