Hermosa Councilman Brutsch legacy includes Noble, South and Green Belt parks
Former Hermosa Beach City Councilman Gary Brutsch with Eric Broden and daughter Shanden at a Richstone Family Center fundraiser last in May. Photo
Former Hermosa Beach city councilman and former city treasurer Gary Brutsch passed away while driving from the gym to eat at Eat At Joe’s, his favorite Redondo Beach restaurant, on Tuesday, April 11. Brutsch reportedly pulled his car off to the side of the road before dying from cardiac arrest. He was 75. The lifelong fitness buff was believed to have been in good health.
A memorial service will be held Saturday at the Manhattan Beach Country Club. A presentation of colors will begin at 3 p.m.
Opening night at the Hermosa Beach Community Center in 1984 (left to right) Mayor Gary Brutsch, architect Chuck Simmons and wife, Councilman George Schmeltzer and Community Resources Director Alana Mastroianni. Photo
Brutsch was elected to the Hermosa Beach City Council in 1982, having recently begun what would become a long, successful career in real estate. He was previously an officer with Los Angeles Police Department. Brutsch was the top vote getter in the eight-way race for three seats. He rode into office on a populist protest, led by grocer Frank Boccato, to overturn a traffic plan in the north end that made Manhattan Avenue one way.
“The traffic plan was far reaching, but it was not a single issue campaign… The issues will be public housing along with parking revenues, a better business climate and an improved image,” Brutsch told Easy Reader immediately after the election.
Caricature of council candidate Gary Brutsch during the 1982 Hermosa Beach City Council election.
Brutsch’s four years on the council were among the most contentious and financially challenging in the city’s history. In 1984, in an effort to find more revenue for the city, Brutsch and fellow councilmen Jack Woods and George Barks put a controversial measure on the ballot to repeal the city’s ban on oil drilling. It narrowly passed, setting up a three decades long battle to reverse the 1984 oil drilling approval.
On that same ballot, Brutsch supported measures to float bonds to purchase the Santa Fe Right of Way, which would be used to purchase the Green Belt and to approve a zoning change that would allow the school district to sell South School for residential development.
Brutsch was on the council sub committee that offered the school district residential zoning of South School in exchange for the district deeding part of the property for a park. South Park became one of city’s most popular family destinations.
Brutsch also played an instrumental role in the former Biltmore Hotel property becoming Noble Park. Initially he supported a proposal to build a 45-foot tall Doubletree Hotel on the property. But after that proposal was defeated twice at the polls, he swung his support to making the property a park.
Despite opposition from fellow Realtors, Brutsch also supported the council’s successful efforts to reduce density through downzoning.
Former councilman George Schmeltzer, who was generally on the losing end of 3-2 votes when he and Brutsch were on the council, recalled an exceptional courtesy Brutsch extended to him.
“I had worked hard on the remodel of the Hermosa Beach Community Theater. As mayor, Brutsch was entitled to preside over the opening ceremonies in 1984. But days before the opening, he offered me the emcee role.”
Former councilman Sam Edgerton called Brutsch “a survivor.”
“Even after he left elected office, he continued to be active in council politics, serving as a mentor to the newer councilmen,” said Edgerton, who served on the council in the early 1990s when Brutsch was the elected city treasurer. Edgerton credited Brutsch with helping him co-found the Beach Cities Toy Drive, which celebrated its 25th Anniversary last Christmas.
“Whatever he committed himself to to do, he did well,” Edgerton said.
Brutsch’s last foray into local politics was before the planning commission in March when he expressed opposition to a general plan provision that would impose “historical” designation on nearly 200 homes and businesses.
“The current city council’s attempt to usurp individual property rights by deed restricting properties is unethical and hopefully will be challenged by the affected citizens,” he wrote in a subsequent letter to the editor, published in Easy Reader.
Brutsch is survived by his daughter Shanden, sisters Susan, Bonnie and Barbara and former wife Kena. His wife Tina passed away in 2015. ER
Gary Brutsch celebrating his 75th birthday in January with daughter Shanden at the Porsche Experience Center in Carson. Brutsch was an avid race car driver. Photo courtesy of the family