The city’s new community-oriented planning process launched Monday night as more than 75 residents jammed into an overflowing room at the Community Center to discuss the future of Hermosa Beach.
The meeting is the first of at least three slated to better include residents in the planning of city projects.
“What we’ve been asked to do is stitch together a series of conversations to make some sort of cohesive whole that allows you as residents to have a good grip on who you are as a community,” said Charles Buki, the founder of the Neighborhood Planning Firm and facilitator for the evening. “And what you value and what is most important to you as you go forward and your children inherit this community.”
The two-and-a-half hour meeting consisted of both small and large group work, based around six questions intended to suss out a list of values as well as a mission statement for the residents of Hermosa Beach.
Public officials were not encouraged to attend. City Manager Tom Bakaly was specifically advised not to be present, in fact, to better encourage dialogue among residents and business owners independent of the frameworks of the city government.
“We’re here to facilitate a conversation across the community and several topical lines,” said Buki, who cautioned the crowd not to focus on specific topics during the first meeting.
Several residents brought up the issue of oil drilling several times, but were repeatedly scolded by other residents.
“That is not why we are here,” one man exclaimed, exasperated, at one point.
An agenda with for the evening even emphasized that the evening was not a “gripe session,” a “re-hashing of the past” or a time to “antagonize or be rude to each other.”
“I think I should go then,” a resident joked after the line items were read.
On Saturday, the first part of the community dialogue began with a ‘Summer Celebration,’ that was held on the lawn of the Community Center. Six booths were set up to pass out information to residents, including a timeline of the potential E&B Natural Resources oil drilling project, information about the future economic development of downtown and a broader explanation of the city’s new general plan. Attendees were also encouraged to answer a questionnaire and learn about the walkability of their neighborhood.
“I think it’s a good event,” resident Marilyn Weesit said. “I came because I wanted to know more about what’s going on in Hermosa Beach.”
Monday’s event was just the second step in a six-month program designed to sort through the community’s values.
“We’re here to help you sort through whatever it is that’s going to impact you as a community externally and internally,” said Buki. “And mine what’s in your community, what you believe in, and work with you to turn that into something of a decision making process.”
Buki used the word “drill” – in a non-oil context, as in “drill down on these questions – and was met with citizen consternation each time.
The room was split into six groups, and each group answered a question including, “What makes Hermosa Beach special?” and “Do we have confidence in each other to do what’s right?”
“We have the most abstract question to ask,” said resident and volunteer moderator Mary Campbell, about her group’s question of ‘How are these issues interconnected?’ “If I were to put one thing into it, it would be if we see the connection in the community, we get to talk about how we strengthen any of this so that we can be in control of our own future.”
Lori Ford was the spokesperson for the second question, “Do we have a community here? What kind of community is it?”
“Overwhelmingly we felt we were a caring community, we’re a small town, we’re safe, we’re a great place to raise kids, we’re funky, unpretentious and we don’t want to lose that,” she said.
“Amen,” many residents answered to her statement.
Towards the end of the evening, facilitator Buki and partner JoAnna Schull graded Hermosa’s capacity to come together as a community as a C+.
“We’re going to build a decision making tool that’s going to leave you confident,” Buki said, who added that he intends to “poke around the ‘hood,” and do major tweaks and overhauls to the system to improve the city’s grade.
Group six encompassed the six questions in one sentence: True and honest communication (begets) = trust and confidence = more proactive engagement = more cohesive, inclusive, unified future!
“You’ve got work to do,” said Buki.
Visit http://www.hbmovingforward.com/ to join the conversation. The next meeting has yet to be announced, but is expected to be held in September. ER
