Archive for the ‘Hermosa Beach’ Category

Workers prepare to lift a tarp to shield the public's view of the recovery of a body from the site of a construction accident. Photo by Robb Fulcher

by Robb Fulcher

A worker was presumed dead Wednesday morning after he fell into a trench that apparently collapsed around him, burying him in loose dirt, at a large building under construction at Cypress Avenue and Sixth Street, in a mixed commercial-industrial area near South Park.

The man, who was not immediately identified, had been working to install a beam or girder when he plunged head-first into the loose dirt, coming to rest with only one foot above ground, firefighters said.

“His coworkers attempted to rescue him, but the dirt was so compacted they couldn’t pull him up,” Hermosa Beach Fire Capt. Mike Garofano said.

Hermosa firefighters were called to the scene about 10:30 a.m., and called upon Los Angeles County Urban Search and Rescue to recover the man’s body.

Suffocation quickly kills people trapped under tight-packed earth, and the man was presumed dead as rescue workers, county firefighters and Manhattan Beach firefighters began the work of extracting the body from the earth.

Also on hand were officials of the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which investigates workplace accidents.

Two and-a-half hours after the accident firefighters were using a flexible hose about the diameter of a basketball to drive either air or water into the earth to loosen it up so the body could be extracted.

The hose was operated from a “heavy rescue vehicle,” looking like an enormous fire truck, which was backed up to the site of the accident.

Two rescue workers wore harnesses and stood ready to be lowered some 10 to 15 feet below street level to the site of the accident, to free the worker’s body and help hoist it up from where it lay.

The partially completed building is being erected by Shaw Engineering and Construction. Documents at City Hall describe it as a two-story multi-use manufacturing building, and officials said Dave Shaw plans underground parking for trucks and other vehicles, with offices above. ER

by Robb Fulcher

Mayor Michael DiVirgilio used the annual State of the City address as a pep talk, telling civic leaders that innovative Hermosans will find unexpected silver linings in the economy’s dark cloud, and holding out hope for a positive outcome in a $500 million lawsuit that overarches other local issues.

DiVirgilio devoted a front portion of his address Thursday evening at the Beach House hotel to the breach-of-contract lawsuit by the Macpherson Oil Company, which once held a contract to slant-drill under the ocean from city-owned land at Valley Drive and Sixth Street.

“The City Council is totally in the mode of looking under every rock” to create “the best outcome for the community,” DiVirgilio said.

“I still have a positive attitude about how we’re going to come out of this,” he added.

DiVirgilio touched on his personal life to expand upon his optimism regarding the lawsuit. He compared the municipal foreboding associated with the lawsuit to the fear he and his wife Danay felt when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and told of an unsuspected silver lining.

“It was terrifying,” he said her diagnosis. “It was a threat.”

She beat the cancer, and has been free of the disease for four years.

“Our lives are better because of cancer,” DiVirgilio said, sounding a bit surprised himself at the seeming dissonance of the statement.

“We have deep, gut, belly laughs on a daily basis,” he said. “Before, we were serious people.”

He reflected a moment and added that his wife had always had a playful side, and perhaps the experience taught him, more than her, to lighten up.

DiVirgilio said the dark days of the oil drilling litigation are also likely to yield a positive result, although the exact nature of that result cannot be guessed at yet.

“We’re going to look back at this time…and realize our community is better for it,” he said.

DiVirgilio spoke of a recent ruling in the case that is seen as a partial victory for the city, allowing attorneys for Hermosa to present evidence that the planned oil drilling project was unsafe and therefore was properly banned. He said the good news is that the city has been allowed a new line of defense, and the bad news is that the expensive civil trial will continue.

In addition to hefty legal expenses, the 12-year-long lawsuit drains other city resources, he said.

“The city manager spends 25 to 40 percent of his time on Macpherson stuff,” DiVirgilio said. “That’s our senior manager.”

DiVirgilio also predicted that bright, innovative Hermosans would find creative opportunities amid the challenges of a downturned economy, and he praised the civic clubs, leaders, volunteer organizations, athletes, entertainers and businesspeople that have contributed to the town’s vibrancy.

He said an expo for the community’s service clubs could be held before the summer, perhaps at the Clark Stadium area, an idea he first proposed when he took over the mayoral position, which rotates among City Council members.

DiVirgilio spoke of the importance of helping the city schools, which see “costs going up and revenues going down” as parents and other community volunteer raise funds to cover about 10 percent of the academic programs.

He extolled the virtues of green endeavors in Hermosa, such as a 1,000-foot filtration trench being placed under the beach sand near the Strand wall south of the city pier, designed to better filter and evaporate dirty storm water before it reaches the ocean. He said the project will be watched by other communities.

He also pointed to plug-ins for electric cars that will be added to upper Pier Avenue as it is refurbished, in an ongoing project that has already drawn praise from environmental officials.

DiVirgilio offered words of praise to Waterman’s restaurant on the Pier Plaza, saying the establishment remade itself after it ran afoul of City Council members in its previous incarnation as Dragon. ER

by Robb Fulcher

Federal authorities have filed a civil lawsuit accusing Hermosan Sean David Morton, well known for frequent radio-show appearances, of fraudulently raising $6 million after telling investors he could use psychic powers to predict the highs and lows of the stock market.

“Morton’s self-proclaimed psychic powers were nothing more than a scam to attract investors and steal their money,” said George S. Canellos, director of the New York office of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which filed the lawsuit.

Attempts to reach Morton for comment, by email and with a note delivered to the home identified as his by neighbors, were unsuccessful.

SEC officials said Morton used his monthly newsletter, web site, and appearances on a nationally syndicated radio show and at public events to promote his psychic abilities, and made false representations about the abilities to solicit investors for the Delphi Investment Group.

According to the lawsuit, Morton fraudulently raised more than $6 million from more than 100 investors, and at least $240,000 was diverted to a nonprofit religious organization. The lawsuit seeks a return of money and further financial penalties. ER

Event co-chairs invite one and all to the Hermosa Beach Education Foundation’s signature fundraiser, the ‘Hearts of Hermosa’ dinner-dance-auction 5:45 to midnight Saturday, March 20 at St. Rocke, 142 PCH. This year’s event will feature a pre-dinner cocktail hour with New Orleans style appetizers. Auction items range from breakfast at the Firehouse for four kids, plus a ride to school in the fire truck to five nights in Shelly Beach, Australia.

Tickets are $140; see hbef.org or mail checks payable to Hermosa Beach Education Foundation to HBEF, Hearts of Hermosa, P.O. Box 864, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

The all-volunteer, nonprofit foundation helps fund school programs in science, technology, foreign language and the arts.

The 2010 co-chairs are (front) Stephanie Beck, Jenn Auville, Patti Ackerman, Carolyn Petty, (back) Susie Fraley, Laurie Baker, Lili McLean, Gloria Vialpando, Sam Rudow and (not pictured) Jeanine Benjamin and Kathi Jonas. ER

Oil gambit

Attorneys for the city will ask the state Supreme Court to dismiss a $500 million breach-of-contract lawsuit by an oil company that once planned to slant-drill under the Pacific Ocean from city-owned land.

The move comes on the heels of an important ruling by a state appeals court that allowed the city a new line of defense, but stopped short of dismissing the lawsuit as city officials had hoped.

Now they hope the Supreme Court will take the appeals court ruling “one step further,” City Attorney Michael Jenkins said Tuesday, shortly after the City Council authorized attorneys to seek a hearing before the high court.

“We think that this case can and should be dismissed without the necessity of a trial,” Jenkins said.

He said only 5 percent of such requests win a hearing before the Supreme Court. If the city secures a hearing, it would be the second successful long shot in a row – city officials said they had only a 2 percent chance of securing the recent appeals court hearing.

Pound foolish?

The lone faux pas in Mayor Michael DiVirgilio’s State of the City address came as he was showing slides of culturally accomplished Hermosans and their institutions, including the Comedy & Magic Club, the Lighthouse Café and punk rock icons Pennywise.

“I don’t happen to be a big fan of Pennywise,” he said offhand, prompting a roar of laughter from the civic leaders assembled for the annual speech at the Beach House hotel.

Then DiVirgilio began to walk his statement back, as they say.

“That probably came out wrong,” he said quickly, adding, “If I listened to them more I’d probably change my mind.”

St. Paddy’s

The annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, one of Hermosa’s signature events, takes place 11 a.m. Saturday, March 13. Decorated floats, classic cars, scouts and Brownies, pipers and dancers, Little Leaguers, dignitaries and more will start at Pier Avenue and Valley Drive, proceed down Pier to Hermosa Avenue, and turn south to disappear into an emerald mist at Eighth Street.

Green giveaway

Hermosa Beach Friends of the Parks in conjunction with the city’s St. Patrick’s Parade will host its spring family event, “Everything’s Green,” 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, March 13 at Starfish/Banzai Beach Plaza, 934 Hermosa Ave. The event will feature a children’s “green plant giveaway,” coloring, crafts and popcorn, and a membership drive.

Green vehicle

St. Cross by-the-sea Episcopal Church sponsors Plug-In Hermosa, an electric vehicle expo 9 a.m. to noon Sunday, March 14, at 1808 Monterey Blvd. St. Cross is hosting the event in partnership with Plug In America. Featured will be a gas-free, all-electric truck with a solar panel affixed to its rear.

In addition, a screening of “Who Killed the Electric Car,” followed by a discussion, will be 7 p.m. Thursday, March 18 at the church. Light refreshments will be served beginning 6:30 p.m.

For more call 310-376-8989 or see stcross.org and pluginamerica.com.

New tourney, new home

The AVP has proposed a second pro beach volleyball tournament in Hermosa, adding a round robin event Sept. 17 to 19, which used to be held in Las Vegas. The AVP also holds the Hermosa Beach Open over the summer.

The round robin, in which players rotate from partner to partner, would require a stadium court and two additional courts, making a sand footprint about five times smaller than that of the Hermosa Open. Original plans had called for the event to be held in Las Vegas, but economic conditions made it difficult to secure a venue.

The city’s Parks and Recreation Commission has approved the September tourney, and the City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the request Tuesday, April 27.

The AVP is also planning to move from its inland, high rise offices in the Howard Hughes Center, off the 405 Freeway, to an ocean view office in the 24 Hour Fitness building on Pacific Coast Highway in Hermosa Beach. ER

by Robb Fulcher

The City Council expressed a collective will to ask future municipal employees to shoulder part of the costs of their pensions and health benefits, a move suggested by Councilman Howard Fishman during his election campaign last year.

The matter was discussed at a Thursday meeting in which council members took preliminary steps to put together a lean budget for the next fiscal year, whcih begins this summer.

Council members also reached informal consensus for continuing to consider street paving a funding priority.

City Manager Steve Burrell pointed out that the municipal government has begun feeling the effects of the recession that was felt by residents and businesses quite a bit earlier.

“This year, probably more so than last year for the cities, we’re seeing the impact of the recession,” he said.

Councilman Kit Bobko said the city must seek to trim ongoing costs like pension contributions, which continue after an employee has retired.

“The legacy costs are really what I think is the anchor around the city’s neck,” he said.

The city would seek the employee cost sharing during salary negotiations with employee groups.

Councilman Jeff Duclos said he embraces the cost sharing concept.

“I’m very concerned about these legacy costs,” he said.

Fishman said “there is a groundswell of support” for the cost sharing.

Individual council members also introduced a variety of possibilities for cutting costs or raising revenues that might be discussed further as the budget talks continue.

Fishman, the retired risk manager of Manhattan Beach, said money from pet license fees increased to that city when, as head of animal control, he hatched a program to “find volunteers or parking officers on rainy days and have them canvass for pet licenses.”

The canvassers located pet owners by knocking on doors and looking for pet bowls and “beware of dog” signs.

“We doubled the licensing revenue in a year and a half just by canvassing,” Fishman said.

Mayor Michael DiVirgilio said with employee salaries claiming the lion’s share of shrinking revenues, the city could ask employee groups to take pay cuts.

“And I know that’s harsh, but it would require only a small-percentage reduction that would help us meet the [revenue] gap almost immediately,” he said.

DiVirgilio introduced the subject with little hope of an enthusiastic reception, saying, “This will probably go over like a lead balloon.”

Duclos said he wants further study of a city hiring freeze that includes five vacant Police Department positions, which decreases the patrol force by 18 percent. He said taking police off the streets could lead to a perception the city is less safe, which in turn could lower property values and property tax revenues.

“I was greatly concerned about the number of cuts as they relate to the police department,” he said.

“I say this because for me, the thing that drives the city is our property tax, and it’s totally based on what the perceived value of our city is to our residents. If we don’t do anything to drive that value, if we sit by passively and watch it deteriorate, because of any perceived sense that we’re not a safe city…then it’s like a house of cards,” Duclos said.

He mentioned an unfilled firefighter position along with the five police positions and said, “I think we have an obligation to figure out how to fill those where we can.”

DiVirgilio agreed that the city should look deeper into the hiring freeze and its cost savings. Eight positions remain unfilled outside the police and fire departments as well.

Duclos and Fishman mentioned the possibility of revisiting potential increases in the license fees paid to the city by businesses, a notion that raised hackles when former Councilman Michael Keegan proposed the first such increases in Hermosa in nearly three decades.

Fishman said any discussion of business license increases would have to involve the business community “from the start.”

Duclos said, “I’m not suggesting we plunge into that tonight, but that’s a matter that is going to be revisited at some point.”

Councilman Pete Tucker suggested reviewing fees for parks and recreation use.

Fishman repeated his suggestion that the rest of the council join him and Duclos in turning down a car allowance, health insurance and a separate stipend which they receive from the city.

“If we’re asking employees to take a hit and not get increases or what have you, then I just want the residents to know that some of the council is willing to do that as well,” Fishman said.

The week before, the City Council approved mid-year adjustments to the current budget that include the hiring freeze. ER

by Robb Fulcher

A Hermosa restaurant owner has been charged with battery for allegedly striking another man with a thrown object. The man who was struck had a heart attack and died shortly afterward, police said.

Authorities investigated the possibility of a murder charge against Nael Yousef Diab, 50, owner of Poulet Du Jour on Pacific Coast Highway. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined to charge him with murder, and instead the city prosecutor filed a charge of battery, police said.

Reached at his restaurant, Diab referred questions to his attorney.

“My client has been in business in Hermosa Beach for years, he is very well known, and he looks forward to going to court and having all these charges dismissed,” said attorney Michael Norris.

Norris said he had not seen police reports on the case and could not discuss it in detail.

Police said witnesses told them the incident began when Amr Ahmed Ramadan, 42, of Los Angeles, was sitting outside a restaurant near Poulet Du Jour, talking with a group of people. Ramadan made disparaging remarks about a theft of money that Diab had suffered, police said, and Diab was speaking with one of the group via telephone and overheard the remarks.

In the theft, Diab had lost more than $100,000 that had been inside a van he owns, police said.

Witnesses told police Diab showed up in a van and hopped out, holding a wine bottle, which was wrestled away from him. Then Diab picked up a large plastic bread crate and hurled it at Ramadan, striking him in the shoulder and head, police said.

Ramadan drove away, but a couple minutes later told a passenger he was having chest pains. Then he suffered the fatal heart attack, police said. ER

by Robb Fulcher

Police said they made an arrest and recovered stolen cosmetics following a theft at the CVS store on Pacific Coast Highway in which the suspect backed his vehicle into an employee during his getaway. The employee was not injured.

Police responded to a call regarding “unknown trouble” at the store about 4:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 26. A store employee told officers that a man had just stolen some merchandise, and when the employee ran out and stood behind the getaway vehicle, the man backed into the employee.

The employee got the license plate, and meanwhile a passerby saw the getaway unfold and followed the vehicle, confirming the license plate, make and model before losing sight of it in Redondo Beach, police said.

Hermosa detectives hurried to the store and used the information to discover their suspect’s identity, and officers went to a home in Long Beach and arrested a 32-year-old man.

As they searched his gold 2006 Chrysler Sebring he told detectives, ‘The items you’re looking for are in the black bag,’ said Detective Mick Gaglia.

Detectives also found “a specific list for cosmetics that matched the items reported stolen from CVS and ultimately recovered from his vehicle,” Gaglia said. ER

by Robb Fulcher

Police said two dogs that allegedly attacked and killed a third, small dog were likely to be euthanized this week. Their owner turned them over to a shelter.

The two dogs – Jack, a black Lab mix and Stella, a black Portuguese water dog – allegedly killed a white Maltese dog named Mercedes as she was being walked by a woman in the area of 30th Street and Ingleside Drive about 9 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 25, police said.

The bigger dogs turned on a woman who tried to fight them off, and she suffered an aggravation of an existing back injury as she escaped them, police said.

The owner was cited for allegedly having a vicious dog at large. Police said he had been cited previously for having a dog at large, after the same two dogs injured another dog and bit a person at Hermosa Valley Park on June 8, 2009.

The owner turned the dogs over to animal control authorities in Carson as animals that cannot be controlled, police said. ER

The stolen head of the fiberglass statue is a twin for this bronze recasting that now graces the pier. Photo by Robb Fulcher

by Robb Fulcher

Someone has stolen the head of the original fiberglass surfer statue that stood at the city pier for four decades, until a twin version was cast in bronze to replace it six years ago.

The fiberglass original, a life-size depiction of the late lifeguard Tim Kelly riding a wave, sat in pieces in a storage area above the Hermosa Beach Historical Museum ever since it was cut up to aid in the bronze recasting. Then about a week ago Rick Koenig, president of the Hermosa Beach Historical Society, discovered the head had gone missing.

“Tim Kelly’s head has been stolen,” he said.

The theft was discovered when the storage area was being cleaned out to make way for a new emergency operations facility in the sprawling Community Center on Pier Avenue that also houses the museum.

Koenig speculated that the theft occurred while the storage area was left unlocked at some point within the past month.

“I saw his head probably a month ago,” where it lay among the limbs and torso pieces, Koenig said.

The Historical Society has planned to put the fiberglass Kelly statue back together again, but as things stand now they couldn’t do it with all the king’s horses and all the king’s men. The society’s plans called for displaying the reassembled statue possibly within the museum or just outside of it.

Koenig said the nine-pound head, like the rest of the original statue, was made “like a surfboard,” with fiberglass over foam.

Koenig did not file a police report, deciding instead to go to the press with an unspecified reward for the return of the head, no questions asked. Anyone wanting to contact Koenig about the matter can call 310-318-1403. ER