The Weekly Newspaper of Torrance Herald Publications - Torrance, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 6, No. 6 - February 4, 2016 Inside This Issue Certified & Licensed Professionals.......................2 Classifieds............................4 Crossword/Sudoku.............4 Film Review..........................4 Food.......................................5 Legals.................................6,7 Real Estate...........................8 Sports....................................6 Weekend Forecast Rotary Clubs of Torrance Award Funds to Four High Schools Torrance’s North, West, South and Torrance High Schools were the recipients of over $16,000 raised by the Four Rotary Clubs of Torrance and checks were presented to school representatives on January 20 at the DoubleTree Hotel. The proceeds were raised at the annual USC/UCLA tailgate event sponsored by the Del Amo, Lomita-Torrance Airport, South Bay Sunrise and Torrance Rotary Cubs. The mission of Rotary International is to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill and peace through its fellowship of business, professional and community leaders. Pictured are the Rotary club leaders who made the presentations along with the school representatives. Photo by Gilbert Watson. • Council Awards Contract For Abatement, Removal of Hazardous Materials at Zamperini Field By Cristian Vasquez In a unanimous vote by the Torrance Mayor and City Council, a contract was awarded to WESTCOR Environmental Inc. of Cerritos, in the amount of $72,993 for the abatement and disposal of hazardous materials found at the Torrance Municipal Airport. Included in the contract is a 5 percent contingency See School Board, page 2 [$3,649.65], making the total of the contract $76,641.65, which will be appropriated from the Airport Aeronautical Fund Balance. The discovery of hazardous materials was the result of two separate fires, one in September and one in November, which caused significant damage to several hangars at the airport. Due to the September fire, one hangar was significantly damaged, as well as its contents, which included an aircraft. That incident caused minor smoke damage to an adjacent hangar but was putout before any additional structures were affected. “As far as the first fire goes, to the best of our knowledge, it was a faulty appliance in one of the hangars; that is basically what the evidence points to. As far as the second fire goes, there is no determination at this time,” Facility Operations Manager Shant Megerdichian said. “I know that the city’s risk management division has been working with our insurance to see if there is going to be any accountability for any funds. We do have a deductible of the city so we have to meet that first.” November’s fire, which destroyed one hangar and the aircraft stationed inside, was more severe than the previous incident and affected five separate hangars with both smoke and soot damage. Unlike the September fire, which occurred on a weekday morning, the November fire took place during predawn hours, which allowed for the flames to spread farther before the city’s fire department could respond. “Right now we are spending the funds to have the hangers cleaned, we need to get the tenants back into their hangers and we need to have it clean not only for the tenants to come back, but so we can begin the design and construction process,” Megerdichian said. “We really can’t do anything until the hangers are deemed clean.” The risk management division continues working with the tenants insurance in order to determine liability. However, at the time of the council meeting, staff did not have the status on whether a claim had been, or would be filed. “Affected tenants were advised not to enter their hangar until a professional abatement contractor was retained to clean the structure,” states the staff report. “Personal items in the hangar are the responsibility of the tenant, and is not part of the scope of work for WESTCOR. Each affected tenant has been temporarily relocated to vacant hangars.” Eric Tsao, Finance Director, indicated that the city will seek recuperating financial losses via risk management but the priority at the moment is to fix the hangers in order to have tenants back into the facilities. “Due to the nature of the fires, Ellis Environmental was retained to perform environmental testing to determine if any hazardous materials were present,” states the staff report signed by General Services Director Sheryl Ballew. “The test results concluded that elevated levels of lead, mercury and zinc were present in wipe samples taken from the hangars. Due to the nature of these materials, the hangars must be professionally cleaned and abated by a qualified and licensed vendor, with any remaining items disposed of properly.” On Dec. 17, 2015 city staff and Ellis Environmental carried out a job walk in order to solicit proposals for the hazardous mitigation and disposal. For the walk, four vendors were invited but only three of the invited contractors submitted proposals. Among the proposals submitted was that of WESTCOR Environmental of Cerritos, the most cost-effective and winning bid. The other two proposals were submitted by: Castlerock Environmental of Santa Fe Springs with a price tag of $96,995, while New Horizons Contracting from Chino priced its proposal at $121,530. “Staff has reviewed WESTCOR’s proposal and licenses, and found everything to be in order,” concluded the staff report. • Middle Schools Given Go-Ahead To Apply for AAUW’s Tech Trek By Cristian Vasquez A unanimous vote by the members of the Torrance School Board gives the district’s middle schools permission to apply for participation in the American Association of University Women’s (AAUW) 2016 Tech Trek, a weeklong science camp scheduled for July or August. Board approval, which comes at no cost to the district, will allow all of the middle schools’ girl students who are interested to apply for Tech Trek, which is organized by the AAUW and conducted by credentialed middle school teachers and guest presenters. Tech Trek is a science and math camp dedicated to developing interest and excitement, along with self-confidence in young women who are on track to begin the eighth grade during the upcoming fall; the camp curriculum is targeted specifically at girls entering the 8th grade. Through hands-on activities in math, science, and related fields, students are introduced to science and math in hopes of sparking an interest in the subjects that will trickle outside of the classroom. “Since 1998 AAUW Tech Trek camps have been designed to help girls continue their interests in science, math, engineering & technology (STEM) exploration and learning, through the tricky years when new distractions enter their lives,” states Friday Sunny 72˚/49˚ Saturday Sunny 75˚/51˚ Sunday Sunny 80˚/53˚
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