2017 Year in Review: Hermosa Beach

Settlement with E&B
got the city out from the
shadow of oil claims

Jani Lange protested oil drilling in Hermosa during the annual Bareback Surf Contest. Photo by Mike Balzer

In March 2015, Hermosa Beach voters decisively defeated an attempt to lift the city’s ban on oil drilling in the tidelands, rejecting Measure O by a four-to-one margin. But an uncomfortable truth got lost in the victory celebration: the vote did not eliminate E&B Natural Resources claims on the city. The oil company still claimed to have a lease on the city yard, where it had planned to drill for oil, as well as claims to mineral rights on parcels throughout the city.
All of those claims, however, disappeared in March of this year, when the city reached an agreement that brought the threat of oil drilling in Hermosa to a close. City Council members unanimously agreed to pay $1.5 million to E&B in exchange for abandoning its claims. The money also covered a dispute over the amount of interest the city owed to E&B for fronting money in 2012 agreement among Hermosa, E&B, and Macpherson Oil, with whom Hermosa had originally contracted to drill in 1992. The interest stemmed from a $17.5 million advance from the oil company to the city that the city had agreed to repay if the 2015 oil measure failed.

Stacey Armato, who helped lead the campaign against Measure O and was elected to the City Council in 2016, said that the settlement offered a chance for Hermosa to turn the page.

“It was taking away our focus from a lot of other issues in town that we really need to be spending our time on,” Armato said.

 

PLAN Hermosa faced
criticism, then tweaks
before Council OK

The first hearing for PLAN Hermosa, Hermosa Beach’s updates to its General Plan and Local Coastal Program, took place at a Planning Commission meeting in February of this year. In the months leading up to that meeting, some residents zeroed in on aspects of the plan addressing sustainability and historic preservation. A goal of city-wide carbon neutrality by 2040 was panned as pie-eyed and potentially damaging to city coffers. A “windshield survey” of properties in Hermosa with potential historic value became “the list,” a collection of houses thought to be doomed to a future of diminished value.

People not only objected to the plans but questioned where they were coming from. City staff said that everything in the plan was the result of a resident input over a multi-year process of community workshops, and pointed out that a draft of the plan had been available to the public for more than a year before the first hearing. (A draft of PLAN Hermosa first dropped December 2015; Easy Reader published a story about the windshield survey in October 2015.)

In the end, much of the plan went uncommented on, but the more controversial provisions were jettisoned by the Planning Commission, changes upheld by the City Council when it was approved over the summer.

Revising a general plan is periodically required by state law. And once the Coastal Commission approves the document, coastal development permits will be available locally, instead of seeking them from the commission’s office in Long Beach. 

After 107 years, HBFD
dissolved in favor of
L.A. County Fire

Both Hermosa’s fire department and school district addressed their reliance pm temporary facilities in 2017. Photo

The City Council voted in April to contract with L.A. County Fire for fire services in the city. The move capped more than a year of discussion on the future of one of the fundamental services a city provides.

Fire departments around the county have been changing for years, adapting to a future in which actual firefighting is swamped by emergency medical response as a share of work hours. These changes have made it harder for smaller departments around the country to continue.

These challenges have been acute over the past decade for Hermosa’s one station department. Following the recession, the department switched to a five-man rotation. But the already-depleted roster made it hard to fill shifts, with an injury to one forcing others to work lengthy overtime.
The city began exploring contracting with L.A. County. The option got a boost last year when the Firefighters Association endorsed the move, as did a citizen’s advisory commission. When it came time for the City Council to vote, they framed the transition as an improvement.

“The county provides a higher level of service, a deeper pool of resources, a deeper pool of personnel,” said Mayor Justin Massey.

HBFD members depart on a sour note: earlier this month, 13 of the department’s firefighters sued the city in federal court, alleging underpayment of overtime. The city, in response, said it was disappointed in the decision to sue, and pointed out that firefighters are already the city’s highest-paid employees. 

Residents stay the course
with Armato and Fangary,
add HBCSD’s Campbell

Current councilmembers Jeff Duclos, Mary Campbell, Hany Fangary, Stacey Armato and Justin Massey celebrate on election night. Photo

Hermosa politics in 2017 played out amid claims of anti-majoritarianism — that particular actions by the City Council weren’t representative of resident opinion. But without reliable polling, residents were eager for proof that their side was the popular one. And they found it in the November election.

Seven candidates battled for three seats in a campaign marked by bitter disputes and innuendo, much of it on social media. One candidate, Christopher Cenci, participated in no debates and did not respond to interview requests. But the others took defined positions that framed the vote as a referendum on the work of the current council.

On the more critical side were Trent Larson, Matt McCool, and Pete Tucker, who painted a picture of government gone haywire, especially in the areas of code enforcement and environmental protection. On the other side were incumbents Stacey Armato and Hany Fangary, and Hermosa Beach City School District Mary Campbell. They acknowledged missteps over the past year but mostly lauded the work of the existing council.

In the end, Armato, Campbell, and Fangary won out to join Justin Massey and Jeff Duclos.

With incumbent Carolyn Petty not seeking reelection, Larson, McCool, and Tucker had each sought to fill her seat by presenting themselves as a check on groupthink on the council. But at an election night victory party, former City Council Member George Schmeltzer wryly implied it might not be necessary. “Don’t worry: they’ll be fighting soon enough.” 

Hermosa cold case
murder finally solved,
41 years later

After 41 years, detectives from a cold case unit with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department finally found Karen Klaas’ killer. Image courtesy LASD

Karen Klaas was found dead in her North Hermosa home on Jan. 30, 1976. For decades, the case stood as one of the South Bay’s great unsolved mysteries. It haunted generations of Hermosa Beach Police officers, got tangled up in the notorious McMartin preschool investigation, and continued to plague Bill Medley, Klaas’ ex-husband and a member of the chart-topping Righteous Brothers.

But in January, almost 41 years to the day after the killing, detectives from the Los Angeles County announced that they had found Klaas’ killer. Detectives from a cold-case unit had used a new DNA matching technology to link a towel found at the scene to Kenneth Eugene Troyer.

Troyer, who had a lengthy criminal history, died more than 30 years ago, following an escape from the California Men’s Colony State Prison in San Luis Obispo.

Despite the fact that they did not get to see Troyer brought to justice, those touched by Klaas’ killing were grateful to detectives for finally closing the case.

“Every two years or so it comes up in my mind. A voice in my head, probably Karen’s, tells me to drop it, that the killer is probably dead or in prison. This is closure. It’s kind of an out-of-body experience,” Medley said. 

Questions raised over
Fiesta Hermosa and 
its future in downtown

It didn’t start with the picture of the mattress, but that didn’t help matters.

At the end of the summer, a photo of a stand at Fiesta Hermosa selling mattresses crystallized concerns in the community that the long-time event had become overly commercialized, with profit-seeking vendors taking the place of quirky artists. These issues emerged as the city was re-negotiating its contract with the Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, which puts on the biannual event, prompting the city to hold a town hall in the fall, seeking input on what the event’s future.

The Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend events bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Chamber, which uses the funds to fund its operations, but also to hold other events throughout the year, including the St. Patrick’s Day parade and the holiday tree lighting. Chamber executives said they were willing to make changes to booth-booking practices, but pushed back against the prospect of limiting the Fiesta’s days of operation. Many downtown businesses have some of their busiest days of the year on the Fiesta, but others struggle and experience below-average weekends.

As of press time, negotiations between the city and the Chamber were ongoing. 

Amid clamoring for
projects, city hired

new Public Works Director

Hermosa hired Glen Kau as Public Works Director in October. Kau, a South Bay resident, previously held the same position with the City of Compton. Photo

Glen Kau was hired in October as Hermosa’s new public works director to replace Andrew Brozyna, who departed over the summer. He stepped into a city where pent-up demand for public works projects had become an election issue, with residents wondering when they would see progress on the city’s aging streets and sidewalk.

The residents, Kau and City Council members say, shouldn’t have to wait to long. At Kaus’ first council meeting, the city approved master plans for sidewalks and sewers, and set ambitious goals for street paving standards.

Kau said that while residents are often eager to see construction begin as a sign that their tax dollars are not being dithered away, proper planning for projects saves time and money.

The city has a backlog of more than 100 projects in the Capital Improvement Program. Kau plans to create a database of projects for the city’s website so that residents can see which projects have been scheduled, and how far away others are.

“We’re going to put a pretty good dent in it this fiscal year,” Kau said of the CIP. 

 

Video depicting Pier
Plaza inspired claim 
of biased filming

The video, city officials said, was intended to depict a “typical Saturday night” on Pier Plaza. The result — several minutes of drinking in public, intoxicated revelers, and brawls — inspired claims that the film, produced by the city, had as its agenda demonizing the downtown Hermosa; others said the video was too tame. The video became a symbol for long-standing disagreements about the city’s downtown.

City staff played the video at an October council meeting. According to staff, the video had been made by a professional videographer, not accompanied by a police officer or city employee, on a Saturday in September. The council’s subcommittee on downtown safety thought a video was necessary because residents and officials were unaware of the conditions on the Plaza during weekend evenings.

Concern over safety in downtown spiked last year when police officers were injured attempting to arrest patrons of a Pier Plaza tavern. The department asked for authority to temporarily hire private security officers; the council subsequently decided to make these officers permanent.

Police say they are looking at other ways of improving safety on the plaza beside enforcement, including additional lighting.

“Whether people think the video should have been done or shouldn’t have been done, it’s out there now. The real question is, what are we going to do next?” said HBPD Chief Sharon Papa.

 

District revealed plans
for new North campus, while board changes

A rendering of proposed plans for the reconstruction of North School. Image courtesy HBCSD

The Hermosa Beach City School District unveiled plans for the reconstruction of North School: a state-of-the-art, zero-net energy campus. If the project is approved, the campus would house district third- and fourth-graders, and could open in time for the 2019-20 school year.

But challenges remain for the district. The plans for a new campus were made possible by Measure S, a school facilities bond passed by Hermosa voters last year to relieve overcrowding. But concerns over S continued to follow the district, and a residents group composed of bond measure opponents sued the district to enjoin construction on campus. The district countered that no construction would begin until the project was approved. Meanwhile, a draft Environmental Impact Report raised questions about traffic impacts that could be generated by the school. School supporters pledged a focused effort to have kids walk or bike to school, noting how many students already crossed Pacific Coast Highway to reach a campus.

Amidst these issues, the school board lost two steady hands. Board member Patti Ackerman stepped down in the fall and was replaced with appointee Doug Gardner. Mary Campbell exited after winning election to the City Council; her replacement has yet to be decided. 

 

New galleries open

to help make city a
destination for art

 

In a bright spot for Hermosa’s challenging retail environment, three galleries opened this year, tapping into Hermosa’s historic association with the arts while signaling new possibilities for neighborhoods.

On Pier Avenue, Pacific Coast Gallery opened as a place for Matt Welch to display his ultra-high resolution images of the ocean, sunsets and other nature subjects. Welch, who began his career as a photographer at punk rock shows, is noted for his “flow” montages, in which he captures hundreds, even thousands of photos from the same place at different times of the day.

ShockBoxx and Resin both opened on Cypress Avenue, the city’s light-manufacturing district and historic home of the city’s surfboard-shaping industry. Both galleries revealed themselves to be linked to this history: Resin hosted an opening exhibit of surfboard art, while ShockBoxx held a well-attended show of the art of Cypress surfboard fixture Keoni Boyd.

The Cypress galleries represent a new presence in the area, one encouraged by the City Council in the recent General Plan updates. Council members decided to preserve Cypress’ light manufacturing designation. They cited ShockBoxx and Resin as examples of the street’s evolution, and reasons to “stay out of the way” and not interfere with the area’s development. 

 

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