The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Torrance, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 106, No. 50 - December 14, 2017
Inside
This Issue
Best of the Best................17
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.....................16
Classifieds............................4
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Film Review..........................6
Legals..................................15
Pets......................................18
Police Briefs........................3
Real Estate.........10-13,19,20
Sports.............................. 5,16
Weekend
Forecast
Friday
Sunny
75˚/62˚
Saturday
Partly
Cloudy
73˚/61˚
Sunday
Sunny
72˚/61˚
A Cool Candy Cane Kick-Off
Last Saturday’s opening night at Candy Cane Lane was a resounding success as residents of the 1200 block of East Acacia lit up their homes to usher in one of El Segundo’s most popular annual traditions.
The photo above showcases a gingerbread house with all the fixings. Photo by Marcy Dugan.
Could El Segundo See Housing
East of Sepulveda? Stay Tuned…
By Brian Simon
Before his retirement last year, former El
Segundo Police Chief Mitch Tavera saw the
writing on the wall. “I believe we will see highdensity
School Board Chooses President,
Hears State of the School Address
By Duane Plank
The only meeting of the El Segundo
School Board in December featured the
state of the school address from El Segundo
High School, helmed by first-year
Principal Jennifer Tedford. It also included
selection of the new Board President.
As winter break looms, with the twoplus
week hiatus commencing when the
final dismissal bells resonate in the El
Segundo Unified School District hallways
this Friday afternoon, Tedford and
her team of presenters took turns at the
podium, detailing different facets of the
learning taking place inside and outside
of the walls of the Main Street campus.
Like most school-related presentations
in 2017, the Board members were regaled
with a dive into the weeds--and datadriven
facts--backed by “edu-jargon” and
numerous acronyms for the programs in
place at El Segundo High.
The bottom line is that the students,
teachers and administrators are embarking
on a pathway to prepare for 21st Century
success and are successfully heading in
the direction of realizing the school’s
mission of “providing students with the
necessary skills and knowledge to become
life-long learners, effective communicators
and socially productive citizens who are
prepared for life choices and challenges
in a global society.”
residential housing east of Sepulveda
eventually,” he said during a City Council
meeting, while also predicting the need to build
a department substation to handle the influx of
newcomers as well as continued commercial
growth in that part of El Segundo.
The topic of residential units east of Sepulveda
Boulevard was arguably once as taboo as
parking meters in town, but discussion about the
possibility is beginning. As part of its strategic
and forward planning directive from the City
Council, the Economic Development Advisory
Council (EDAC) over the coming months intends
to study the role that housing plays in
El Segundo’s overall economic development
objectives. The group will report back to the
City Council early next year.
EDAC’s balanced development and housing
study is a top priority under its strategic and
forward planning initiative—one of four major
criteria developed a few months ago and approved
by the City Council. The others include hospitality
and tourism, business retention and
expansion, and new business attraction. “We are
moving at a reasonable pace in the research,”
EDAC Chair Al Keahi reported. “This will entail
a very comprehensive review to look at every
aspect---the applicability and need to update
the City’s General Plan, how housing east of
Sepulveda will benefit and impact the City.
EDAC will examine benefits and impacts such
as City services like police and fire, schools,
property taxes and municipal revenues, and
jobs creation and retention.”
EDAC will also look at the kinds of housing
product that are feasible and appropriate
in El Segundo, where those might be built,
the number of units, and how the developer
might compensate the City. Keahi added that
the group strongly recommended and endorsed
efforts now underway to update the General
Plan. “This is aided in part by a $300,000
MTA [Metropolitan Transit Authority] grant
that the City is currently competing for, as
well as a special fee that has been added to
new development projects for the past several
years for the specific purpose of funding the
General Plan update,” he said.
Early indications are that MTA will award El
Segundo the grant, according to City Manager
Greg Carpenter. The monies will be specifically
earmarked for a study on land uses such as
live/work spaces in close proximity to the east
side Metro stations. “The scope that I would
like to see is not just compatibility, but also
the real financial impact of the various land
uses,” Carpenter said.
While none of the El Segundo City Council
members have declared an official position
on residential housing east of Sepulveda, the
issue recently sparked debate on who should
See Housing, page 16
See School Board, page 15