The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Torrance, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 107, No. 6 - February 8, 2018
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.....................18
Classifieds............................4
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Entertainment......................6
Legals............................14-16
Obituaries.............................3
Pets........................................8
Police Reports............... 7,14
Real Estate................9-13,20
Sports......................... 5,14,19
Weekend
Forecast
Friday
Sunny
72˚/56˚
Saturday
Mostly
Sunny
66˚/55˚
Sunday
Partly
Cloudy
69˚/54˚
Fire Station Remodel, Retrofit
The crews from Engine-31 and Rescue Ambulance-31 recently returned to the bolstered Fire Station 1 on Main Street. They were displaced due to a significant remodel and earthquake retrofit project that
is now complete. Photo Courtesy of El Segundo Fire Department.
Police Chief Reports Drop in Local
Crime Compared to Last Year
Council Updated on Fees, Budget, ADUs
By Brian Simon
In the coming months, the El Segundo
City Council will decide whether or not to
raise certain fees for services. During its
Tuesday night meeting, the group heard
from a consultant who recently completed
a city-wise cost allocation plan and user
fee analysis. It was El Segundo’s first
comprehensive fee study in nearly a decade
– though according to Finance Manager
Joseph Lillio, best practices dictate updating
cost allocation plans every five years and
reviewing user fees and charges annually to
keep up with consumer price index upticks.
Eric Johnson, the vice president of Revenue
& Cost Specialists, LLC that conducted the
study, said his firm recast the City’s budget
“as if it were a business.” It looked at the cost
of services provided to customers and matched
revenues to those costs. To zero in on the
numbers, Johnson and company met with
department heads to establish services and
time spent by City staff. The calculations
figured in salaries and wages, employee
benefits, maintenance and operational costs,
overhead and departmental administration.
The methodology also distinguished between
community-supported services automatically
provided to all versus personal choice services
that only benefit a specific group or
person. The study did not include analyses
of Recreation and Parks services.
The study found $1.4 million in City-subsidized
monies for personal choice services,
of which Johnson indicated $602,000 could
realistically be recaptured depending on if
the Council opts to assess additional fees.
By Brian Simon
The news was good out of the El Segundo
Police Department (ESPD) last week, with
a report from Chief Bill Whalen that overall
crime dropped by 7 percent in town from
2016 to 2017. Violent crime decreased 20
percent and property crime was down 6
percent. “In terms of overall numbers, the
most notable decrease in violent crime
was in the aggravated assault category at
nine fewer offenses, and the most notable
decrease in property crime was in the larceny
category with 49 less,” Whalen noted. The
one homicide recorded in El Segundo in
2017 was the only increase in violent crime,
as there were no such incidents the prior
year. In property crime, the department
reported eight more motor vehicle thefts
compared to 2016.
The ESPD report provided an overview
of total part 1 crimes in El Segundo over
a seven-year period starting in 2011. Part
1 crimes encompass the violent crimes of
homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault;
as well as property crimes that include
incidents of burglary, larceny, motor vehicle
thefts, and arson. Total part 1 crimes reached
their low in 2013, with 581 total (down from
589 and 638 in 2011 and 2012 respectively).
Then they started to rise, going from 599
in 2014 to 664 and 784 the next two years
before falling back to 727 in 2017.
Two major reasons for a general crime
increase in recent years -- not just in El Segundo,
but elsewhere in the South Bay and
across the region -- were pieces of legislation
that resulted in more offenders out on the
streets. First was the passage of AB 109,
the prison realignment bill of 2011 that put
the burden of supervising those sentenced
for “triple-non” (non-violent, non-serious,
non-sexual) crimes on counties instead of
the State of California. This led to prisoners
getting released earlier from their terms due
to overcrowded jails – and with little or no
supervision by parole or probation officers.
A regional effort to curb the impacts of AB
109 paid dividends and El Segundo benefited
in 2013 and 2014 with lower numbers. But
the next wave of problems evolved after
Proposition 47 went into law in 2014. The
initiative reduced crimes such as shoplifting
and possession of narcotics and firearms from
felonies down to misdemeanors. As a result,
repeat offenders could no longer be put away
in the State Penitentiary. Ultimately, they
made their way here as well as other South
Bay communities. The upshot was a crime
spike in El Segundo of just over 11 percent
in 2015 and more than 18 percent in 2016.
The latter year also saw 50 violent crimes.
That number dropped 20 percent (down to
See Police Chief, page 15
See City Council, page 15