The Weekly Newspaper of Torrance Herald Publications - Torrance, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 4, No. 30 - July 24, 2014 Inside This Issue Business Briefs...................2 Calendar...............................3 Certified & Licensed Professionals.....................10 Classifieds............................4 Crossword/Sudoku.............4 Food.......................................5 Legals....................................9 Politically Speaking............7 Real Estate.........................12 Sports....................................6 TerriAnn in Torrance..........8 Weekend Forecast Torrance Gets Its Rock ‘n’ Roll On 2-year-old twins Kendra and Danica pose inside an original 1963 GMC Torrance Transit bus. Torrance was the rocking place to be on July 17 where the 10th annual 1950s style family summer Rock Around The Block event was held. The free event, sponsored by Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. celebrates the All-American City Award given to Torrance in 1956 and drew hundreds of residents who were entertained by a 50s car show, singing groups, and photo booth, along with hula hoop, bubble gum blowing, cake walk and pie eating contests. The host partners of Rock Around The Block included the City of Torrance, CitiCABLE 3, Costco, DJ Ozzie, Torrance Bakery and the Old Torrance Neighborhood Association. See page 2 for more photos. Photo by Charlene Nishimura. Board Seeks Bonds For School Upgrades, Improvements By Dylan Little The Torrance School Board decided to place two bonds before the voters, seeking See School Board, page 10 nearly $200 million in improvements ranging from safety upgrades to new physical education infrastructure. District superintendent George Mannon used the July 21 meeting to outline how the funds would be used. The first bond would fund safety and technology improvements as well as complete some of the needs identified in the run up to this bonds predecessors, Measures Y and Z. The district determined there was over a half billion dollars in necessary modernization, but Y and Z only funded $355 million and this bond would add $144 million towards completing modernization projects. However, Mannon said taxpayers wouldn’t feel the pinch of increased taxes, as it is designed to replicate the rate charged by Measure R, which ends this year. The bond seeks to improve safety in the district by funding external security cameras, security lighting, and security gates and fencing. Mannon said that in the years between now and the passage of Y and Z security has been a bigger concern for parents in the district. “One of the ways the world has changed . .. is the whole issue of safety and security,” said Mannon. “The committee and other individuals in our community felt strongly about that. Friday AM Clouds/ PM Sun 82˚/67˚ Saturday AM Clouds/ PM Sun 82˚/68˚ Sunday AM Clouds/ PM Sun 83˚/69˚ Torrance City Council Supports Bay Delta Conservation Plan By Dylan Little The Torrance City Council passed a resolution supporting a $25 billion plan to safeguard the Sacramento River Delta. Russ Lefevre, a director at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD), gave a presentation during the July 22 meeting making the case for the expensive public works project, both as an ecological safeguard and a way for Torrance to protect its drinking water. Lefevre started his presentation by explaining where Torrance gets its water. While the city is making strides to increase local production of water, it still relies on MWD for a large share of its water. He said the proposed expansion of the city’s desalter will reduce that reliance, but not eliminate it. “We are in the process of doubling [the desalter’s] capacity,” said Lefevre. “With that and some new wells we expect to, in 2016 or 2017, get our allocation from Met down to 50 percent. The takeaway is that we are going to do the best we can to get water from local sources but we are going to depend on the Met for the foreseeable future.” Water is a huge concern now because of the drought conditions through outthe state. While the proposed Bay Delta Conservation Plan wouldn’t solve those problems in the near future, it will make the state more ready for the next drought. “We have enough to get through 2014, but in the long run we need the Bay Delta Conservation Plan,” said Lefevre. “The Bay Delta Conservation Plan isn’t going to help our drought today but by 2030 that’s exactly what we’re looking at.” Much of MWD’s water comes from the Sacramento Delta, so keeping that water safe from hazards as diverse as seismic events, levee failures and ecological complications from the endangered delta smelt are all high priorities. The proposed plan would send that water underground through two massive pipelines instead of directing it to the delta. While ecological restoration and protecting fish populations are inline with the goals of the Sierra Club, Alfred Sattler, representative from the club’s Palos Verdes chapter objected to the plan. He said the seismic concerns were overstated and criticized that there was no mention of conservation as a water solution, and that water use has a major impact to fish populations in the delta. “The reason the Delta is experiencing environmental stress is due to over-pumping,” said Sattler. “Salmon wasn’t mentioned, I saw a graph . . . that showed the relationship between how much water was pumped out of the delta and compared it with salmon reproduction and there was a real clear relationship there. Pump too much water out and salmon reproduction crashes.” See City Council, page 3
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