by Dan Blackburn
During his State of the City address last Wednesday in the city council chambers, Hermosa Beach Mayor Justin Massey compared the impact the pandemic has had on the city to the impact it has had on private businesses, by stating, “We have been focused on keeping the lights on, continuing to provide services. Soon, we will be shifting to the future, back to normal day-to-day operations.
Local government was transformed “because we had to,” Massey said. He added, “We met the community’s needs. That effort was complicated, he noted, by a “tight labor market that has resulted in (city) staff shortages.”
Massey spoke for nearly 50 minutes before taking questions from people in the council chambers and attending via Zoom.
He broke his talk into seven topics: residents’ voice in city government; the city budget; public safety; the city’s COVID response; sustainability; businesses and schools; and infrastructure.
“We are generally a safe community,” Massey said, “but we see some of the same challenges and changes that are impacting other communities in the region.” In response, the police has recently hired eight new officers.
The police department has also updated its use of force policy, revised its pursuit policy, and launched a website to provide the public timely information.
Other observations from the mayor:
— “City revenue is up 4 percent over last year, and that’s a good sign that our economy is recovering.”
— “We are working with our homeless, to know they are safe and that our residents are safe, and that those in the homeless community know about (public) services available.”
— “It’s not the sexiest stuff, but (infrastructure and planning) are essential to creating the community we want, making sure that the uses of land in the community are what the community expects, and that they are in harmony with the uses around them.”
— “These council chambers now have new audio-video equipment. Now you hear speakers on the dais much more clearly.”
— “We have renovated over 1.6 miles of our sewer infrastructure in the city, and we continue to work on street paving, which residents have asked us to do.”
— “We have installed 70 storm capture screens throughout the city to keep trash out of our storm drain system and off the beach.”
— “The pandemic created both challenges and opportunities for us. In a very short time, we had to rework all of downtown. We’ve opened up dining decks, we have reconfigured lanes. And the response from the public has been overwhelmingly positive. This is a work in progress, and we will continue to evaluate it.”
— “We have an outdoor live music pilot program, which I understand is working well.”
— “We’re going to begin requiring residents to recycle organic matter. We will meet the state mandate ahead of the curve. If we can divert our organic wastes… it gets reused, and that’s exactly what we want.” ER
