Hermosa Beach council leans against forming arts or senior living commissions

 

At its Tuesday night meeting, the Hermosa Beach City Council appeared opposed to forming two new commissions, one on arts and culture and another on senior living, issues that have assumed greater importance in recent years.

Although no vote was taken, discussion by the council and City Manager Sergio Gonzalez showed a preference for tackling the issues through existing groups, appointing a task force, or just leaving things as they are.

The need for added attention to the arts and senior living was raised at the beginning of the summer by Councilmember Hany Fangary. Fangary has previously noted that people over 45 have displaced those between 22 and 35 as Hermosa’s largest demographic cohort. And in the arts, he has pointed to the recent opening of art galleries on Cypress Avenue and photography galleries in the city’s downtown, as well as Hermosa’s prominent appearance in the feature film “La La Land.”

But council members seemed swayed by concerns, raised by Gonzalez, that commissions devoted to the subjects could be duplicative of existing efforts, administratively burdensome or, in the case of the arts, impeding of progress already under way.

“Bringing the arts under a formal Brown Act body can stifle the creativity needed for culture,” Gonzalez said.

On senior issues, council members wanted to subdivide the responsibility into senior living and vitality issues — to be handled by Hermosa 5-0, the city’s existing older adults program — and senior accessibility issues. Visit sites like https://www.lifeatcypresscourt.com/living-options/independent-living/ to know more about senior communities.

The council was inclined to delegate accessibility to the Access Hermosa working group, a body of city staff and residents that have been addressing the issue for over a year. Councilmember Carolyn Petty has previously taken issue with Access Hermosa, describing it as undemocratic and a questionable use of staff time. Gonzales said that he would likely pare down the time staff devoted to it, possibly having them attend meetings every other month, but council consensus favored keeping the group running.

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