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 - December 11, 2014 Cherish the Past; Embrace the Future A sign celebrating the Inglewood centennial (1908-2008) is placed in front of city hall. Photo by Osvin Suazo, ozzy.suazo@gmail.com. Lawndale City Council Approves Proposed Consolidated Disposal By Nancy Peters At the meeting of the Lawndale City Council, held on Monday, December 8, in lieu of the regular first Monday of each month meeting last week, not many items were agendized for consideration. A public hearing was held to examine the proposed increase in rates requested by Consolidated Disposal Services, Inc., for residential, commercial and multifamily rates for trash collection. The increase, an average of 3.1 percent for all collection/ recycling services, was requested in a proposal on September 24, 2014 by the vendor. There has not been an increase since the seven-year franchise agreement with Consolidated was put into effect on January 1, 2011. The increased rates are written in to the franchise agreement and are valid according to the contractual stipulations that increases for fuel, labor, and equipment costs are necessary for the Producer Price Index and Consumer Price Index that effect rates periodically. During the public hearing a codicil to the services provided was requested to include a pickup bin for medical waste for residential and multi-family customers to accommodate proper disposal of supplies for diabetics and others who require special medical supplies. The company representative commented that this accommodation is not currently part of the agreement, but can be written in and would be “absorbed” by the costs with the requested increase. Several requests were made that disposal of large items be advised to the vendor by the customer so that proper equipment is dispatched to the location; that recycling be sorted properly and disposed in the correct containers; and that those customers who will need a medical waste container advise Consolidate Disposal so that the proper equipment can be delivered. The City Council unanimously voted to accept the requested increase in rates for collection of solid waste from residential, commercial, and multi-family customers, effective January 1, 2015. On the consent calendar agenda, the City Council considered an approval of the agreement with CleanStreet for street sweeping services. The contract with this vendor has been in effect since 2001 and this is for another renewal of a three-year term. The agreement for weekly street sweeping services and debris diversion covers 56 miles of residential streets; twice weekly sweeping for business district streets, not including Hawthorne Boulevard; bi-weekly sweeping of medians and city parking lots; once a week services for all alleys; and five times a week along both sides of Hawthorne Boulevard. The total of 125 curb miles per week is $15,000 per month. Reference checks with the cities of Hawthorne, Manhattan Beach, and Culver City verified that CleanStreet continues to provide quality street sweeping services in those cities. The total of $180,000 per year for three years will be funded by the gas tax revenues of $183,000 per year. The new agreement was approved for CleanStreet to continue providing street sweeping services for the city of Lawndale. Hogan Park will be expanded and bids will be requested for the project plans and specifications as presented. Once bids are received, the City Council will witness the bid process and, if reasonable bids are received, make further recommendations to the staff about Hogan Park. The public was asked to advise the city as they see that storefronts are messy and dumpsters of stores that are placed in alleys and parking lots appear to be overflowing with debris. Code Enforcement will check out locations that are reported, write warnings and/or violations as deemed appropriate, and will be on the alert for repeat offenders. Likewise, if street lights are not working properly, citizens are asked to report these outages or any damage to light poles or wires to Southern California Edison. Each lightpole has a phone number to call to report issues to the energy vendor. The public safety report included an assault of a female victim and cell phone theft by two suspects who drove away in a vehicle, but a witness wrote down the license plate number, resulting in the arrest of the suspects. A deputy, responding to a call of a fight, saw two men sitting in a vehicle and approached to ask them if they had seen anything. The deputy asked that the driver exit the vehicle after strong odors were detected on the driver and in the vehicle. The suspect began assaulting the deputy and a backup team of deputies as they attempted to handcuff him. Refusing a field sobriety test and continuing to beat on the deputies, a Taser was necessary to finally subdue the suspect who admitted to heavily drinking and ingesting cocaine. An assault with a deadly weapon call resulted in the arrest of three males positively identified by the victim and the weapons recovered a short distance away. The Lawndale Wall of Distinction was discussed following a staff report of a formal process and program for those former citizens to be honored posthumously who demonstrated exceptional civic volunteerism during their lifetime serving the city of Lawndale. The south and west walls on the third floor of the Harold E. Hofmann Lawndale Community Center will be the designated location of the plaque(s) to be dedicated once a year when no less than two (2) and no more than four (4) deceased citizens who served the city will be named to the Wall of Distinction and enshrined on the plaque(s). The nominations will be filtered through the Historical Society (three members) and the Senior Citizens Advisory Committee (two members) who then will propose the names to the City Council for approval. The process and the program for the Wall of Distinction will continue to evolve as staff prepares ideas for plaques, wording on plaques, inclusion of photos or no photos, and how large each individual plaque will be on a larger perpetual plaque. Final designs will be approved by the City Council. The next meeting of the City Council will be held on Monday, January 5, 2015 at 6:30 p.m. • Inside This Issue Briefs.....................................5 Classifieds............................5 Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................2 Finance..................................7 Food.......................................4 Hawthorne Happenings....5 Legals................................ 6-7 Looking Up...........................2 Pets........................................8 Police Reports.....................5 Sports....................................3 Weekend Forecast Friday Rainy 62˚/50˚ Saturday Sunny 62˚/47˚ Sunday Partly Cloudy 64˚/51˚ The Weekly Newspaper of Hawthorne
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