TORRANCE TRIBUNE March 2, 2017 Page 5 TerriAnn in Torrance The Pets of Torrance and the South Bay Story and Phtos by TerriAnn Ferren Do you have a pet and if so, is it well-behaved? Taking care of a pet, large or small, is a huge responsibility. Most of us remember when we were children making promises to parents about walking, feeding and completely taking care of a pet. At least that is what I did, and then slowly but surely those promises somehow faded into memory. It seems we always had a cat around the house and then a cute little white toy poodle named Samantha who looked like a snowball when we brought her home. She lived a very long time and in the end was more or less dedicated to my mom--probably because she was usually the one who fed and took care of her, in spite of our promises. I decided to find out what kinds of pets reside in Torrance and the South Bay. Early most mornings, and sometimes late at night, rain or shine I pass the same people walking their dog/dogs down the street. Frankly, I admire people getting up so early, or out so late, walking their dogs. And some of them have very interesting names. For example, one of my next-door neighbors names her Shelties after characters from Gone With the Wind. Another friend keeps chickens and bees, but he didn’t tell me if he names them. Every day, all over Torrance, I see the same scene--people walking their dogs--before they more than likely head off to work. Recently, I spoke with 10-year-old MJ, who told me, “My parents had two cats when I was born, but they weren’t my favorite. When they got weak and nearly died, my dad found a kitten at his car dealership and it liked him and he couldn’t help but take it home. When he brought it home, I was so excited because the kitten was the cutest thing ever. And it was so sweet and I begged my dad for us to keep him. Then after a few days, he said yes and that is how I got my cat named Penny.” I then asked MJ if she takes care of this pet and she told me that she takes very good care of the cat by feeding her--and most of the time cleaning out her litterbox. After getting Penny, the family adopted another kitten, named Cassie. So now the family has two kittens. I realize there was a time when all sorts of animals called Torrance home (see Torrance Tribune – “A Glance at Rural Torrance,” January 26, 2017). However, that is not quite the case anymore. My friend Joycie has four dogs she rescued from the pound and a cockatoo named Angel that keeps her quite busy. Lisa Johnson told me when she was little she was obsessed with animals and had her first cat when she was three years old and named her Aphrodite, probably because her father was a history professor. She told me she never had a dog when she was little. Her next cat was named Fluffy, and then there was a stray she named Brif. Then she said she had a guinea pig and hamsters in sixth grade. Lisa said, “So I had a cat continuously. I had Nicky [the cat] and I would stick him in my college dorm room at school. So when I got married, I brought along Nicky.” After that, I listened to Lisa list the names of multiple animals who have lived with her and her husband. She told me a terrible tale of the first day of her teaching career when she thought she saw her cat get hit by a car on the road. She insisted her husband help her collect the cat and bury him in the backyard, which of course made her late for her first day of teaching elementary school. The only thing was, a week later their cat showed up--so it wasn’t their cat that got hit and she realized she had mourned and buried someone else’s cat, not to mention being late on her first day of school! Then came the two kitties, Romeo and Juliet from the pound, and her first dog, Rosie. After Rosie the Sheltie came Scuffy the mutt, Henry the English Bulldog, Mazie the Jack Russell/Shih Tzu mix, and Tino the Pug. Now she also has four miniature donkeys named Emmy Lou, Bell Star, Santino and Mario (the last two named after the Italian side of the family), 25 chickens, ducks and a rabbit. “I never want to live without animals,” added Lisa. I don’t think there is any danger of that. Now that is what I call a menagerie… Lisa’s husband Gary told me when he was growing up with his two younger sisters, he longed for snakes, bearded dragons, lizards and crawly animals, but his family only had a dog--a Cockapoo. Muffin was her name and then later there was an orange tabby named Carlisle (like Kitty Carlisle). He added, “I always wanted snakes and frogs. I wanted everything.” From what Lisa told me, I think he has achieved his dream of living with animals. “I have always loved animals. You have a bad day and you come home and they’re genuine. They’re genuine.” Next, I caught up with Ian Johnson who owns Athena, a beautifully behaved Alaskan Husky. He spoke with me before taking his dog out for a “mush” alongside his skateboard. “She pulls me all the way down the street and back which is about a mile and a half,” said Ian. “She is half-trained and knows who to beg food from. I grew up with dogs, cats, reptiles…but Athena is my first dog. She is my dog and I got her at a rescue in the park. I went to get a male and ended up with a female. I am glad I was living at a college house when she was a baby because she ate four, five couches and two mattresses. She ate through a door! A toy would go under the mattress and she would dig all the way through it. But she is completely trained now.” Then Ian told me Huskies take a long time to train. She was bad for a year and her entire puppy phase was bad. After listening to so many people tell me about their pets of all different shapes and sizes, I noticed that everyone I spoke with smiled when they told me about their animals. The elected officials of the City of Torrance know how much local residents think about their pets, and since 2004 the City has had an Animal Control Center located adjacent to the Tennis Courts in Wilson Park at 2200 Jefferson Street. The center picks up stray dogs and even posts pictures of them on their website hoping to find the rightful owners. If you happen to lose your dog, you simply check on the city website: www.TorranceCA.Gov and click on the link where you may view all the dogs in the care of the shelter. You might agree that animals have it made in our pet-friendly city. Every day I spot people walking their dogs and I believe Gary may have been right when he said that animals are wonderful--because even when you have a day that is less than perfect, you can depend upon your pet to always be genuine and happy to see you. May I suggest you be good to your animals, license your dogs…and when your children promise to feed, walk and take care of a new pet, you consider the joy they ultimately bring to families. • Ian Johnson with his dog, Athena. Lisa Johnson and Mazie. Three of four donkeys. City Council from page 3 “The previous owner and Edison were never able to agree on a solution for this problem,” Refinery Manager Steve Steach said. “Since the October power failure, we have been meeting weekly with SCE engineers and have developed a very good relationship. We investigated five options to address the electrical issues. Each had their pluses and minuses, so we narrowed it down and agreed on one plan we can call a solution to provide electrical reliability.” The two-part plan will include the installation of new 220 KV cables and transformers connecting the new SCE switching station to the existing refinery electrical distribution system. Phase I is designed to improve SCE’s reliability by approximately 50 percent. Phase II will ensure that refinery infrastructure upgrades are completed and that they improve SCE’s reliability by an additional 40 percent, for an estimated 90 percent reliability improvement. To accomplish the task, new local substations and upgrades and modifications to the refinery electrical distribution system, which will have to be synchronized with future unit shutdowns, will be required. Also speaking at the workshop were members of the City Manager’s office, who informed those present of Torrance Alerts Staffing and the creation of the Interactive Communications Office (ICO). A second-floor conference room in the Telecommunications Center has been converted and had equipment installed. More than 200 applicants were screened between January 2 and 13, and a performance exam and oral panel will be scheduled to fill that office. Training will be in-house and is to include social media, a website, radio station, hotline messaging standards and methodologies. Everbridge (Torrance Alerts) is scheduled to provide specialized training. Trainees will also receive internal departmental coordination and training. South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) Deputy Executive Officer Phillip M. Fine briefly discussed the rules being developed that will have a direct impact on the region and the refinery. Rule 1118 will address the control of emissions from refinery flares and was described as due for an update, given it was last modified 12 years ago. Rule 1410 will address Hydrogen Fluoride Storage and Use, which will require a public process while gathering all possible information. Rule 1180 will require community and fence-line monitoring at all refineries in the region. Lastly, Reclaim Program, which deals with the Cap and Trade Program for Nitrogen Oxide, will also be modified. “All these rules are just kicking off right now--all of our rules undergo a public process by which we form a working group which is open to the public,” Fine said. “We gather information, take feedback on rule concepts and rule proposals and we invited everyone in the community who wants to be involved to contact us, get on our list and be notified of all of the working groups. From there, we take it to an official State-required public workshop. Then it goes to one of our governing board committees and then it gets considered for adoption by our governing board.” There was no action taken by the Council during the workshop, as it was designed for all parties to share their most recent information regarding the refinery’s operations and safety of the community. In the next six months all parties will return to the Council with updates on the work with SCAQMD to implement SEP Projects, if those are awarded. There will also be updates on alternative alkylation technology and new regulation updates regarding Rule 118 and Rule 1410. “We want to host a workshop, but not during a Council meeting--that way you have the time to make the comments that you feel that you need to make,” Mayor Patrick J. Furey said. “The best part in that is that we will be moving on with a lot of the things that you heard today, so there will be a lot of updates to provide you with. We don’t get this done by one or two, three, four or five people. It takes a whole community to get it done. As I said at the onset, if it was an easy fix it would have been fixed a long time ago.” Persons interested in receiving information regarding the SCAQMD’s rule-developing process can email Fine at pfine@aqmd.gov. •
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