Page 8 May 19, 2016 TORRANCE TRIBUNE Election 2016 Tribune’s Candidate Q & A We do not edit or correct the candidates answers. All answers are limited to 100 words. Good luck to our candidates. 1. What programs should the City provide for youth and seniors that we don’t have now and what would you do to jumpstart those? Dr. Eng: Many young adults are saddled with large student-loan debts, where only a few College majors like Engineering enable them to retire that debt, potentially becoming homeowners. The most disadvantaged young adult college graduates are Artists, Writers, and Poets; who often seek non-monetary rewards, making them an important, but underserved minority in Torrance. A special Low-Income housing development should be created, combining Senior Citizen and Artist/Writers Communities, serving both groups, with the children of these young adults most likely to engage the lucky Senior Citizens in this special community, a win-win-win situation. Mike Griffiths: For our seniors, I would like to see our Commission on Aging meet around the City at various senior-focused locations, like some of our larger senior communities. Bring our commission to the people so that they can better participate and voice their needs to this body which is focused on their issues. And for the youth of the community, our Youth Council could do the same. Rather than for our youth to come to City hall, bring the youth council to the schools! The City already offers great programs for our youth – the hard part is getting them involved. Milton Herring: I would like to host a community forum and listen to both youth and seniors to hear their concerns, if they have any. I do not come to the Council with an agenda to bring new programs. The City provides a multitude of Youth and Senior activities and see no reason to change existing programs or add new ones. I would advocate for improved ways in communicating these services better to the community. For example, there is the youth after school programs, movies in the park, and the ATTIC teen center Leilani Kimmel-Dagostino: I would like to see exercise classes and line dancing classing in both the Bartlett Senior Center and McMaster Park Senior Center. Also I would like to see a computer training room set up at McMaster Park Senior Center. For our youth I would like to see more joint programs between the seniors and the Youth Council. Perhaps the Youth Council could recruit some students to teach our seniors how to use the computer. I would like to contact Apple or Dell to get them to donate some new computers or tablets for use in the training. Geoffrey Rizzo: The City currently provides a wide variety of programs for youth and seniors. Asam Sheikh: Candidate did not answer questions. 2 . What will you specially do to attract responsible corporations to the city while maintaining a thriving small businesses culture in Torrance? Dr. Eng: Large corporations in Torrance have the ability to bring national-scale resources to Torrance, and the Torrance City Council need to be more proactive in ensuring that those large-scale corporations behave responsibly, especially with regards to enhancing Public Health and Safety beyond the minimum mandated by Federal and State laws and Regulations. For small-businesses, more effort should be put into establishing Torrance City Government structures to allow more home-based (including airbnb, Uber, and other Internet-type) operations, while also enabling Torrance to have a Revenue stream from these new-age endeavors. Mike Griffiths: Just this month, Biz Fed – an LA federation of businesses, has rated Torrance as the most business-friendly City in Los Angeles County. I’m proud of that distinction! We are well equipped with the resources to attract and retain businesses, but we can always do more. We, and the public, need to lobby Sacramento more for making our State more business friendly. I intend to continue to lobby for infrastructure improvements which will make our City even more appealing to businesses and its customers. As a former business owner, I am well equipped to directly help with these issues. Milton Herring: Council Members need to be available to work with the Economic Development Department, the Chamber of Commerce and the United Small Business Alliance wherever possible. We do have some room for major corporations to fill current or upcoming vacancies and I will constantly monitor recruitment efforts. Regarding small business, I would like to look at the cost of Business licenses. Torrance is a Business Friendly City and I would look at ways to improve our one stop for businesses. State. Roll out the Red Carpet, not the Red Tape. Maybe having someone like a concierge to demonstrate our customer service. Leilani Kimmel-Dagostino: I will reach out to our neighboring cities like El Segundo and Manhattan Beach and do a Best Practices evaluation on how they recruited their hi-tech companies so we could benchmark a strategy for Torrance. I will continue to work with my contacts at the LAX Airport Association and the Port of Los Angeles to make Torrance an international gateway because we are at the nexus for trade. I will work closely with the Chamber of Commerce and South Bay Entrepreneurial Center to offer classes and mentoring programs for startups and small businesses to grow. Geoffrey Rizzo: Continue to work with City staff in Economic Development as well as outside organizations such as the Torrance Chamber of Commerce and United Small Business Alliance. Asam Sheikh: Candidate did not answer questions. 3. Safety with regards to the refinery has been a big issue in the last year. Do you have any plans to enhance/change the city’s notification systems and protocol in dealing with incidents at the refinery? If so, can you provide details? Dr. Eng:: Amber Alerts for missing or kidnapped children interrupts regular programming on Cable TV, and goes to enabled wireless devices. The City of Torrance, SCAQMD, and the Refinery itself should issue “Industrial Hazard Alerts” by the same method. SCAQMD monitors recently set up for the Refinery nonstandard restart, should be made permanent (https:// xappprod.aqmd.gov/smsdatasite), allowing Torrance Citizens with Internet access to see the ongoing Refinery Exposures our Families are subjected to. They record the fine-scale (less than 10um [PM10]) and ultrafine scale (less than 2.5um [PM2.5]) Particulate Pollution hazards. Mike Griffiths: This is an area I have spoken out about frequently. In fact, I met with AQMD officials to see their HF monitoring system for the refinery, and I brought that information back to the City for the City to implement as well so we have more direct information. And secondly, I have supported our new Torrance Alerts system. It is technologically superior to any other notification system I have seen, however, the problem is that it is operated by humans, and it has been a work-in-progress to get it working in its most useful way. Not enough space for answers! Milton Herring: The entire area of notification and responsiveness needs to be revisited. As a member of the ExxonMobil Community Advisory Panel I have worked with both the City and the Refinery Staffs. Because of recent developments with the refinery and the community there is a credibility gap which I believe will only be solved by having an independent safety monitor. Electing Council Members with no ties to the existing Council and dedicated to not being part of any voting bloc, is essential. I will never forget who I work for and who elected me to office. Leilani Kimmel-Dagostino: The Torrance Alerts System needs to be tweaked. At present it can only do 200 notifications at one time. The enrollment system is somewhat complicated and needs to be simplified. The public needs to be trained on what exactly “Shelter in Place” means. Also, I would encourage more businesses to enroll in the program because many people may work in the City but they do not live here. A joint task force needs to be set up with personnel from the refinery and our Fire Department to examine how to work more closely together to share information and procedures. Geoffrey Rizzo: The City changed to the Torrance Alerts notification system within the last year. The system seems to work well but timeliness of notifications still seems to be an issue. Overall protocols need to be reviewed to address this issue. Additionally, the siren system has gaps in coverage that need to be addressed. Perhaps through the replacement of the existing system or the addition of sirens throughout the City. Asam Sheikh: Candidate did not answer questions. • vote torrance Elections 2016 Dr. Genghmun Eng Mike Griffiths Leilani Kimmel- Dagostino Geoff Rizzo Asam Sheikh Milton Herring Douglass M O R T U A R Y “Our Family Serving Yours Since 1954” B U R I A L - C R E M A T I O N - W O R L D W I D E T R A N S F E R P E T M E M O R I A L P R O D U C T S 500 EAST IMPERIAL AVENUE EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA 90245 Burkley & Brandlin LLP A T T O R N E Y S A T L A W Living Trusts/Wills, Probate, Employment Law, Personal Injury Trust and Estates Litigation, Business Litigation, Civil Litiga tion 310-540-6000 Lifetime El Segundo Residents *AV Rated (Highest) Martindale - Hubbell / **Certified Specialist Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law, State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization Telephone (310) 640-9325 • Fax (310) 640-0778 • FD658 Brian R. Brandlin • Bruce R. Brandlin • Christopher P. Brandlin
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