The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 109, No. 36 - September 3, 2020
Inside
This Issue
ABC Doc...............................2
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................9
Classifieds............................4
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Entertainment......................5
Legals.................................8,9
Letters...................................2
Pets......................................10
Police Reports.....................2
Real Estate.............6-8,11,12
Weekend
Forecast
Friday
Mostly
Sunny
78˚/68˚
Saturday
Sunny
88˚/76˚
Sunday
Sunny
92˚/72˚
LAX’s Newest Project, the
Automated People Mover
The Automated People Mover (APM) is an electric train system on a 2.25 mile elevated guideway with six stations total – three inside the Central Terminal Area (CTA) and three Outside. LAX broke ground
on the APM project in March of 2019 and will be open for passenger service in 2023. During peak hours (9 a.m. to 11 p.m.), the APM will run nine trains, each with four cars capable of carrying up to
50 passengers and their luggage, with a total of 200 passengers per train. Train speed will top out at 47 mph. Trains will be available at each station every two minutes during peak hours with a total of
10 minutes’ travel time end-to-end (from the Consolidated Rent-A-Car Facility to the West CTA Station). Photo courtesy Los Angeles World Airports.
City Will Press for a Waiver
By Rob McCarthy
El Segundo leaders expressed frustration
Tuesday with California’s new strategy for
dealing with the coronavirus spread, arguing
the community has slowed transmission to
a level where it’s safe for more local businesses
to reopen.
Despite the encouraging report that El Segundo
residents are flattening the curve, the
details of the governor’s newly unveiled
“Blueprint for a Safe Economy” stunned
members of the City Council. They agreed
Tuesday to become a “squeaky wheel” that
argues for a waiver from the governor and Los
Angeles County public health officials. “At
some point, we need to be seen as separate
from the county,” Councilman Scot Nicol
said. “Otherwise, we are going to have this
same discussion in January.”
Under Governor Gavin Newsom’s new
blueprint, the ability of local restaurants and
bars, retailers, salons and gyms to resume
normal operations could take months longer
than expected. Members of the City Council
dislike the one-size-fits-all approach. This
eliminates the chance for any South Bay
city to reopen until the rest of Los Angeles
County registers similar improvement in
positive tests for new cases.
Mayor Drew Boyles believes the city and
its South Bay neighbors can make a stronger
case together. He will ask the South Bay
Council of Governments, which represents
15 cities and parts of the city and county
of Los Angeles, to lobby the governor, state
lawmakers and County Supervisor Janice
Hahn to grant waivers.
The latest infection-rate data for El Segundo
showed one death and 12 actively monitored
cases among the 16,654 residents. The state’s
and county’s infection rates just reached
their lowest levels in months, Fire Chief
Chris Donovan said Tuesday as he briefed
council members and community members
watching on Zoom.
According to Fire Chief Donovan, the data
from local, state and national testing sites
and public health agencies is on a “very
good trajectory,” “This is the lowest number
of deaths and new cases I’ve seen in a long
time,” he said, adding that the local community
has flattened the curve and reversed climbing
numbers of confirmed cases, hospitalizations
and deaths since July 13. Beaches were
closed for the July 4th weekend, and the
governor rolled back reopenings on July 13
as infection rates moved higher. Still, those
falling numbers aren’t nearly good enough
to move the needle fast enough to get El
Segundo’s business community out of the
dreaded purple zone, which indicates the
virus is widespread within a county.
Last Friday, the governor announced the
change in California’s formula for reopening
businesses and easing the restrictions
that forced local museums, theaters, camps
and sports leagues to cancel their summer
programs. The new formula uses four tiers
- ranging from widespread transmission to
minimal - to evaluate if a county is ready
to reopen. And, a county can only move up
one tier at a time every 21 days.
Los Angeles County will start from the
bottom, meaning it could take until January
for El Segundo to move from the mostrestrictive
tier (termed Widespread) to the
least-restrictive one (called Minimal). The
second tier is called Substantial, and the
third one Moderate. The county ranks at the
bottom for the number of cases per 100,000
people and the percentage of people who get
tested and are positive for the coronavirus.
Los Angeles County’s test-positivity rate
sits at 13.1 percent. It needs to fall below
seven for the state’s most populous county
to move up one tier, the fire chief explained.
Under the governor’s blueprint for a Safer
Economy, the number of new cases and
the positive-test rates for the county will
be evaluated weekly. Any increase in either
health metric would undo any gains made
and further delay L.A. County’s reopening
by 21 days.
Councilman Lance Giroux questioned why
the state uses a positive-test rate since the
current recommendations are that people
with symptoms or who’ve been in contact
with someone who’s tested positive should
See City Council, page 9