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Hawthorne Press Tribune
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 61, No. 4 - January 24, 2019
Inside
This Issue
Calendar of Events.............3
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................6
Classifieds............................3
Entertainment......................2
Food.......................................5
Hawthorne Happenings....3
Lawndale..............................4
Legals............................. 4,6,7
Pets........................................8
Weekend
Forecast
Friday
Sunny
71˚/53˚
Saturday
Mostly
Cloudy
74˚/52˚
Sunday
Partly
Cloudy
69˚/54˚
The Weekly Newspaper of Hawthorne
Dana Drama Goes All Zombie
Congratulations to Mrs. Ableser and her after school drama students at Dana Middle School. They taught us all we needed to know about being a zombie… Photo: Dana Middle School.
Council Oks Valentine as Mayor
Pro Tem; Ishii as New Police Chief
By Derrick Deane
The first Hawthorne City Council meeting
for 2019 primarily consisted of reshuffling
committee assignments as well as confirming
Olivia Valentine as the new Mayor Pro Tem
and officially naming Michael Ishii as the new
Hawthorne Police Chief. Valentine takes over
for Councilmember Hadir Awad and will serve
as Mayor Alex Vargas’ alternate at committee
meetings for the duration of this year -- a
change from the previous two-year designation.
“I want to thank Hadir Awad for representing
me so well for meetings he’s attended in my
stead,” Vargas said before Valentine’s confirmation.
“He’s served the past couple of years and
has gone to the Sanitation District [meetings]
pretty much consistently for me since it’s in
the daytime and I do work and so he’s my
alternate and has been going faithfully to that.”
The vote to confirm Valentine for the Mayor
Pro Tem designation was unanimous. “Even
though we’ve had instances where councilmembers
have served two years in the past six
years, for whatever the dynamics were, I’ve
always strongly advocated for a one year so
that everybody gets an opportunity to serve,”
Vargas said of this recommendation to change
the duration of the position.
Vargas said that if former Councilmember
Nilo Michelin were still on the City Council,
he would have been the next person up to
serve the position. Michelin resigned from the
Council in December to take up his seat on
the El Camino College Board of Trustees – a
seat he won during last year’s election.
Once the year is over, Vargas said that
Councilmember Alex Monteiro will serve as
the Mayor Pro Tem in 2020; and if reelected,
Councilmember Mike Talleda, who is currently
serving out the remainder of Michelin’s term,
would be named to the position in 2021. “It
would rotate among seniority amongst the
councilmembers just to make it less political
so that everybody gets a chance to do the job,”
Vargas explained, adding that he would be
open to adopting an ordinance to clarify the
selection process in the years to come.
The Council unanimously voted for the Pro
Tem duration change as well as the appointment
of Michael Ishii to head the Hawthorne Police
Department. Ishii had been appointed Interim
Chief in 2018, succeeding Chief Robert Fager
who had served from 2010-2018. Ishii has been
with the Hawthorne Police Department since
1990, first as a reserve officer and later as a
full-time officer in 1992. He was promoted
to Captain in 2010 after nearly two decades
of experience in numerous law enforcement
fields including Field Training, Internal Affairs,
Patrol Bureau Watch Commander, and
Detective Bureau Commander.
Ishii has overseen both the Administration
and Operations divisions along with the City of
Hawthorne’s Information Technology Services
Bureau. During his time as Administrative and
Operations Captain, he helped transform the
department into a community policing-driven
culture and has led teams that implemented
nationally recognized social media programs,
innovative community policing programs, and
created the Safe Parks Initiative where security
cameras and free Wi-Fi were installed in all
of the major parks in Hawthorne.
In 2011, Ishii was part of the Hawthorne
Police Department teams that helped create
the national “Coffee with a Cop” program
that has gone on to become one of the most
successful community policing programs with
events held in all 50 states, 16 countries, and
in four languages.
Chief Ishii holds a Master of Science degree
from Cal State University Dominguez Hills in
Negotiations/Conflict Management and a Bachelor’s
degree from Cal State University Long
Beach in Communication Studies – Interpersonal
and Organizational Communication. He was
born in Japan, grew up on a U.S. Military base
near Tokyo and is fluent in Japanese. Ishii is
a member of the Los Angeles County Police
Chief’s Association and holds membership
within the International and California Police
Chiefs associations.
Following the confirmations for Valentine and
Ishii, the Council breezed through a backlog
of city services payment approvals and prior
meeting minutes.
There was one resolution, though, that the
Council tabled at the request of City Attorney
Russell Miyahara. The item would have authorized
City Manager Arnie Shadbehr to execute
a cooperative agreement between the cities of
Hawthorne and Gardena regarding paratransit
services for fiscal years 2016-2018 and approve
services for 2019 and 2020. According to an
executive summary posted by the City, there is
no additional fiscal impact to Hawthorne since
the funds are allocated through Proposition A
local transit monies. The cost is $266,000 each
year with a maximum obligation of $532,000
through 2020. That issue as well as several
others will be discussed as the Council ramps
up its agendas in the coming months.
Councilmember Monteiro stated that he has
been in discussions with waste management
officials and that a presentation would be forthcoming
regarding bulk waste and trash in the
city. He mentioned that one of the solutions
may include a town hall meeting.
Councilmember Talleda also stated that he
has a number of topics he plans to discuss in
the coming months, including issues he has
dealt with as a member of both the Veteran’s
Commission and the Planning Commission. •