Posts by Mark McDermott
Officer Greenleaf, K-9 Caden capture gold medal at World Police and Fire Games
Officer Ken Greenleaf and K-9 Caden captured the gold medal at the World Police and Fire Games inNew York City last week, ending their respective careers on an ultimate high note. Greenleaf, who retired last Friday after serving 26 years with the Redondo Beach Police Department, received the city’s greatest honor – the key to…
Read MoreDevelopment project could threaten historic tree
A 20,840 square foot shopping mall and “eco-friendly” carwash proposed at 901 N. Catalina Avenue has been appealed to the City Council after gaining approval from the Planning Commission two weeks ago. On Monday Metropolitan Investments, the owners of the neighboring Redondo Beach Information Technology Center, filed a formal notice of appeal that argued that…
Read MoreCivic Light Opera evicted from Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center
This wasn’t the curtain call anyone had in mind. The City of Redondo Beach on Monday severed its relationship with the Civic Light Opera of the South Bay Cities, essentially evicting the homegrown theater company that played a key role in transforming the former Aviation High School gymnasium into a state-of-the-art facility now known as…
Read MoreWooster on the rise
(This article was originally published Aug. 31. Wooster appears again tonight, this time at Saint Rocke) The story of the band called Wooster has a couple radically different starting points, one shrouded in murkiness and mystery and another that is all sunshine and song. Technically it all began in the back of a limousine on…
Read MoreThe vital revolution
The beach cities join a quest for the Holy Grail of public health: moving an entire population towards living longer, better It is well established that Americans are large and growing larger. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 68 percent of American adults are overweight or obese. One out of every three…
Read More7-year-old Jeremy Perez is remembered
On Saturday afternoon, eight days after losing 7-year-old Jeremy Perez in a parking lot accident at a neighborhood grocery story, his family and members of the community where the boy so vibrantly lived his life gathered at the beach to remember him. Jeremy was remembered as a happy-go-lucky student who paid attention to those less…
Read More7-year-old Jeremy Perez dies in store accident
A 7-year-old boy was killed Friday morning as he bicycled near the Albertson’s grocery store on Artesia Boulevard in North Redondo Beach. A truck making a delivery accidentally ran over the boy near the store’s loading bay. According to police reports, at about 10:28 a.m. an Albertsons truck was backing into the bay when the…
Read MoreThe passions of Nico Vega
Aja Volkman arrived in Los Angeles seven years ago searching for something more than a rock n’ roll dream. She came in search of her self. Volkman had almost no choice in the matter: she had to sing. She possessed one of those rare voices almost elemental in its power – she sings like the…
Read MoreBurglary duo arrested
A burglary victim received unusually swift justice last week. Officers were taking a Redondo Beach man’s theft report at the very same time detectives serving a search warrant in Torrance had found a large cache of stolen goods – including property just stolen from that man’s residence. Torrance police arrested two male suspects. “Literally, at…
Read MoreRedondo Beach council redistricting shifts voters
What was expected to be a routine redistricting vote erupted into a turf skirmish at last week’s City Council meeting when North Redondo Beach Councilman Steve Diels proposed shifting the AES power plant from Councilman Bill Brand’s South Redondo District 2 to neighboring Councilman Pat Aust’s District 3. The proposal reflected a growing tension between…
Read MoreSummer concert series: Mother Hips w/ Brian Wright [PHOTOS]
Mother Hips and Brian Wright play the Hermosa Beach summer concert series.
Read More7-year-old boy killed while bicycling near grocery store in North Redondo Beach [VIDEO]
A 7-year-old boy was killed Friday morning as he bicycled near the Albertson’s grocery store on Artesia Boulevard in North Redondo Beach. A truck making a delivery accidentally ran over the boy near the store’s loading bay. According to police reports, at about 10:28 a.m. an Albertsons truck was backing into the bay when the…
Read MoreThe Wailers, still wailing
It began with two teenage brothers in search of rhythm, circa 1961, in Kingston, Jamaica. Carly Barrett wanted to be a drummer, so he found a collection of discarded and variously sized paint cans and set them up like a drum kit. Aston Barrett wanted to play bass, so he hammered a piece of plywood…
Read MoreRedondo pier parking plagued with problems
The difficulties that have plagued the Redondo Beach pier parking structure for half a decade reached a climax last Thursday night when the automated exit system broke down after a concert and 150 cars were essentially trapped inside. One of those motorists was Councilman Steve Aspel, who is now leading the charge for a drastic…
Read MoreJanice Hahn likens Tea Party tactics to hostage-taking
Congresswoman Janice Hahn on Monday cast her vote against the deal to raise the debt ceiling. Hahn, a Democrat sworn in only two weeks ago after winning the July 12 special election to replace Jane Harman as District 36 representative, argued that that the debt ceiling bill passed by Congress represented not a compromise but…
Read MoreCongresswoman Janice Hahn votes against debt ceiling deal
Congresswoman Janice Hahn today cast her vote against the deal to raise the debt ceiling. Hahn, a Democrat sworn in only 13 days ago after winning the July 12 special election to replace Jane Harman as District 36 representative, said in a statement that she felt the deal was unbalanced. “This was a very difficult…
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