Hawthorne Press Tribune
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 60, No. 41 - October 11, 2018
Inside
This Issue
Calendar of Events.............4
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................7
Classifieds............................4
Election 2018........................3
Entertainment......................2
Food.......................................5
Hawthorne Happenings....4
Legals.................................6,7
Pets........................................8
Weekend
Forecast
The Weekly Newspaper of Hawthorne
Detective Judd Honored by PD
Chief Robert Fager (far right in photo) presented Detective Sean Judd (in center of the photo) with the Police Employee of the Month award for his dedication to serving the city and the community.
Detective Judd has been with the department since 2006. He serves on the community improvement task force aiding the homeless. He also investigates street level narcotics and took part in an
investigation that resulted in a potentially very dangerous and volatile drug lab being dismantled that was located in a neighborhood home. Photo: City of Hawthorne.
Friday
Sunny
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Saturday
Partly
Cloudy
69˚/62˚
Sunday
Showers
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Hawthorne City Council Takes
Steps to Address Airport Noise
By Derrick Deane
After months of hearing complaints from
residents, the Hawthorne City Council took
its first steps toward addressing noise from
aircraft that uses the Hawthorne Municipal
Airport. The Council unanimously passed
Resolution 8030, which adopts a new
voluntary pilot guide and noise abatement
procedures; and Resolution 8031, which
will encourage the voluntary use of noise
reduction technology and procedures and
also mandate restrictions on hours of engine
run-up testing for maintenance.
“Basically the changes that we had to make
include revamping the entire document by
making it easier to read for pilots,” Interim
City Manager Arnie Shadbehr said of the
updates that were made to the original noise
abatement ordinances that the City of Hawthorne
already had on the books.
Runway 25 is the one heading west and
has 95 percent of the take-offs. Runway 7 is
the one heading east and sees 1 to 5 percent
of take-offs annually, according to Shadbehr.
“When they take off in the upwind direction,
and then they go crosswind and stay on top
of Hawthorne Boulevard and then in the
downwind direction, they go up El Segundo
Boulevard and back to base,” he said. “It is
recommended that they stay on top of the
golf course in order to reduce the noise and
they should maintain 1,100 feet of altitude.”
In addition to private helicopter companies,
Shadbehr said that the U.S. Coast Guard also
uses the airport. “They don’t even have to
give us courtesy call -- they are allowed to
come at any time they want and utilize our
airport,” he said. “They have been doing this,
it started 10 years ago. They are extremely
noisy and they come to use our airport for
practice.”
Shadbehr pointed out that flight schools
also use the airport as a base and circle
around it in the air during training sessions.
He went on to note that the new resolutions
were passed along to “airport users” on
Wednesday. “Hopefully we can get them
started with some training processes with
pilots in upcoming meetings,” Shadbehr said.
Councilwoman Olivia Valentine sought
clarification on why the new resolutions
were a voluntary process. “It’s voluntary
[because] once the airplane is up in the air,
they don’t listen to us -- they are governed
by the FAA rules and regulations,” Shadbehr
explained. “Unfortunately we cannot go and
cite the pilots, but we have had cases in the
past because we can go to flight tracking, we
can get the tail number and we can find the
pilot. We have had, in the past, communication
with these pilots that the residents are
complaining, so hopefully we can get their
attention more actively from now on.”
Shadbehr added that the private companies
that use the airport are aware of the measures
that the Council took with the new resolutions.
“We’re working with them and we have to
get their cooperation in establishing an airport
community network to meet regularly and
go over these issues,” he said. “These two
resolutions are not going to solve all of the
problems. This is just the beginning of it.”
Councilmember Angie Reyes English said,
“[The City has] come a long way in trying to
address the issues at hand in general. I think
for the most part we have done probably the
most than any of the other agencies and I say
that because oftentimes when you’re dealing
with federal governments, assembly districts,
senate districts, etcetera, that is where the
complaints should go in a sense. Because at
the end of the day, we know that Hawthorne
Airport resides in Hawthorne and it only
makes sense to complain to Hawthorne.”
English added, “I hope that residents realize
the work that we’re doing. I know that
complaints are complaints, but they also have
to understand how we’re doing due diligence
and addressing their concerns as well. I think
it’s important that a report gets to Congresswoman
[Maxine] Waters’ office, gets to State
Senator [Steve] Bradford’s office, gets to Assemblymember
[Autmn] Burke’s office, gets
to Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas’ office
– I say that because most of the residents
live in that area.”
English said that she appreciated the patience
from residents and the work that has been
put in by the City Manager’s office, noting
that it has been a long process in addressing
the issue. “We are going to pursue [these
resolutions] rigorously with them,” Shadbehr
said of the private companies that operate
out of Hawthorne Airport. “We want them
to train on a regular basis their pilots with
these guidelines -- because at the end of the
day, we want to be community-friendly and
they want to continue their business but we
should work together.”
Shadbehr said that Resolution 8031 would
“basically encourage pilots to equip their
aircraft with some sort of muffler or hush
kit that are available for different types of
airplanes.” •