The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo Herald Publications - El Segundo, Torrance, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 105, No. 52 - December 15, 2016 Inside This Issue Best of the Best..................2 Certified & Licensed Professionals.....................19 Classifieds............................4 Crossword/Sudoku.............4 Film Review..........................7 Food.....................................21 Legals............................17-19 Pets......................................20 Real Estate................8-16,24 Sports.................................5,6 Weekend Forecast Friday AM Rain/ Wind 60˚/45˚ Saturday Sunny 57˚/44˚ Sunday Sunny 59˚/45˚ Candy Cane Lane Lights up El Segundo for the Holidays Opening night of Candy Cane Lane was Saturday, December 10 as huge crowds visited the 1200 block of Acacia Street to enjoy the breathtaking decorations and other festivities. Santa will continue to appear nightly through December 23 from 7 to 9 p.m. This house was decked out as Santa’s Airport. Photo by Marcy Dugan. • City Tries to Catch up with Long-Delayed Capital Projects By Brian Simon When compared with the previous several years, the City of El Segundo is now in considerably Goodbye to a Good Year, Hello to an Even Better One By Rob McCarthy If you’re hoping for a happy new year, 2017 won’t disappoint. Two weeks still remain of 2016, and it was a good year for people living in the South Bay. Unemployment continued to dip and the stock market is moving into record-high territory since the presidential election last month. It’s a cliché, but America’s business is business again with Republicans taking charge of the federal government starting on January 20. Because jobs are plentiful, salaries are rising and that makes people from the South Bay to Morro Bay to the Bay Area feel much more secure about the future. Consumer confidence is rising and you know what else is expected to rise next year? Disposable income—a.k.a. walking-around money--for making home improvements, getting the car repaired, or taking a trip. The U.S. dollar is strong against other currencies, which means a summer vacation to Europe or Mexico, South America or Southeast Asia will be cheaper and your money will go further in the summer of 2017. Some Americans will decide against traveling abroad because of global terrorism and attacks directed at Westerners, but moneywise it’ll be a bargain. Why is 2017 shaping up to be strong for the dollar, the nation and California’s economy? better financial shape—to the point that instead of scrambling to balance the budget, elected officials during the summer had the “good problem” of figuring out how to spend a surplus of $3.2 million. The windfall--thanks in large part to additional revenues from the transient occupancy tax increase passed by local voters in April that should continue to shore up the coffers in the future--allowed the City Council to focus on long-term strategic planning for the first time ever. Among the chief objectives laid out by the group was a commitment to develop quality infrastructure. Prior financial constraints forced the Council to delay funding numerous capital improvement projects, creating a sizable backlog in the process. In fact, the most recent list of to-do items featured more than 60 capital projects earmarked for the next five years with an overall price tag exceeding $50 million. Of that amount, about $18 million is not yet funded. Then again, the City has a decent head start with more than 60 percent of the projects in question already allocated via the general fund or other sources (water/sewer enterprise funds, grants, Prop C, gas tax, developer monies). In singling out infrastructure investment as a core goal, the Council—as noted in the 2016/17 strategic work plan--aims to “maintain El Segundo’s physical assets for the beauty, safety and function for the city and “improve and replace existing assets as appropriate for efficiency.” This will entail developing a citywide facility needs assessment and plan, staying on top of routine maintenance and repairs, implementing capital improvement projects, repairing/replacing park equipment and fixtures to meet safety standards and best practices, and enhancing tree trimming schedules to a four-year cycle to minimize risk. General fund projects that came through the pipeline in 2015/16 included a new roof for Fire Station 1 as well as for the Police Department building; seismic retrofit, apparatus bay doors and facility upgrades for Fire Station 1; fiber optic installation east of Sepulveda; annual sidewalk, curb and gutter repair; Richmond Street rehabilitation; catch basin insert program; and Police Department facility upgrades. Combined price tag: about $3 million. General fund projects for 2016/17 include arterial and local street rehabilitation; crosswalk lighting on Main Street; Police Department See City Coucil, page 6 See Good Year, page 4
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