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Exploration of Strand bike path opposed
by Robb Fulcher
Former Councilman Roger Creighton is opposing the city's attempts to clear legal obstacles to the possible construction of a bike path alongside the Strand.
Although no council member has made a strong push for a bike path, the idea has surfaced and resurfaced over the years as a means of separating bicycle riders, and perhaps skaters and skateboarders, from walkers and joggers.
An attorney for Creighton has filed papers contending that a bike path on the sand would be illegal under the terms of a 1907 deed that gave Hermosa ownership of its beach, City Attorney Michael Jenkins said on Tuesday night.
Creighton was unavailable for comment Wednesday morning.
In the mid-90s the council voted to seek a judge's opinion on the legality of a bike path. City officials undertook a lengthy title search to try to find any parties with an ongoing interest in the matter, then presented the issue in Superior Court.
Jenkins said the city will respond to Creighton's opposition, and ask for a favorable ruling from the judge by about September.
Target LAX
In other municipal matters, the city council on Tuesday agreed to pitch in about $32,000 toward the purchase of a radar device designed to track and help document jetliner flights over the area from LAX.
The council wants to go thirds on the device with Rancho Palos Verdes, which has agreed to pitch in its share, and Redondo Beach, where the matter is scheduled to be discussed by the city council on Tuesday.
Local officials have disagreed sharply with LAX and the Federal Aviation Administration on the number of noisy flights over the area.
The Hermosa council also approved a new contract with the Hermosa Beach Firefighters Association, allowing firefighters retiring at or after age 50 to receive a "3 percent at 50" yearly benefit, which is 3 percent of their final-year base salary multiplied by the number of years they have served.
The retirement benefit also has been secured by police officers in Hermosa, El Segundo, Gardena and Hawthorne.
The Hermosa firefighters' contract also calls for periodic pay increases ranging from 3.5 percent to 6 percent through July 1, 2002.
The city council also set aside $25,000 to help low and moderate income residents in two areas of town pay for their share of a project to bury neighborhood utility lines underground. The money, part of a federal grant to help meet requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act, will be distributed to five households whose neighbors voted to tax themselves for the utility projects along sections of Loma Drive and Myrtle Avenue.
The council agreed to seek additional funding for other elderly residents with low or moderate income who live in the areas with the utility projects. ER