Page 12 February 6, 2020 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
Election 2020
Candidate Q & A from front page
control on housing and other issues, through
my appointments to the Southern California
Association of Governments and the South
Bay Cities Council of Governments. I have
also heard from many of our local businesses
making pleas for housing for their employees.
Adequate, nearby housing is a critical component
to ensuring our businesses thrive (greater than
98% of our revenues come from commercial)
and I remain optimistic that we can address
these housing needs west of PCH.
Lance Giroux: In order to make effective
decisions, it is important to gather all of the
facts and weigh the positives and negatives. I
support studying the best way to create diverse
housing options to accommodate the various
income levels we have throughout the entire
city and that includes “east of PCH”. It is
vital to assess what both the short and longterm
effects would be of any zoning change
regardless of whether that be on Main Street,
in Smoky Hollow or east of PCH. The current
RHNA (Regional Housing Needs Assessment)
allocated El Segundo 523 new housing units
to be built between 2021-29. With Sacramento
showing an increased willingness to step in and
force the hands of local municipalities to make
change, it’s essential to be proactive in our approach.
Change is coming to us whether we
want it to or not. Let’s manage this change,
and not let the change manage us. These decisions
should be made on our own terms, and
by our own choices based on real information
and not conjecture. Let’s examine where we
can accommodate new units to address these
needs while keeping El Segundo attainable
to young professionals, families and seniors
Carol Pirsztuk: Today, east of Pacific Coast
Highway in El Segundo is home to over 100,000
jobs and is the work hub for the Southbay and
Greater Los Angeles residents. It houses jobs
for all business sectors, including aerospace,
marketing, finance, services, retail, healthcare,
data, and manufacturing. The City of El Segundo
has worked hard to build this thriving
corporate landscape, which provides access to
local jobs, the opportunity for businesses to
operate 24-hour manufacturing and distribution
shifts, and revenue to run city operations. The
city is reliant on these businesses as they pay
for over 90% of the city’s operating budget.
Before I cast a vote on making any changes
to the zoning east of Pacific Coast Highway,
as a council member, I would have to analyze
the impact the change would have on these
jobs and the city’s’ revenues, as we would be
replacing one home for another home.
2. What can be done to support downtown
businesses and encourage more
customer traffic?
Drew Boyles: While we have significant
momentum on the south end of Main Street,
we will do more to bring visitors to the north
end of Main Street and Richmond Street. We
will first capitalize on what’s working. Namely,
continuing to collaborate with our chamber,
EDAC, the business community, the hoteliers
and landowners in developing solutions. Also,
“Winning or losing of the election is less important than strengthening the country.”
Sofia’s Keck Effect
we will continue to embrace the El Segundo
Art Walk, Yelp Elite events, visitelsegundo.
com and other proven marketing tactics. And,
we will continue to beautify Main Street with
improved sidewalk cleanliness and landscaping.
As for new ideas, we are exploring reimagining
the Civic Plaza into a downtown hub with
consumer office and residential amenities.
With regards to residential, we should look for
ways to encourage housing along and around
downtown, with an emphasis on walk-ability.
We are studying our shuttle service and other
transit options as a way to connect workers
east of PCH, and hotel visitors, to downtown.
I believe we also have opportunities to optimize
our parking while encouraging Lyft and
similar options. Finally, we should continue to
scrutinize parking and other building requirements
that often inhibit thriving destinations.
Lance Giroux: Two central initiatives:
A. Deputy City Manager Barbara Voss and
her economic development team have made it a
priority to bring more attention and draw more
traffic to our downtown businesses through
recent initiatives. One example is how the team
is working with the local hotels -- from hosting
concierge tours to developing maps featuring key
locations that will be displayed in their lobbies.
Another example is the outreach to digital influencers.
The city has hosted Yelp Elite walking
tours, which showcases all our great downtown
businesses. The key to continued success is
to ensure that our economic development department
is adequately funded. When 98% of
your city’s general fund is generated through
– Indira Gandhi
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business taxes, you need to make sure your
economic development department has all of
the tools necessary to make the desired impact.
B. The elephant in the room -- the word
you hear whispered louder than all others by
local business owners downtown -- is “parking.”
We must address this issue sooner than
later. Whether it be zoning for more spaces,
adequately enforcing our current parking rules,
or implementing new ones, we must take steps
to address this issue and make downtown more
accessible to more people.
Carol Pirsztuk: As a co-owner of two El
Segundo-based small businesses, I understand
that small businesses are significantly impacted
by their surrounding environment. Three years
ago, the Council developed five Strategic Goals,
and goal number five is to “Champion Economic
Development and Fiscal Sustainability.” As part
of this goal, the Council authorized the development
of a downtown committee comprised
of business owners, community members, and
city workers to develop a plan to improve the
downtown area. One of the outcomes of this
committee was the re-landscaping of the downtown
parkways and cleaning of the sidewalks.
To continue the efforts of the committee, the
Council has earmarked funds in this year’s
budget to develop a plan to revitalize the
civic center and transform it into a destination
gathering place. The focus will be on access,
usability, parking, signage, and ascetics. The
downtown area of El Segundo is the heartbeat
of the town, and as a councilmember, I will
continue to make its sustained health a priority. •
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