Lawndale Tribune AND lAwNDAle News The Weekly Newspaper of Lawndale Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - October 23, 2014 Students Celebrate “A Year to Remember” Students from Century Community Charter perform at The Music Center’s 36th Annual Very Special Arts Festival. Students participating in the festival worked hard from the start of the school year to prepare for their involvement. They created a performance or submitted artwork around the festival theme, “A Year to Remember.” The free festival welcomed more than 2,000 K-12 students with disabilities and their mainstream peers from all over Los Angeles County to share their artistic achievements in both visual and performing arts. Photo credit: The Music Center Inside This Issue Briefs..................................3,5 Calendar...............................3 Classifieds............................5 Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................4 Finance..................................6 Food.....................................12 Hawthorne Happenings....3 Legals......................5,8,10-11 Letters...................................9 Looking Up.........................11 Pets........................................7 Police Reports.....................3 Politically Speaking............9 Seniors..................................4 Sports....................................6 Weekend Forecast Friday Partly Cloudy 77˚/62˚ Saturday Partly Cloudy 75˚/59˚ Sunday Mostly Sunny 70˚/58˚ Lawndale Council Packs Out City Council Chambers For Non-Agenda Topic By Nancy Peters The Lawndale City Council met as usual on the third Monday, October 20, with an agenda that potentially was to be noncontroversial, until the Council Chambers began to fill up with citizens who then were disruptive to the proceedings despite the instruction from Mayor Robert Pullen- Miles. The citizenry were present to protest what was described by some of those who spoke during the Public Communications portion of the meeting about the “firing” of an employee who worked at the Lawndale Community Center each day and interacted with the senior citizens during their activities. The speakers questioned the dismissal, asking for an explanation and for the re-hiring of that person. The mayor then requested that the City Attorney Tiffany Israel comment on the matter. The meeting gallery was told that the employee resigned and was not “fired” by the city of Lawndale, but also advised that the former employee was entitled to privacy about the matter and there would be no further comment by the City Council. The citizens were asked to not clap for each public speaker or to yell out during the proceedings, cheering or booing for comments made at the podium. However, the attendees continued with applause when a speaker concluded remarks and to ignore the calm request by the mayor. When the majority of the audience left the Council Chambers they did so during the Consent Calendar voting and were very boisterous as they exited the chambers, lingering in the lobby of City Hall and on the outside steps, continuing to discuss the topic for which they all were in attendance. The City Council unanimously approved all items on the Consent Calendar agenda, including the contract services agreement with Data Ticket to process and accept payment for traffic tickets issued; a contract with Time Warner Communications for improved, dedicated internet access and Ethernet services between City Hall and the Metro City Yard connectivity; and to accept the bid from Malibu Pacific Tennis Courts as the contractor for playground equipment to be replaced at William Green Park’s playground. Measure R funding was approved as requested by the South Bay Cities Council of Governments Board of Directors, as well as for the Inglewood Avenue Widening Project at a cost of $1,019,000 and extends the use of the Measure R funds for the project through June 2015. Street improvements on 156th Street, 153rd Place, and Rixford Avenue were approved for a bid from Kalban, Inc., in the amount of $359,625.51 with a 10 percent contingency as well. Signage at the intersection of Manhattan Beach Boulevard and Hawthorne Boulevard will be inspected and directional views of the street signs will be corrected so each street is identified for the true street name. A resolution was approved confirming the Conflict of Interest policy for the deletion of the Deputy City Manager position and the addition of the Director of Community Development to the list of designated employees of the city of Lawndale. The public safety report included the apprehension of suspects who were involved in a strong-arm robbery of a female victim from whom they stole her cell phone by force. The suspects were arrested and booked. Four suspects were arrested and booked for an attempted murder charge after a victim was shot on October 7 in the 4100 block of 160th Street. In addition, citizens should be aware of a scam being perpetrated in Los Angeles County whereby suspects are contacting individuals, pretending to be members of the Sheriff’s Department, accusing the victim of missing jury duty and requesting a fine be paid and that payment be sent via wire transfer or the purchase of a gift card. Citizens should know that the Sheriff’s Department will not contact anyone by telephone to collect a fine or contact citizens by telephone for any reason. Election Day is Tuesday, November 4 and citizens are encouraged to cast their ballot, either in person on that day or by Absentee ballot prior to Election Day. It is not a local election, but is a state and federal election for members of Congress, state propositions, and governor. The next meeting of the City Council will be held on Monday, November 3 at 6:30 p.m. •
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