EL SEGUNDO HERALD June 29, 2017 Page 7 Community Briefs Mayor Fuentes Provides Update on Vista del Mar Restriping The El Segundo City Manager, Public Works Director and I continue to meet with the Manhattan Beach Mayor and Council, Hermosa Beach Council and staff, State Senate staff, State Assembly staff, County Supervisor staff and South Bay Cities Council of Governments (SBCCOG) to present safe alternatives to the recent restriping of Vista del Mar (VDM), Culver Boulevard, Jefferson Boulevard, and Pershing Drive. To date, I’ve attended 12 meetings. It’s no easy feat to get all these elected and staff together. On June 19, we met with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) for an hour and half to discuss the impacts to regional mobility. LADOT gave a myriad of reasons why VDM restriping was carried out as a covert operation; safety, “crisis,” speeding, road diet, Mobility 2035. And Playa del Rey (PDR) doesn’t like Beach City residents driving through their town. LADOT shared that traffic through PDR has dropped almost 50 percent. Also, 24,000 cars drove VDM daily prior to restriping. Currently, 14,000 are using the route. I shared my concern about El Segundo Fire Department paramedics mutual aid responses to Dockweiler Beach and VDM being unable to quickly transport victims to Marina del Rey Hospital via VDM, Pershing or Sepulveda due to the current two-lane configuration on VDM and Pershing. Every minute counts with life-threatening events- -and being stuck in traffic could impact a victim’s chances of survival. I also shared concern about the City of Los Angeles’ pursuit of the 2024/2028 Olympics and the impact this ill-conceived restriping has on LAX and regional traffic. L.A.’s mobility plan and the upcoming LAMP project is preparing for the Olympics. This “traffic calming” makes access to/from LAX even worse than the current hideous traffic. Not sure the International Olympic Committee would be happy to hear the millions of anticipated athletes and visitors won’t be able to get from and to the nation’s second largest airport, especially in the event of a disaster. Jim Osborne, Lawndale Council and SBCCOG Chair, and I continue to press for additional free beach parking to remove unsafe parking on the east side of VDM and meet the California Coastal Commission’s requirement for free parking. The City of Los Angeles border is at Imperial Highway. The South Bay beach cities neither vote in nor pay taxes to L.A., so we have little leverage. I also want to share important input from David Burns, an emergency management subject matter expert who said that this plan has destroyed the South Bay Area Tsunami evacuation plans that require linkage from Torrance through PDR. The restriping was not approved or discussed with the emergency managers from Area A and Area G and will create nightmare gridlock in the event of a tsunami since VDM and Culver are marked (though are now worthless) as evacuation routes. This will be extra catastrophic when freeways, on/off ramps are destroyed in an earthquake. Surface streets, including restriped streets, will be the only way home for ten of thousands of people in West LA and the South Bay. If you want to help please ask your friends who live in the City of Los Angeles, especially Council District 11 (Westchester, PDR, Marina del Rey, Mar Vista) to share their concerns with LA Council Member Bonin’s Office Mobility Deputy: Jessie Holzer 310- 575-8461 jessie.holzer@lacity.org. – Content Provided by Mayor Suzanne Fuentes High School Seniors Awarded Lizzy Garland Scholarships Since its inception in 2013, the “Lizzy Garland Scholarship” has been awarded to the qualified graduating senior(s) from the El Segundo High Varsity Softball program at the annual postseason awards banquet. The cash award is provided through the generous donations of family, friends, businesses and acquaintances of Elizabeth Garland, who relocated to heaven on May 26, 2013 after a nearly five-year battle with a glioblastoma (brain tumor). Lizzy was one of those kids voted “The Kindest” by classmates for three straight years at El Segundo Middle School. She was a friend of the friendless and a very good student with a fierce, competitive drive that helped take her team to the CIF finals in her 2007 junior season and to the semifinals during her senior year. The scholarship is not an award for a high GPA or athletic statistics. It is meant to recognize those young women with outstanding character...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and selfcontrol. In the Bible, these are called the fruits of the spirit and Lizzy’s life was...fruitful. The award is not an automatic. If there are no qualified candidates, then no scholarship is awarded. If there is one candidate, then there is one scholarship. If more, more… It’s not a participation award. In fact it is the antithesis. It shuns entitlement and awards sacrifice of self and wholesome goodness. The photo shows this year’s winners with John Garland, Lizzy’s dad. From left to right: Taylor Stevens, who will attend El Camino College, play softball and work towards a degree in nursing; Bailey Ernest, who will attend El Camino College for two years before moving on toward her goal of medical school to become a pediatric or trauma surgeon; and Sarah Bergren, who will attend UCLA to study biology and eventually go to medical school intending to develop nanotechnology to cure diabetes, which affects her mom Christine. Each of these remarkable young women received a $1,200 scholarship to help offset some of their college expenses for next year. For more information about the scholarship, please contact John Garland at 310-486-2197, or John@JohnGarlandRealEstate.com. – Photo and content provided by John Garland ES Kiwanis and Police Department Good Citizen Commendation Michael Earley observed a male wearing a hoodie and carrying a skateboard standing next to the door of the snack bar at Recreation Park. The male looked out onto the softball field and then entered the snack bar. Earley then heard a loud sound from inside the closed business. Believing this to be suspicious activity, he called the police and reported what he had witnessed. When officers arrived, they discovered a burglary in progress and they detained three juvenile suspects. Michael Earley’s assistance led to the arrest of three burglary suspects. In the photo from left to right: Former El Segundo Kiwanis Club President Scot Nicol, Michael Earley, Former El Segundo Police Chief Mitch Tavera, Captain Bob Turnbull. – Photo and content provided by ESPD SBWIB Receives $500,000 from EDD to Assist Veterans with Training and Finding Jobs The South Bay Workforce Investment Board (SBWIB) has been awarded $500,000 to assist unemployed and underemployed veterans with barriers to employment find rewarding civilian jobs. The funding was made available through a Veterans’ Employment-Related Assistance Program (VEAP) offered by the State of California Employment Development Department (EDD) under the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act (WIOA). The SBWIB/VEAP program will focus on training and placing veterans into the construction industry, a sector projecting thousands of new job openings in the next few years, in particular surrounding the construction of the new Inglewood football stadium. For veteran job seekers that may not fit within the construction sector, the SBWIB will assist them to find jobs in other industries. Training will be provided by local training agencies, community colleges and employers and will include pre-employment and jobreadiness workshops, on-the-job training, paid work experience, and certified vocational training leading to credentials and job placement. The program will service transitioning and recently separated veterans, veterans with service connected disabilities, eligible spouses, women and minority veterans, homeless veterans, veterans recently released from incarceration, veterans lacking a high school diploma or equivalent certificate and other veterans with barriers to finding employment. Outreach and recruitment will be supported by existing partnerships with local area employers, the Los Angeles Air Force Base, the EDD (JVSG) (DVOP) (LVER) and other community partners such as U.S. Vets. The SBWIB previously established the Military Veterans to Civilian Career Pathways program to assist with resources needed to secure gainful employment for vets and over seventy percent of veterans enrolled in the program find employment. The new SBWIB/ VEAP program will open many more doors for veterans helping them to secure meaningful employment and successful careers. – Content: SBWIB •
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