Hawthorne Press Tribune The Weekly Newspaper of Hawthorne Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - June 11, 2015 Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................4 Classifieds............................2 Community Briefs...............2 Film Review..........................2 Finance..................................5 Food.......................................8 Hawthorne Happenings....3 Legals................................ 6-7 Looking Up...........................4 Police Reports.....................3 Sports....................................5 Weekend Forecast Friday Partly Cloudy 79˚/63˚ Saturday Partly Cloudy 77˚/63˚ Sunday Partly Cloudy 79˚/61˚ Fit For Gold Scholarship Winner Sarah Ferguson, shown here with Inglewood Mayor James T Butts, received a $500 “Fit For Gold” scholarship from the South Bay Workforce Investment Board. Sarah, an excellent student, also worked and took classes at the local community college. Sarah will be attending UC Berkeley in the fall of 2015. Photo provided by SBWIB. Cyclists Meet Goal for Charity By Derrick Deane Usually when it comes to city council meetings, you think of the legislative process unfolding before your eyes as bills are introduced and voted on, debates are held and citizens voice their thoughts and concerns to council members. Tuesday’s city council meeting certainly had that, but the early focus centered on Pedal for Polio, a project that three Hawthorne High School seniors participated in. The charity event involves cyclists who journey 500 miles over 8 days to San Francisco all in hopes of raising $5,000 to prevent polio by immunizing 8,000 children in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. Jose Diego, Sebastian Gonzalez and Chris Rendon were spotlighted for participating in the event. “Senior year comes and I was thinking how can I give back to something that gave so much to me,” Diego said after a couple of years of being involved in various charity events through Hawthorne High School’s Interact Program. The trio not only met their goal of raising $5,000, but money continues to come in. As a result, there is the possibility that even more children will be able to get immunized. Contributions may still be made at www. gofundme.com/pedalforpolio. “Their fulfillment is going to be that they did this ride and they raised the money,” Pat Springer, president of the Hawthorne-LAXLennox Rotary Club said. “I feel like a proud mother because I’m around a group of people whose only mission in life is to help people.” The trio’s teacher and advisor, Huy Hong declined to attend the presentation, instead wanting the spotlight to shine on Diego and Gonzalez. Rendon was unable to attend due to work. “Mr. Hong is a teacher that opens up the walls of the classroom,” Springer said. “He is bringing life experiences to the children.” In recognition for their charity, each of the seniors was given a $50,000 college scholarship from the Rotary Club as well as certificate of appreciation from the city of Hawthorne. Diego will be attending UC Irvine to study biochemistry while Gonzalez will be heading to UC Berkeley to study physics. The continued beautification and development of the city was the next topic of discussion, as Street Stories representatives Nina Choe and Ric Abramson addressed the city council. “In general, what we’re interested in is the economic development side of making cities and how we start to match interest and beautification with the economics of small businesses,” Abramson said. The company provides remodeling and beautification services to small businesses who want to upgrade their curb appeal and to cities that want to create open walking spaces that attract people. “What we’re interested in is the story of Hawthorne,” Abramson said. “What is your vision? What do you want to see in your community and how urban design can complete the formula.” There is no set time or price for beautification projects. Abramson estimated that projects range from 4 to 12 months to complete and can cost businesses and cities between $20,000 to $200,000. “Hawthorne Boulevard is a great start,” councilmember Angie Reyes English said. “There’s a business component that I would ultimately like to see. There are businesses that want to thrive but they don’t how what to do or how to do it. They tap in to the Small Business Administration and that’s it. They don’t go any further.” English added that sometimes small businesses are limited to the kind of loans they can pull to grow their business or they don’t necessarily have a vision of what they want their company to be. English said that what was being offered by Street Stories was great, but that the decision ultimately comes down to outreach from the businesses that want to improve the curb appeal of their building. “Who is willing to think outside of the box to grow their business,” English said. “We need more of that, not just from the city, but through incentives that we pass in policy. I think at the end of the day, it’s a win-win.” Mayor Chris Brown added that Abramson and Choe should continue to work with Chris Palmer in the Economic Development Department and locate the businesses that have been in the city for five years of longer and see if they might be interested in upgrading their curb appeal. Brown added that the city would be bidding on adding Wi-Fi to businesses on Hawthorne Boulevard next month. Councilmember Alex Vargas said that the city once had a Redevelopment Fund to help businesses, but the state government raided their fund to help balance the state budget. “This all sounds nice,” Vargas said to Abramson, “but what we had to offer was taken away by the state.” Vargas then pressed for what kind of specific ideas and resources Street Stories was willing to provide Hawthorne. Abramson replied that the resources depended on the relationships that were forged between the business and Street Stories. “What we want to start with is identifying the landscape and seeing where the business community most needs the help,” Abramson said. “I don’t think there is one answer. Some businesses just need information while others need financial help. It is very much situational.” Speaking of financial matters, this week the council voted to approve $65,360 for the purchase of new police vehicles from Manhattan Beach Toyota as well as a fifth payment to Martinez Landscape for $123,024 for landscaping, weed abatement and general maintenance of the city. The meeting rounded out with Interim City Manager Arnold Shadbehr being formally appointed to the position. The council debated on an action item from Vargas to give Shadbehr authority to hire an independent auditor to figure out the status of the city’s reserve funds, following a report in The Daily Breeze that suggested that there was money missing from the city’s reserve. Shadbehr was given the authority and added that he would present a plan and early findings to the council at a meeting on Thursday at 6 p.m. The meeting will be open to the public. •
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