The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 109, No. 34 - August 20, 2020
Inside
This Issue
ABC Doc...............................3
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.....................10
Classifieds............................4
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Film Review..........................5
Legals.............................. 4,10
Pets......................................11
Police Reports.....................2
Real Estate..................6-9,12
School Spotlight..................3
Weekend
Forecast
Congratulations to New Graduate,
Motor Officer Kaitlin Ross
The El Segundo Police Department is proud to announce the graduation of Officer Kaitlin Ross from the Motorcycle Training Basic Course. Officer Ross will be the first female motor officer in the nearly
100 year history of the El Segundo Police Department. Photo courtesy El Segundo Police Department .
Leader Hired for Diversity Panel
By Rob McCarthy
El Segundo hired a diversity consultant
Tuesday who’ll begin interviewing applicants
for a new committee of members who live,
work or attend schools in the community. The
city selected Jimmy Pete, who specializes in
diversity training for organizations, to begin
in earnest interviewing the 67 candidates vying
Jimmy Pete is experienced in diversity training and leadership.
for nine seats on the controversial panel.
Pete, who has local ties to the South Bay,
is described as a “skilled trainer and facilitator
with specialized experience and expertise
in diversity, inclusion and empowerment.”
He founded an Oakland-based consulting
business called Power of Choice and has
coached, trained and worked with groups and
organizations on team building, according to
a release from the City Manager’s Office.
Pete, who attended St. Bernard’s High
School in Westchester, is a graduate of the
University of San Francisco and studied
at Oxford University. His first assignment:
identify top candidates for the city’s Diversion,
Equity and Inclusion Committee. Ahead
of Tuesday’s regular council meeting, supporters
of El Segundo for Black Lives were
alarmed to learn that an organization known
as Mass Resistance was distributing fliers to
El Segundo residents and homes, trying to
stop the City Council.
Councilman Lance Giroux responded to
the speakers - both pro and against the committee
- and addressed claims made by Mass
Resistance’s local organizer, Arthur Shaper,
that the City Council is being pressured to
meet demands of the El Segundo for Black
Lives group. That’s not true, Giroux said,
nor has that group ever called for defunding
the El Segundo Police Department - another
allegation made by Shaper.
“The idea to form this commission came
from (the) council. It did not come from any
group or individual,” Giroux said, contradicting
the Mass Resistance flier circulated in
El Segundo last weekend. “The suggested
narrative that we were forced to form this
commission is wrong.”
Once the interview process is completed,
the City Council will choose nine people
to serve two-year terms on the committee.
Pete, who has experience in the critical next
step of narrowing the candidate field down
from 67, will also mentor the committee
members and train them. According to El
Segundo officials, it’s expected the panel
will be announced in mid-September, and
meetings could begin next month.
The distrust and accusations swapped
between the El Segundo for Black Lives
members and Mass Resistance didn’t sit well
with several members of the City Council.
Scot Nicol pointed out that both groups refer
to the other as a “hate group.” Councilwoman
Carol Pirsztuk also disliked that characterization,
adding that “hate is hate.”
Several members of the El Segundo for
Black Lives who spoke Tuesday were upset
that City Manager Scott Mitnick didn’t denounce
Mass Resistance and its South Bay
organizer, Arthur Shaper. In a letter sent to
the City Manager, Shaper outlined why the
Massachusetts-based group - which refers
to itself as pro-family, opposes the Black
Lives Matter movement. He also argued
the El Segundo group is tied to the national
campaign - which several members of El
Segundo for Black Lives told the council
is not true.
The city manager’s letter contained a
brief update about the diversity committee’s
formation and thanked Shaper for his
inquiry. The letter was professional and did
not encourage Mass Resistance or condone
the group’s rhetoric, Councilman Giroux
said. A copy of the group’s flier, posted
on social media, warned about dangers to
See City Council, page 9
Friday
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Saturday
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