 |
|||||
|
About town: Hermosa Beach
|
Police discuss an overturned 1988 Audi 500, which got that way after the driver, a Hermosa man, hit two parked trucks Monday morning on Loma Drive near Ninth Street, officers said. The man was taken to Torrance Memorial Hospital with a broken femur. A man working on a utility project along Loma suffered a cut hand when the Audi struck a large truck that supported the "cherry picker" basket he was inside, slapping the basket against the wall of a house, police said. Photo by Robb Fulcher |
Education foundation gets banner preference
The city council voted 3-2 to give the Hermosa Beach Education Foundation preference over other local non-profit organizations to raise funds through commercial advertising banners stretching across Pacific Coast Highway and Aviation Boulevard.
The Education Foundation, which originally presented the banner idea, will be assured a half-years’ use of at least one banner before any other non-profit can use the banner, based on the council’s action at its most recent regular meeting.
Other groups that have expressed an interest in using the banners next year include the Hermosa Beach Firefighters Association, Hermosa Beach Friends of the Library and Hermosa Beach Sister City Association, according to a report by City Manager Steve Burrell.
Councilmen Art Yoon and JR Reviczky voted against the preference plan. Reviczky said some nonprofit groups could be forced to wait as long as five years for banner space.
"That’s just not fair," he said.
The banner program allows commercial enterprises to advertise across PCH at First Street and Aviation near Prospect Avenue in exchange for donations to non-profit groups. Last year the program raised $25,000 for the Education Foundation, $7,500 for the Hermosa Beach Playhouse and $5,000 for the annual Aloha Days festival.
Stoplight approved
City officials were working to find grant money for a traffic signal at Ardmore Avenue and 16th Street. The stoplight got the green light from the city council at its most recent regular meeting, in response to residents’ concerns about Hermosa Valley School students crossing at that intersection.
Mayor Kathy Dunbabin and Councilman Michael Keegan voted against installation of the traffic light, and Dunbabin said she wanted a stop sign instead.
The city’s public works commission had made a recommendation against the three-way traffic light, after an analysis of auto and pedestrian traffic, accident statistics and projected vehicle delays concluded that the signal is not needed.
Public Works Director Harold Williams said the signal will cost about $60,000.
Oily solution
City officials are advising Hermosa residents who change their own motor oil that they can "finish the job" by recycling the old oil at Valvoline Instant Oil change, 1414 Pacific Coast Highway.
Information on hours of operation and quantities accepted is available by calling 798-8338. ER
Police Beat
Merry Christmas
Someone stole four Christmas cards and two checks totaling $83.87 from mail that was set to go out on Friday from a First Street home.
A resident told police she saw a woman get out of a car with a sack of mail, walk to the residence’s mailboxes, then go back to the car. The outgoing mail was gone, and in its place was left a sack of other mail, apparently stolen from somewhere else, the resident reported.
Smash and grab
Someone broke a window out of a work truck parked along 14th Street Monday morning and stole $10 in change and $100 worth of tools, the worker reported.
Bad credit
A Hermosa resident went to the police station on Saturday to report that he received a credit card bill from a company with which he did not have an account. He called the company’s customer service department upon receiving the bill to report the improper account and cancel the credit card. ER