EL SEGUNDO HERALD August 1, 2019 Page 3
Douglass
MORTUARY
Letters
“Our Family Serving Yours Since 1954”
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Community Briefs
Smoky Hollow and El Segundo Boulevard
On-Street Parking Pilot Project
Last fall, the El Segundo City Council
adopted the Smoky Hollow Specific Plan,
which includes an increased number of onstreet
parking spaces in the Smoky Hollow
district. When the Council members adopted
the plan, they included a pilot project to add
parking spaces on El Segundo Boulevard on
the north side of the street.
The pilot project began on July 29 and
construction will run through early September.
The segment of El Segundo Boulevard
selected for the pilot project runs from the
alley east of Main Street to the alley east of
Sheldon Street. Fifteen new parking spaces
will be added along El Segundo Boulevard
without decreasing the existing number of
vehicle travel lanes. After an evaluation period,
the City will decide whether to make
the change permanent and extend the new
parking lane further east..
For more information on the pilot project,
please contact Principal Planner, Paul Samaras
310-524-2340 or psamaras@elsegundo.org or
Senior Civil Engineer, Orlando Rodriguez at
310-524-2252 or orodriguez@elsegundo.org.
– Source: City of El Segundo
Citywide Light Conversions Continue
Street light retrofits are underway
to replace current lamps with more efficient
LED lamps. These retrofits are of no cost to
the City due to energy cost savings over a
20-year period.
The project entails installing “warmer”
3,000K lamps in residential areas and “cooler”
4,000K lamps next to major roadways and
commercial areas. The brightness is exactly
the same between the two. However, the
cooler lights are perceived as brighter, which
many prefer for business areas, while the
warmer lights are preferred for residential
areas. Retrofits are expected to be completed
by the end of August.
– Source: City of El Segundo •
Received Love and Support
from Community
After my parents divorce I came to El
Segundo when I was nine-years-old for
the promise of a better school system. El
Segundo gave me seven years of public
school, giving me some of the best teachers,
friends, and life lessons along the way. That
is why I was surprised to see a response
in the paper about the Drag Queen Story
Hour, outlining the former ESUSD public
educators fear of “infiltration” in the small
town of El Segundo. I am not myself a drag
performer, but as a student who is gay, the
attack on one of our community is felt by
the whole. I knew I was gay my whole life,
I just didn’t always have the words to know
what it meant to feel so different from my
peers at the time. Growing up in El Segundo,
a town that leans center right, I used to be
afraid of people like the respondent in the
letter who labeled an LGBTQ member as a
“sexual hang-up”, as someone who is not
whole. But despite my fears and hesitations,
and despite same-sex marriage still illegal
in the state at the time, I decided to come
out on stage to my 8th grade peers during
an event. The response was overwhelming.
The support and love I received from the
administration, my friends, my family, and
my peers was abundant and pure. After that,
I went on to establish a GSA for others that
may have need a similar support system, which
again, was met with support. That is why, in
a town that welcomed me with such open
arms and big hearts, I was surprised to see
someone that represented the school system,
draft such a message of fear and hate. But I
myself do not feel fear, nor hate. I know for
every one protester, there were ten attendees.
I know for every one message like his, there
are thousands of love. I do not write this to
attack nor excoriate anyone, I write it to say
simply that love truly does conquer all, and
for someone like the respondent, I honestly
do hope that he knows he has so much more
love to come across in this world. Because
we know that even those whose job it is to
teach sometimes have just as much to learn.
– Jay Froebe
Feels Warm
Congratulations to El Segundo. This may
sound like a vague sentiment, but in the last
few years, our little city has blossomed into
something of a small hub of art, culture, and
the most beautiful essence of life: diversity. I
was walking through the city yesterday night,
and I had two drinks from a local coffee shop
in my hand. As I walked up Mariposa, the
sun set and cast all the colors of the rainbow
over the hill. From red to purple and every
color in between, the light cast upon all of the
tiny houses and illuminated every translucent
rosebud and lit the path home for kids playing
at the park after a long day. I got to thinking
about how gentle it is to share a friendly smile
on the street with someone, and how lucky
we are to have vessels that allow us to treat
each other with kindness. There are so many
people in the world who do not love the same
as me, look the same as me, or think the same
as me. I’m grateful to know them, learn from
them, and at times, educate them. This isn’t
a letter about something specific or special
that happened, but rather, about a state of the
human condition I think we need to look on
more. Don’t just talk to your neighbor: learn
from them. Don’t fear difference: embrace a
generation of tolerance. How lucky we are to
all be different, after all. As I walked up the
hill, my hands warm with summer wind, I
felt nothing but kindness towards the world.
I hope that wind makes everyone’s week that
of gentleness and peace.
– Kayleigh Birch
Thanks ESMoA
Thank you ESMoA for hosting Drag Queen
Story Hour, a program that promotes inclusion
and challenges stereotypes. As someone who
attended, I can assure the naysayers that there
was nothing sexual or confusing about the
event. The children saw Drag Queen Pickle
as an adult who—much like them—enjoys
dressing up and being imaginative in what
she wears. She read books about being who
we are, despite people, like the protestors
outside, trying to force us into a box.
Opponents think that exposing children to
queer role models will confuse them. Several
have even linked this confusion to growing
suicide and depression rates in teens. As any
LGBTQ advocate would attest, the source of
mental health issues in teens is not confusion
over identity, but fear of persecution for that
identity. Seeing a Drag Queen, surrounded
by an attentive audience, shows our children
that they need not live a lie, like the many
LGBTQ generations before them. The hope
is that our of children will not have to come
out of a closet, because they will never go
in one in the first place.
The large group of parents inside, teaching
respect and dignity for all humans, regardless
of what they look like or how they choose to
live their lives, far eclipsed the small group of
protestors outside. The archetypal Mayberry
was a nice place to live for some people;
let’s make it nice place to live for all people.
– Julie Holop, resident and mom
Enjoyed Story Hour
Thank you to El Segundo Museum of Art
for providing a wonderful resource to our
community. My family and I appreciate their
free programs and beautiful exhibits that make
our town richer and cooler! We especially
enjoyed the recent Drag Queen Story Hour
event, which was great fun -- a celebration
of love and diversity featuring sweet books
about loving yourself and each other. I am
grateful to live in a town that is home to a
special place that fosters a creative and open
community.
– Joanna Bowe •
Car Technology Not Looking So
Good for Drivers 55 and Older
By Rob McCarthy
demographic in the U.S., so carmakers are
Attention, drivers 55 and older. That
busy designing technology to improve driver
video screen that you’ve come to rely on for
comfort and safety. One in five U.S. drivers
directions in the car can navigate the way to
will be 65 or older by the end of next decade,
an old friend’s house or to a new restaurant.
according to population researchers.
The technology increases comfort and extends
The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
mobility for seniors. However, it can be a
partnered with University of Utah researchers
menu for disaster when the driver’s focus is
to test the visual and cognitive demand
on the screen and not where it needs to be.
created by the infotainment systems in six
The Automobile Club’s safety division
2018 vehicles. Study participants in the older
watched the driving habits of people in
and younger age groups were required to use
automobiles equipped with navigation and
voice commands, touch screens and other
entertainment systems, which have become
interactive technologies -- including buttons
standard equipment on cars, minivans, SUVs
located on the steering wheel -- to make a
and trucks. Motorists between 55 and 75
call, send a text message, tune the radio or
took their eyes and attention off the road
program navigation.
longer than young drivers, the observers
The technology created potentially unsafe
noted. When performing simple tasks like
distractions for all drivers, thought researchers
programming the navigation or tuning the
called the safety risk “more pronounced” for
radio using in-vehicle infotainment technology,
older adults, who took longer to complete
seniors looked away eight seconds longer
tasks, experienced slower response times and
than 21-to-36-year olds who participated in
increased visual distractions. The younger
the AAA study.
group needed 18 seconds to pick a music
The danger of their findings is clear:
station or cue up a song. That compared to
looking away from the road for just two
more than 25 seconds for the seniors in the
seconds doubles a driver’s risk of a crash.
study group.
Eight seconds is simply too long to be
The slower times were seen with voice
distracted in a moving vehicle in city traffic.
texting, making a hands-free phone call
Fortunately, the AAA Foundation for Traffic
and programming the navigation system
Safety included suggestions for seniors who
while the car was being driven, researchers
purchase a new high-tech vehicle or rent one
found. The study, which observed the driving
which is challenging enough.
habits of 128 people, discovered that some
Three simple rules for drivers to follow are:
participants overestimated their skill level
• Practice using the voice command and
when balancing driving with using a touch
touch screen functions in a safe place, like
screen or voice-activated feature of their
a parking lot or in the driveway.
vehicle. Many didn’t realize how long they
• Program the navigation system when the
were distracted.
vehicle isn’t moving.
Carmakers could do a better job of designing
• Seniors especially should avoid car models
technology for America’s graying population
with music and mapping technology that is
of motorists, a spokesman for the national
operated from the center console. “These
AAA said. Some of the systems in the 2018
kinds of systems are especially distracting
cars used in the study had too many menu
and potentially dangerous,” caution the AAA’s
options -- even the voice-activated ones --
traffic-safety engineers.
which “significantly reduced older drivers’
Dr. David Yang, the executive director of
ability to easily complete seemingly simple
the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety that
tasks,” Jake Nelson, AAA director of traffic
ran the study, said that seniors shouldn’t
safety advocacy and research, noted.
avoid or fear car technology. It offers drivers
As mentioned before, drivers 55 and older
convenience and peace of mind when they
can do their part by steering clear of vehicles
want to explore new places and stay active
with technology that is more of a hassle than
socially.
a help. The carmakers can use the results of
“Voice-command functions found in new
the AAA study to go back to the drawing
in-vehicle technology are intended to help
board and redesign infotainment systems
drivers by keeping their eyes and attention
for simplicity. Specifically, the AAA thinks
on the road,” Yang said. “Unfortunately the
carmakers should remove center console
complexity and poor design of some of these
controls and positioning system controls to
systems could cause more harm for older
allow drivers to keep their eyes on the road.
drivers in particular, instead of helping them.”
These design changes “would better meet the
Seniors are becoming the fastest-growing
See Car Technology, page 9