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 - July 10, 2014 District 37 Senior Little League All-Stars Take Championship Lennox came from behind to top Tri Park 11-9 for the District 37 Senior Little League All-Star championship last Saturday at Jim Thorpe Park in Hawthorne. Lennox is playing in the Section 4 Tournament at Marine Park in Manhattan Beach this week. Photo by Joe Snyder. By Nancy Peters The Hawthorne City Council started their meeting on Tuesday evening with a full dais, including Mayor Chris Brown. Brown opened the meeting and took two agenda items out of order. Since the mayor is the chairman of the meeting, he may conduct the meeting in any way he so deems, as long as it is within the accepted meeting guidelines and does not violate any rules and regulations that govern government meetings. The first announcement the mayor made was that item 18 on the agenda would be “pulled” from the agenda and no motion or vote would be taken on the previously discussed requested resolution for a ballot measure in November regarding gaming and casinos/card clubs within the city limits. Mayor Brown pulling this item from the agenda did not preclude any citizen from expressing their opinion on the topic of casinos/card clubs during oral communications. However, Council member Alex Vargas took exception to the mayor’s action of removing the item and addressed the gallery and not the dais, saying that the removal was a ploy and this item needed to have a motion made and a vote taken by the City Council tonight. The councilman pointed out that there was no way the city could vote for casinos/card clubs and supersede the state law that says no new gaming in the state until 2020. He also noted that the city would be open to more crime, not the same number of jobs the mayor has touted, and it would take 10 years before the city would realize any revenues. That motion was not made and no vote was taken, although many citizens addressed the topic in the public forum. The citizens criticized the fact that the mayor left the dais less than 45 minutes into the meeting call-to-order and was not present for oral communications. Unfortunately, the words “recall” and “not caring” about the city were used in speaking of the mayor. Before the meeting concluded, Mayor Pro-Tem Olivia Valentine and Councilmember Angie Reyes-English spoke to the fact that the mayor and all elected officials are due respect from each other and the public at large. Each of them mentioned that the mayor is doing his best to find ways to improve the economic development of Hawthorne. Reyes-English noted that it is disrespectful to impugn the mayor’s motives and make any accusations that question his integrity. She also addressed the public in saying that the City Council does not engage the public while on the dais and the order of business is not to have an interchange between the public and the dais. In addition, there is no tolerance for interruption of the City Council while they are discussing topics and there is no tolerance of yelling out from the gallery or clapping. Oral communications is scheduled for each meeting and all comments are to be made by the public at that time from the podium. The second topic taken out of order before Mayor Brown left the meeting was a requested resolution to adopt a program for businesses to be retained in Hawthorne and an incentive program for new businesses to open in the city. This item was continued to the meeting of July 22. In addition, the public hearings were held on the topics of temporary signage regulations during the holiday season, and two vacations of a portion of Yukon Avenue and Acacia Avenue in order for the properties. These two properties are adjacent to the 105 Freeway and are inaccessible by the public or any vehicles. Vacating these lots of land would return them to the tax rolls and allow for collection of property taxes. The public hearings for these two property vacations will remain open into the meeting of July 22 for additional public hearings to be held at that time before any motion to adopt any resolutions. A budget workshop has been scheduled for Tuesday, July 22 at 4 p.m. in order for the City Council and staff to review the budget. No vote is scheduled for the new budget to be approved until the budget review has been completed. A few announcements were made about the closure of Century Boulevard at Aviation Boulevard from July 25-July 28 in order for the bridge to LAX to be demolished. The public is advised to avoid that area during these dates as there will be road closures of surrounding streets and many delays. The next meeting of the City Council will be held on Tuesday, July 22 at 6 p.m. • “In addition, there is no tolerance for interruption of the City Council while they are discussing topics and there is no tolerance of yelling out from the Inside This Issue Calendar...............................3 Classifieds............................3 Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................4 Hawthorne Happenings....3 Food.......................................5 Legals............................2, 6-7 Police Reports.....................4 Sports....................................8 gallery Weekend or clapping.” Forecast Friday Sunny 77˚/65˚ Saturday AM Clouds/ PM Sun 79˚/67˚ Sunday AM Clouds/ PM Sun 83˚/69˚ Hawthorne Citizens Speak Out Against Mayor Brown Traffic Update on Hawthorne Boulevard Improvement Project The week of July 7 through July 11, Hawthorne Boulevard #1 lane will be closed north and south bound from Rosecrans Avenue to 136th Street. The center median between 137th Street and 136th Street will be closed and cause lane # to be affected by closure intermittently. The closure of Rosecrans Avenue at Hawthorne Boulevard in the east bound curb lane may extend into midweek. •
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