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 25, 2015 Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................7 Classifieds............................2 Community Briefs...............2 Film Review..........................2 Finance..................................5 Food.......................................8 Hawthorne Happenings....3 Legals............................4, 6-7 Looking Up...........................4 Police Reports.....................3 Sports....................................5 Weekend Forecast Friday Partly Cloudy 79˚/63˚ Saturday Partly Cloudy 79˚/64˚ Sunday Partly Cloudy 81˚/64˚ Officers Keep Special Olympics Torch Burning The Special Olympics Torch was run on Hawthorne Boulevard on Friday, June 12, sponsored by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The torch bearer is Bruce McCall, a coach in the Sheriff’s Department Explorer’s Program. Photo Credit: Lt. John E. Hocking, LA County Sheriff’s Department. Water Regulations and Finance Focus of Council By Derrick Deane New water conservation regulations and the continuing financial issues were the main focus of the City Council meeting this past Tuesday. Before declaring a stage two resolution, the council discussed at great length what exactly would change with the upgrade in water conservation requirements. The measure was originally adopted in October 2014, but new restrictions were added by executive order from Governor Jerry Brown. First off, irrigation of residential and commercial landscapes is now only permitted during certain hours – before 8 a.m. and after 6 p.m. No irrigation is allowed during day time hours. Additionally, houses with even numbers will only be allowed to water on Saturdays and Tuesdays while odd numbered addresses will be allowed to irrigate on Sundays and Wednesdays. Other changes include residents without sprinkler systems must now have a hose with a shut off nozzle. “We also have other restrictions that affect the city as a public agency,” city manager Arnold Shadbehr said. “Irrigation of ornamental turf in public streets and medians is prohibited. In that regard, we have done our homework over the past several years by connecting to reclaimed water and we had one location on Rosecrans Avenue that we replaced with artificial turf.” Other changes will include a monthly water budget for residents based on how much water was used in 2013 with the state mandated reduction factored in. If residents exceed their budget, they will receive a notice. Violators will receive two notices of exceeding their monthly water budget before fines, lowering of water pressure and ultimately water shut off occurs. “You will be receiving this budget very soon on your water bill,” Shadbehr said. “If there is a lack of compliance after two notices, we’ll start fining. The fines come in two ways - the violation of the city codes and then water companies also have their own set of codes that they can impose through the Public Utility Commission and the State Department of Water Resources.” Shadbehr says that if the city is not in compliance with the new restrictions, they will be fined $20,000 a day by the state, so they are very serious about imposing these new restrictions. “Most of these restriction notices will be coming from the water company, but we’re also posting them on our website and our cable channel,” Shadbehr said. Shadbehr says that the state mandate called for a 20 percent reduction in water use, but that number varies per capita. He says that for Hawthrone, that number was actually more like 16 percent of previous water usage numbers. “The budget that is assigned to each customer is based on their 2013 consumption, but 16 percent less,” Shadbehr said. It’s not all bad news though. Customers who converse and are below their budgeted water use will get a credit for their conservation efforts on their water bills. The conversation then turned to artificial lawns with Shadbehr stating that information was posted on the city’s website about an incentive program for residents who decide to install one in their yard. It takes some work to find it, but the information can be obtained by going to the Hawthorne city website, hovering over the Community option in the menu and then selecting “Resources For Residents” in the submenu. Once the new page opens up, click on the Golden State Water link, hover over their “Drought & Conservation” menu option and then select “Conservation Rebates & Programs” option. Residents can then enter in the city of Hawthorne and read all the conservation incentives available. In terms of turf rebates, residents will get $2 per square foot for artificial residential turf that is installed. Mayor Chris Brown added that the company Turf Terminators will replace residential lawns for free because the company is paid by the state to perform installations. “It takes one or two days to complete and it will save you about $2,200 a year in water,” Brown said. While the mayor and council members were being helpful when it came to water conservation, many of the residents who came up to the podium to address them were concerned about recent revelations from a special meeting on June 11. In that meeting, Finance Director Rickey Manbahal admitted to misleading officials about the city’s budget. Manbahal confirmed that, from the direction of former city manager Michael Goodson, he had used millions of dollars in reserve funds to plug huge budget gaps in the city’s fund. “It’s amazing what can happen when people don’t pay attention,” David Dinnel, a real estate agent and resident, said while also referring to structural deficits in the Centinela Valley School District budget. “I want to relate that to the city of Hawthorne,” Dinnel continued. “I just hope you guys pay attention to what is going on. You could be given bad information, but when that happens, you guys had that emergency meeting and I think [Manbahal] just embarrassed you by giving you information about false surpluses. If that’s the case, I’m surprised that you didn’t vote to get rid of him. I’m concerned from what I’m hearing from other cities about what is going on around here and I hope you guys do what is right for your neighborhoods.” Other residents were more straight-forward when they took to the podium to express their disgust in the lack of leadership and called for change. Mayor Brown is seeking re-election in November while Angie Reyes-English and Alex Vargas are also vying for the mayor’s seat. “I want you people in Hawthorne to take a good look at them because they’re going to be running again for their seats,” 97-year-old Francis Stiglich, a former city council candidate said. “I’ve seen it so many times and I might run again. It’s not that I want to get in, it’s that I want to get some of these people out because they’re not helping us.”•
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