The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 109, No. 37 - September 10, 2020
Inside
This Issue
ABC Doc...............................2
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................8
Classifieds............................4
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Entertainment......................5
Legals....................................9
Obituaries.............................3
Police Reports.....................2
Real Estate............ 6-8,10-12
Weekend
Forecast
El Segundo Run For Education
Goes Virtual This Year
ESUSD Board of Education Vice President Tracey Miller-Zarneke and her husband Mike brought their dogs along on their virtual El Segundo Run For Education. Photo courtesy El Segundo Unified School District.
Attention Shifts to the Future of
Downtown El Segundo
By Rob McCarthy
past Labor Day. However, nothing has been
The vision for giving El Segundo’s downtown
decided yet on how long the relaxed rules on
shopping and dining corridor an update with
open-air dining will last.
amenities and a redesign is alive and well.
Retailers, too, were permitted to move some
While the city continues to assist the retailers
of their merchandise outdoors - including into
and restaurants curtailed by the coronavirus
adjacent parking lots - because of the county’s
public-health order, officials have begun talking
social-distancing order and restrictions on the
about the future of the downtown and Civic
number of customers who can be inside a
Center once Los Angeles County puts the
business at one time.
emergency behind it.
One of the guiding principles in the
The downtown revitalization concept is
modernization of downtown will be more
now 20 years old, having stalled through two
flexibility for the businesses, according to the
full-blown recessions and numerous changes
preliminary plans presented at last week’s
in leadership at City Hall. Still, the goal of
Council meeting. Because of the Downtown
protecting the downtown while modernizing
Plan’s 20-year gap, an update is needed before
parts of it - including the Civic Plaza - never
a consultant with experience in downtown
dropped off El Segundo’s radar. Now, Scott
redevelopment can be hired, Lee said.
Mitnik, City Manager, and Council are talking
“Downtown hasn’t seen a significant new
about starting the process to be ready when
project in some time,” Lee said, adding that
COVID-19 is over, and the economy reopens.
The upgrades to the downtown would build
on its best features, according to Planning
Director Sam Lee. That’s in keeping with the
original intent to preserve the downtown’s history
and character. That document, known as the
Downtown Specific Plan, listed a number of
improvements and changes that were considered
important even back in 2000. Reversing the
decline in retail business sat near the top of
the list, along with making the downtown more
walkable and encouraging outdoor dining, with
the street closure of Richmond Street to allow
restaurants to place tables and chairs on the
street, that already happened this year out of
necessity. El Segundo appears willing to extend
outdoor dining privileges to local restaurants
some progress has been made on the original
goals of the Downtown Plan over the past two
decades. Those include hosting more public
events and creating more housing to generate
more foot traffic and easy access for neighbors
to restaurants, bars and shops
What’s being called a “reimagining of the
downtown” also includes a fresh look at the
Civic Plaza at 350 Main Street, in the heart
of downtown. City Hall shares the property
with the Police and Fire Departments. The
new blueprint for the area could be ready for
the Planning Commission review and public
comment by the end of 2022. The city manager
left open the possibility that some city operations
could be moved if that’s the consensus of the
consultants, residents and the City Council in
two years or more.
See Downtown, page 5
Outdoor dining in the downtown was first proposed in 2000. Photo credit: El Segundo Chamber of Commerce
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