Hawthorne Press Tribune Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - October 13, 2016 South Bay Workforce Board Sponsors 50 Hawthorne High School Students Fifty students from Hawthorne High School’s School of Engineering, attended a special Shades of Blue E-Learning webcast, an interactive online presentation in conjunction with the Shades of Blue Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) educational initiatives, at the Bob Hope Patriotic Hall on Oct. 5. Pictured: Theodore Lupkin Jr., past President of the L.A. Chapter Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., and Clark W. Robinson, President, Chairman of TASF, pose along Hawthorne High School students and teachers. Photo provided by SBWIB City Council Puts a Halt on Prefential Parking Permits in Hawthorne Residential Areas By Derrick Deane Preferential parking in residential areas has become such a frequently requested ordinance amendment that the Hawthorne City Council decided it was time to put the halt on any future requests. The discussion Tuesday night was spurned by the latest request for preferential parking between 129th and 130th streets and Jefferson Avenue. “Many individuals have multiple cars within a family that are parking in the streets,” Mayor Alex Vargas said. “What we have here is a situation where not only are those people who live in the apartments having excess cars it’s also the residents who are parking all of their cars on the street when they could utilize the parking within their driveways.” Vargas says part of the issue comes from a large number of people moving into the city. He says the preferential parking that has been approved will only be a short-term solution to the parking issue. “A lot of people have to juggle cars and they’re trying to do the best they can to be responsible for those people who need to park on the street but unfortunately there are people who don’t make any effort to pull into their driveway,” Vargas said. “Everybody is parking on the street. I think the effort needs to be equally dispersed between those who live in apartments and those who have a house.” Mayor Pro Tem Angie Reyes English raised the question of whether the petitions to submit a preferential parking request to the City Council should require a higher number of signatures. “The reason I’m asking is because I know that time and time again, not all folks are aware that this is preferential parking and maybe they were not aware that in doing this you’re now required to register your vehicle with a preferential plate – a sticker, a plate card, or what have you,” English said. English said the issue becomes more complicated when you have visitors who require a temporary preferential designation in order to park on the street. “I just want to make sure that we solicited as much as possible, so that we don’t have folks that were not aware and possibly not interested in doing this,” English said. “I know this was mentioned as temporary however I want the community to understand what preferential parking means.” Interim City Manager Arnie Shadbehr addressed the concerns stating that the ordinance request requires two thirds majority. Before petition paperwork is handed out, the ordinance also states that residents are limited to three vehicles and the permit is ten dollars for a lifetime designation. “It is burdensome to city staff and to our parking enforcement,” Shadbehr said. “I’m bringing one of these [preferential parking requests] almost every council meeting. Parking is a commodity in the city and it’s really getting out of control. [Preferential parking] is a way to address the problem for people when they are coming home and they can’t find a place to park.” English expressed concern about the money and time that is required to monitor the preferential parking areas and the impact it has on the city. “There has to be a sense of reviewing exactly what we’re trying to do here,” English said, stating that the ten dollar fee seemed “lucrative” for the amount of time and work the city needs to put in to monitor the preferential parking areas. According to Shadbehr, the fee was established 20 years ago and “isn’t really paying for anything, it’s not even the paying for the permit that we print and publish.” “I think it is important that we bring this back and have further discussion,” English said who ultimately was the only councilmember to abstain for voting. “I have the same issue. I live here. I have to go through the same thing. If it wasn’t for my little carport, I would be screwed having to find parking elsewhere.” English requested that her council colleagues review the matter at a future meeting because the request for preferential parking is appearing on the meeting agenda “too frequently.” “If it’s not a speed bump, speed hump, preferential parking, or closed off to traffic, it goes on and on,” English said of the numerous residential parking and traffic requests that the council has had to vote on recently. “It’s at the expense of individual’s time and resources. I really think we need to take this back and review how we’re going about this.” Vargas added that, “the people who live in the community have spoken. They are having a problem with parking. And every single time we get these silly developments which ask for density bonuses or parking bonuses, they want less parking to build for their apartment complexes.” Councilwoman Olivia Valentine added that preferential parking is one of the issues that would be a part of her suggestion of a strategic planning conference. “What kind of city do we want to have? What are we looking for as far as parking, as far as traffic? We need to decide that as a council,” Valentine said. “This is all part of it because these things are done on an ad hoc basis. The residents on one street want it, then the residents on another want it and when a housing development is completed the residents near there will want it.” Valentine says that the council needs to decide what the city is going to do regarding parking and traffic and state it in a policy document and let the residents know. She adds that the council needs to listen to the residents in terms of what kind of city they want to live in. Vargas said that he shared English’s frustrations regarding the issue. “This is only a short term solution,” Vargas said. “I think after this, we’re going to refrain from accepting any more preferential parking until we come up with a strategic plan.” • Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................2 Classifieds............................3 Community Briefs...............2 Hawthorne Happenings....3 Legals................................ 6-7 Pets........................................8 Police Reports.....................3 Sports....................................5 Weekend Forecast Friday AM Clouds/ PM Sun 68˚/63˚ Saturday AM Clouds/ PM Sun 70˚/64˚ Sunday AM Clouds/ PM Sun 70˚/63˚ The Weekly Newspaper of Hawthorne
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