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by Dan Bialek
Council members began Tuesday night's meeting by honoring a local Olympic hero. Mayor Tim Lilligren presented Eric Fonoimoana with a plaque and pin to the city, and the beach volleyball gold medalist made a short speech, then shook hands with council members and thanked them for their appreciation.
Later, a local hero of different sorts, Fire Chief Dennis Groat, spoke to the council about "Change your clock, change your battery day." This is the Fire Department's biannual program that urges residents to change the batteries in their home fire alarms on the same day that they set their clocks forward and backward in the fall and spring. The next one occurs on Saturday, Oct. 28.
Speaking of change, Big Wok Mongolian Barbecue on Sepulveda Boulevard will be changing its address from Hermosa to Manhattan Beach in the coming months.
A public hearing was held to determine whether the new business in town would be allowed to use the pole sign in front of its restaurant left behind by the previous tenants, Straw Hat Pizza. Earlier this month, the planning commission denied the request, and a smaller monument sign was recommended. After hearing Big Wok's case, the council voted to allow use of the legal, but often frowned upon, pole sign.
Lilligren went on to welcome the restaurant to the city and praise its cuisine.
In other matters, City Manager Geoff Dolan reported that the final sod at Marine Park would be laid down by the end of the week.
The meeting adjourned with a moment of silence in honor of Kam Wong, the Manhattan Beach resident who passed on after suffering a heart attack at the council's last meeting. ER