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 28, 2018
Inside
This Issue
Calendar of Events.............3
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................7
Classifieds............................3
Entertainment......................2
Finance..................................7
Food.......................................5
Hawthorne Happenings....3
Lawndale..............................4
Legals............................. 4,6,7
Pets........................................8
Weekend
Forecast
Norb Huber Gets His Own Way
Norb Huber received a proclamation this month for his years of service, leadership and dedication to the City of Hawthorne. Norb has been a Hawthorne resident for 38 years and was elected as
City Clerk in 2009. He and his wife will be retiring to Northern California to be near his children and grandchildren. Photo: City of Hawthorne. •
Planning Commission OKs Move
of Hawthorne Police Tow Service
By Derrick Deane
The Hawthorne Planning Commission voted
unanimously in its most recent meeting to
allow the relocation of an impound, towing
and storage facility into an industrialized
area of the city. Senior Planner Chris Palmer
introduced the moving plans for the company
to 13633 Crenshaw Boulevard. “The property
is zoned light industrial and it’s on Crenshaw
between 135th and 139th Street and it is an
existing 21,971-square foot brick-clad building
surrounded generally by warehouses with
the exception of a trailer park to the south,”
he said.
Palmer noted that the building meets the
current standards set by the Hawthorne Municipal
Code and includes landscaping in the
front, 24 parking spaces, and all activities to
be conducted within the building. A total of
11 employees will work at the facility. “It’s a
24/7 operation,” he said. “We’re going to have
what we’re calling ‘Good Neighbor Hours.’”
From 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., all activity will
be conducted within the building. After 7
p.m., all tow trucks must be brought inside
the facility with the doors closed so that the
sound of trucks that are lowering vehicles
won’t disturb neighbors in the trailer park.
“We’re going to ensure that after 7 p.m., all
the trucks are pulled all the way inside, the
door is closed, and signs are posted in the
appropriate places,” Palmer said.
In order to minimize noise impact to the
adjacent trailer park, Palmer said that the
operation will not perform maintenance
outdoors, not honk horns, use sirens, or use
loudspeakers or amplified sounds outdoors.
However, by law, the facility is obligated to
host an auction for cars that are not claimed.
The auction takes place on Thursday afternoons
for about a half hour, with the exception of
any holidays that may fall on that weekday
such as Thanksgiving. The auction usually
begins around 2 p.m.
While the company is in agreement with all
standards that have been set forth, the Planning
Commission allowed for the noise exception
during the stated time on Thursdays. “It’s
only when there are unclaimed cars,” Palmer
said in pointing out that on some Thursdays
there may not be any auctions at the facility.
Palmer added that on Thursdays when an
auction takes place, the auctioneer will use
a microphone with two amplified speakers in
the outdoor area of the facility. “Two o’clock
in the afternoon is pretty reasonable,” Planning
Commission Chair Mike Talleda said.
“Of course, if the neighbors start to complain
then we would have to amend it.”
Palmer also stated, “Ultimately it is an
industrial zone and is designed for this type
of use and [the applicant] is already a good
neighbor and I’ve already mailed out notices
for the area.”
Raj Dhillon, the owner of U.S. Tow,
added that he has been in the towing business
since 2006. U.S. Tow is the official
towing partner of the Hawthorne Police Department.
The current location is on 12710
Cerise Ave.
“Things have changed in Hawthorne.
Hawthorne has really been growing and the
reason for our move is that our rent doubled,”
Dhillon explained. “It’s just the economics of
the situation.”
Dhillon said that when they found the
new location, it was “perfect for what we
do and we would abide by [the guidelines]
anyway. We’re a police impound, a jail for
cars -- and closing that door for us makes a
lot of sense. This time we have a roof over
our head. Before, we didn’t. That’s the only
difference. I’m very happy we got to stay Friday
Partly
Cloudy
71˚/63˚
Saturday
Partly
Cloudy
70˚/62˚
Sunday
Partly
Cloudy
70˚/63˚
See Planning Commission, page 3
Johnstone Attends Final Regular
Wiseburn School Board Meeting
By Duane Plank
Two days and counting until Dr. Tom
Johnstone, long-time Superintendent of the
Wiseburn Unified School District (WUSD),
heads off into retirement. While most retirees
are aware of the date of their last official
day on the job, Johnstone, courtesy of a
retirement countdown clock that was gifted
to him by a WUSD food services employee
more than two years ago, has been noting
his countdown date for a while.
Johnstone noted that he originally planned
to say goodbye last year, but decided to
stay on until the Wiseburn High School
opened. “I wanted to work here in this [new]
building for a while,” he said. Meanwhile,
he attended his final official School Board
meeting Tuesday evening. He will also be in
attendance Friday morning when the Board
is scheduled to okay the District’s 2018/19
budget at a brief gathering. Johnstone was
selected, for the first time in 10 years, he
said, to lead the assembled members and
audience in the Pledge of Allegiance to
kick off the meeting’s open session.
Dr. Blake Silvers, who had been serving
as Dana Middle School’s principal, becomes
superintendent upon Johnstone’s retirement.
Silvers, in his comments Tuesday evening,
noted how Johnstone is a man who doesn’t
take no for an answer when it involved
the welfare of the WUSD. “There’s always
a reason not to do something,” Silvers
See Wiseburn, page 5