The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 109, No. 21 - May 21, 2020
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.....................10
Classifieds............................4
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Entertainment......................5
Legals....................................9
Obituaries.............................2
Pets......................................11
Police Reports.....................2
Real Estate.......................6-8
School Spotlight..................3
Weekend
Forecast
Mychal’s Learning Place
Supports Frontline Workers
Michael’s Learning Place has given away over 6,000 cookies to frontline responders. El Segundo Police Department enjoys the treats. For story see page 3. Photo courtesy Michael’s Learning Place.
El Segundo Entrepreneurs
Simplify Baby-Feeding
El Segundo residents Brandon and
Lauren Stuart are co-founders of the innovative
bokee bottle-feeding accessory
product, which allows a parent to hold a
young child or multi-task while quickly
filling a bottle or sippy cup. Not quite
hands- free bottle prep, but a definite,
innovative step in the right direction.
The Stuart’s are proud parents of 3
1/2-year-old twins, Owen and Elodie,
who were born prematurely, at 32 months.
After the birth of the children, the family
decided that what was best for the Stuart
family was for Lauren to not return to
her job at Google, where she presided
over sales strategies and did research on
the “entertainment side of things,” and
become a stay-at-home Mom.
Brandon, who has a background working
as a creative director and marketer, said
he is always brainstorming ideas to make
an existing product or idea better. Said
Lauren: “Ever since I have known him
(they started dating in 2007), he almost
has… too many ideas.”
Brandon said that, while participating in
the bottle-prep and feeding process for his
young twins, he thought that “there has
to be a better way to facilitate a process
that young parents might be doing ten
times a day.”
See Stuarts, page 5
Friday
Mostly
Sunny
74˚/61˚
Saturday
Sunny
71˚/59˚
Sunday
Sunny
73˚/61˚
Retail, Dining May Move Outside
By Rob McCarthy
to limit indoor occupancy by 75 percent
Merchants and restaurants bursting at the
when table service is allowed again. Salons
seams to reopen after a 65-day shutdown
and retail stores will also be forced to limit
received a promise Tuesday night that El
the number of customers who can be inside
Segundo is willing to relax longstanding
at one time. The social-distancing rules
rules against conducting business outdoors.
for businesses will be part of the Phase 3
As proof that no suggestion is off the table,
reopening, as new cases of COVID-19 and
city officials said they could close downtown
hospitalizations steadily decline and don’t
streets to allow open-air dining if that’s what
return to the alarming levels the county
restaurants need to stay in business and meet
saw starting in early March. It now appears
strict new occupancy limits.
Phase 3 and dine-in restaurant service could
The City Council is open to suggestions
return by July 4, and an Independence Day
from owners of shops, salons and eateries,
reopening could come with new freedoms.
who have been confined inside four walls
Restaurants, which run on tight profit
in the past. The extraordinary circumstances
margins, will be hard pressed to survive the
created by the coronavirus pandemic convinced
current pandemic, Councilman Scott Nicol
El Segundo officials to go outside the norm
said Tuesday. He, along with the rest of the
and allow sidewalk signs and browsing,
parking-lot sales and even outdoor dining in
public right-of-ways, including Main Street
and parking lots. The messages that came
through Tuesday were that businesses could
expect new freedoms to operate as they see
fit to rebound from widespread closures.
And, while the city can block downtown
streets for restaurants and bar seating, the
business recovery plan is all about removing
the barriers once the order comes that it’s
safe to go out in public again.
Each council member and the city
manager gave full-throated promises on
Tuesday night that the business community
can expect flexibility and support when the
lockdown order is lifted. That could come
as early as July 4, though El Segundo will
lobby county and state officials to allow
South Bay cities some latitude for an early
start date. El Segundo currently has three
positive COVID-19 cases and could reach
zero by June 1.
Restaurants expect Los Angeles County
council members, favored a plan to close
streets, alleyways and parking lots so food
establishments and service businesses can
expand outdoors where more people can
shop and congregate safely. A business won’t
look the same when the all-clear order comes
down from Los Angeles County to reopen.
Councilman Lance Giroux said, “we are not
sitting idly by” waiting for the county. “We
are coming up with as many contingencies
and options as we can to help businesses,”
he said Tuesday. When the governor’s
requirements for shifting into Phase 3 have
been met, El Segundo wants the pump primed
and all businesses throughout the city ready
to turn the key and reopen the next day.
See City Council, page 11