Lawndale Tribune Inside This Issue Calendar...............................2 Classifieds............................3 Food.......................................4 Hawthorne Happenings....3 Legals............................. 2,6,7 Looking Up...........................3 Pets........................................5 Police Report.......................2 Politically Speaking............8 Sports....................................6 Student Perspective...........3 Weekend Forecast The Weekly Newspaper of Lawndale Late Mayor Harold E. Hofmann Remembered by South Bay Community Federal officials, including Congresswoman Maxine Waters who flew in from D.C., State Assemblyman Steven Bradford and numerous Council members from surrounding cities and approximately 600 citizens attended the patriotic memorial service for Mayor Harold E. Hofmann at Lawndale Community Center on Saturday, Nov. 23. City Council Tables Several Items at Juarez’ Last Meeting By Nancy Peters On Tuesday evening, Mayor Danny Juarez presided over the final Hawthorne City Council meeting of his two-year term, receiving appreciation from the City Clerk and his fellow dais occupants, with Mayor Pro-Tem Angie Reyes-English reserving her thank you for the next meeting when all newly elected officials will be sworn in. As the meeting began, the Council chamber was nearly filled with citizens interested to hear about the agenda item for a fee deferral, which had been characterized as a $1 million loan in a newspaper article (not in this newspaper), and offer their comments and protests. The fee deferral item garnered several comments during the oral communications portion of the meeting. When the item came up under the City Manager’s consent calendar, Juarez moved to separate the two items dealing with the fee deferral agreement between Affordable Housing Land Consultants, LLC, and the City of Hawthorne in order to query the City Planning Department Director and the applicant who was present. One of the commenters had referred to this agenda item’s agreement as another “Gold’s Gym deal,” which left the City with a bill of $2 million when a previous administration loaned the vendor money with no collateral. The Planning Director explained that State law allows for three concessions for a Density Bonus Housing Agreement and exempts a CEQA report for an applicant. The presentation of the deferral agreement, while not a requirement for approval by the City Council, was a courtesy as the Planning Director lawfully can approve such an agreement without Council approval, but that is not his intention--thus the request without a resolution. The fee deferral was tabled and sent back to the Planning Director to renegotiate the concessions, and any fee deferral is off the table as one of the three allowable concessions. The continuance of this item led to the next item being tabled as well and so the Density Bonus Housing Agreement did not receive a motion for a vote to approve. In other business, the Council tabled the second reading of the ordinance to amend the municipal code to give jurisdiction to the chair of a City Council to determine if a disruptive member of the gallery may be escorted from the meeting without a majority vote. The item was written as a code amendment to bring the City in compliance with a court case decision that granted a change in wording to the State code and has trickled down to many California cities complying. The Council objected to wording being removed that allows all to agree to remove a member of the public from a public meeting, requesting clarification and more information from the City Attorney. No objections were voiced when the ordinance was first introduced. An ordinance was introduced that could amend municipal code wording for any applications to hold events on City property with a requirement of an application a minimum of 90 days from the event date and full payment of all fees within 30 days of the event, with no exceptions and potential denial of all permits for non-compliance. The second reading will take place at the next Council meeting. Resolution 7578 was amended to include an amended Exhibit A to the resolution to include the Hawthorne Chamber of Commerce and the non-profit Hope is Helping, as the organization has been verified to not be a religious one. The amendment was approved with four affirmative votes and Juarez abstaining. Claudio Taniguchi, the City’s Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, reported on the incident that displaced 147 residents from their homes between September 12 and September 25 due to a leaking well that had a toxic mixture of water and methane gas and was a potentially lethal combination that could have caused an explosion or poisoning of the air. Golden State Water has taken full responsibility for the random incident that could not be predicted in any way. The vendor will reimburse the City for all costs associated with the incident in the amount of $208,000. The City arranged for all residents to be housed in local hotels and paid for all food during the time period, as well as incurring costs for the blow-out protector to capture the methane, cap the well, and completely shut off all methane gases from escaping in the future. Taniguchi was directed to distribute to the Council, in the form of a Legal Confidential document, his final draft of the Emergency Preparedness and Operations Procedure Manual by Friday, November 29. Saturday, December 7 from 4 to 5 p.m. at Civic Plaza, the Historical Society will host a Holiday Tree Lighting Event. The public is invited to attend and welcome Santa Claus. Mayor Juarez directed that a resolution be drawn up through a discussion action item under Reyes-English’s name for the first January meeting that will state a minimum time period for election candidates to remove all campaign signs throughout the community and avoid a daily fine, payable to the City, for those days beyond the minimum time. The naming of a pocket park at 118th Street was sent back to the Parks, Recreation and Fine Arts Commission as the Council is of the opinion that the name chosen – “118th Street Park”—sounds too gang-related. A suggestion box for naming the park will be installed at City Hall to accept public input. A special meeting of the City Council is scheduled for Wednesday, December 4 at 6 p.m. to appoint members to the Planning Commission. The next regularly scheduled Council meeting on Tuesday, December 10, will include the swearing-in of the newly elected Mayor Chris Brown and reelected members Reyes-English and Alex Vargas.. The meeting was adjourned in memory of Mayor Harold E. Hofmann of Lawndale, who died on November 16. • Friday Partly Cloudy 68˚/53˚ Saturday Sunny 69˚/53˚ Sunday Partly Cloudy 69˚/54˚ AND lAwNDAle News Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - November 28, 2013
Lawndale 11_28_13
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