The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 110, No. 3 - January 21, 2021
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.....................11
Classifieds............................4
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Entertainment......................5
Food.......................................5
Legals...........................6,9-11
Obituaries.............................2
Pets......................................12
Police Reports.....................3
Real Estate.......................7-8
Weekend
Forecast
The Herald profiles local El Segundo residents, the Crouch family. Read about their world-wide travels and their business. This is part of our “Love Thy Neighbor” series. Send your nominees to
letters@heraldpublications.com. Please get the nominee’s permission to be interviewed, before submitting to us. See the Crouch family story on page 3.
Erin Fagerlind Gives Children
and Parents a Community
By Kiersten Vannest
Have you heard of diastasis recti? When
was the last time you talked about cracked
nipples, postpartum depression, incontinence,
or partner relationships after the birth
of a child? If you have kids or are thinking
about having kids, these are things you’ll
want to know. At Happy Baby here in El
Segundo, Erin Fagerlind guides parents on
their journey from prenatal classes to parent/
child yoga, fitness, and dance classes.
Originally a business/intellectual property
attorney, Fagerlind began to realize how
precious her time was when she had her
first baby. She sought an accessible place
for parents to talk to each other and nurture
their minds and bodies. In the absence of
such a place, Erin decided to create her
own, leading to what is now Happy Baby.
“Part of these groups,” says Fagerlind,
“is having a group of women who are
in the same place in their motherhood
journey come together each week and use
each other as a sounding board…in a very
nonjudgemental and informative way.”
Week to week, experts are brought in, and
discussion groups are formed to help teach
new mothers what to expect and how to
cope with this big life change.
For example, diastasis recti is the separation
of the abdominal wall to make room for
the baby, and doing the wrong kind of ab
workouts after birth can actually prevent it
from rejoining, something most women don’t
hear about because it is considered less of
Friday
Partly
Cloudy
60˚/48˚
Saturday
Partly
Cloudy
57˚/44˚
Sunday
Mostly
Sunny
58˚/49˚
El Segundo World Travelers
Pension-Finance Plan Endorsed,
Could Save City $61 Million
By Rob McCarthy
The City Council returned from a fourweek
hiatus Tuesday and immediately tackled
what Mayor Drew Boyles called the most
important financial issue facing the city: paying
down $152 million it owes the state-run
pension fund. El Segundo officials believe
they’ve found a low-risk solution that offers
considerable savings.
The council heard more Tuesday about
the merits of issuing municipal bonds to
pay off its outstanding balance of $152.3
million to CalPERs. Other South Bay cities
have explored the idea, too, to take advantage
of favorable rates in the taxable municipal
bond market. Two council members - Scot
Nicol and Mayor Pro Tem Chris Pimentel -
brought the funding strategy to the council’s
attention back in December.
The plan is for El Segundo to sell the
bonds while interest rates remain low and
to eliminate the seven percent annual interest
charge from CalPERS for carrying an
outstanding balance to the retirement fund.
If the bonds were repaid over 19 years, the
savings could fund the city’s general fund
for an entire year, Pimentel said Tuesday.
By paying four percent or less to service the
bonds instead of seven percent to CalPERS, El
Segundo would pocket the difference, which
is considerable on the $152.3 million sum.
El Segundo, which is new to the municipal
bond market, will begin the process of issuing
taxable bonds that attract wealthy investors
and institutions with a low appetite for risk.
El Segundo City Manager Scott Mitnick will
contract with a San Francisco-based law firm
specializing in pension-obligation bonds for
legal services. And, the city will use KNN
Public Finance as its financial advisor for
the bond sale.
The city manager told the Herald that the
risk of issuing $152 million in debt is almost
minimal to the city. “The cost of doing
nothing is too risky at this time,” Mitnick
said. The amount of savings on its annual
pension expenses to CalPERS will depend
on the credit rating assigned to El Segundo
and whether bond interest rates float higher
over the next three months. Any rise in the
bond market’s interest rates would trim the
city’s potential savings. One of the first steps
is for El Segundo to apply for a credit rating.
The city’s financial adviser told the council
to expect a favorable credit rating.
It’s estimated the city could bank $61 million
instead of paying that amount in interest
to CalPERS over the next two decades. The
bonds won’t be ready to auction before May,
and El Segundo can back out of the bond
auction if market conditions change. The
council unanimously endorsed the pensionfinancing
strategy, ticking off its to-do list
See City Council, page 6
See Fagerlind, page 2