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 - February 11, 2016 Lawndale High School Falls in Overtime Lawndale High’s Aaron Estrada gets past Santa Monica High School defenders in last week’s Ocean League boys’ soccer action. The Vikings outlasted the Cardinals 3-2 in overtime. Photo by Joe Snyder Valentine Selected For Hawthorne Seat, English Named Mayor Pro Tem as Council Moves Forward By Derrick Deane Vargas’ idea of each council member naming After more than a month of struggling to their top two candidates. The common come to a decision on who would occupy denominator from that process was Valentine. their vacated seat, the Hawthorne City Council While Michelin objected to the idea of took bold steps to avoid a special election introducing a new process “mid-stream,” this summer. he ultimately came around and participated. Former Mayor Pro Tem Olivia Valentine Michelin was the one member who did not was chosen by a 3-1 vote to occupy the select Valentine for the vacant seat stating that empty seat which was vacated when Alex she had voted on the previous city budgets that Vargas defeated former mayor Chris Brown has since caused the city much financial strain. in November’s election. Meanwhile, Valentine, who finished fourth It wasn’t smooth sailing in the early going in the general election last November behind though. The council convened for a special candidate Katrina Manning, said that she meeting last Thursday in hopes of filling the was grateful for the opportunity to rejoin seat. Following the same eight-round format the council. that they had implemented since the process “I want to thank my council colleagues began, the council members breezed through for having faith in me,” Valentine said after five rounds of nominations before Vargas paused she had taken her seat with the rest of the the process to offer an alternate solution. council. “I want to see us work together in “It’s not working and we’re not focusing in a unified way. I want to see us bring the on a candidate here,” Vargas said after the fifth council together, bring the city together and round of nominations. “My proposal is that move Hawthorne forward. No more of the we seriously look at our top two candidates in-fighting, no more of the factionalism, let’s and we’ll look to see if there is a common move the city forward.” denominator amongst the four of us.” Vargas took a moment to address the Councilman Nilo Michelin was the only numerous residents who had come before council member who expressed reservations the council and stated that they wished for about the change in the nomination process. the council to honor the election results and “You were the one who wanted to do it in place the third highest vote getter, Katrina this order and to change it midstream would Manning, into the vacant seat. be a little unorthodox,” Michelin said. “Let’s “The City Council converged about a month play out this process. I think it’s a great idea ago to discuss a procedure. We are in full and let’s entertain it for Friday.” compliance. This is a decision that has been Had the Council not come to a majority given to the council body to fill the seat, not decision by the end of Thursday’s meeting, the residents,” Vargas said. “The residents they would have been forced to meet again the voted for two positions. If they had voted next day to avoid a special election. Fortunately for a third position, as a contingency, people for the city, it didn’t come to that. might have viewed that election different.” After completing the eight rounds of futilely With the candidate selection process nominating candidates, the council moved to behind them, the council met prior to their regularly scheduled Tuesday meeting to name Councilwoman Angie Reyes English as the new Mayor Pro Tem. Vargas put forth the nomination which was seconded by Valentine. Michelin was not in attendance during the vote, which was unanimous. Vargas and English took time to tout the new futsal fields that were funded by Chevrolet, the L.A. Galaxy, and Manchester United. “Evidence of the city of Hawthorne turning in a different direction immediately after this council was seated was the futsal field. Chevrolet invested a lot of money to the project,” Vargas said. The mayor also took a moment to tout Space X and the growth of the company as they finished construction and opened up a new parking structure on Crenshaw Blvd. “That’s a big deal,” Vargas said. “That just tells us how much Space X has grown and how much they have invested in our community and decided to stay here because the city of Hawthorne has been business friendly.” Speaking of being business friendly, bringing revenue into the city is going to be a key facet in turning the financial situation around and in his closing statements, Vargas touted that businesses were coming to Hawthorne. He cited a Starbucks and a Blaze Pizza that were opening up soon in the city and teased that there were many more announcements to come. “It’s not business as usual. Today’s meeting is evidence of that. We came here to do business, not to bicker or go after each other, that’s the old ways,” Vargas said. “Pretty soon you’ll see more than the Starbucks and the Blaze Pizza coming up, and that will assure you that we’re going in the right direction.” • Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................2 Classifieds............................3 Food.......................................5 Hawthorne Happenings....3 Legals............................... 4, 7 Looking Up...........................2 Pets........................................8 Police Reports.....................3 Sports....................................6 Seniors..................................7 Weekend Forecast Friday Sunny 80˚/56˚ Saturday Sunny 78˚/57˚ Sunday Partly Cloudy 85˚/60˚
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