Newsletter No. 2, June 30, 2022

· Un-defunding public safety.

· The Beach Cities Health District push for access to Flagler Lane.

· Airport noise.

· Strengthening the Hillside Overlay.

· Development – and $12,000 in donations to the Chen and Mattucci campaigns.

· Privatizing refuse pickups.

Tonight the new Council takes over, and starting the process will begin to

name someone to George Chen’s vacant seat.

What else can we expect to see on future agendas:

•  Un-defunding public safety. At the League of Women VotersCandidates Forum, Aurelio Mattucci claimed the Council wouldn’t bedefunding the police when it cut 42 positions because no one was inthe jobs. Clearly, he either misunderstands basic budgeting or he was being disingenuous. The positions were funded; the question is why they were vacant. The consequence has been detectives working basic patrol shifts, which delayed crime follow-ups.

The irony: The money will be available because the sales tax increase passed – a

measure that both Mauttucci and George Chenvote to not put on the ballot.

What is unlikely: The Council needs to do a thorough budget review. Chen has shown

a distinct disinclination to do that work.

• The Beach Cities Health District has pushed to get access to Flagler Lane so that it can use that street as part of its grand plan. The previous Council has resisted BCHD’s request. There is no reason to think that there will be a softening, but the issue needs to be watched on District 2’s behalf.

•  Airport noise continues to plague residents of District 5. The noise-monitoring system should be in place soon. Then the issue will be the enforcement of no-left turns.

•  The language of the Hillside Overlay needs strengthening. Now that we have Districts, Mattucci should be championing this issue. This is something that the three local homeowners associations are going to have to grapple with.

•  Development in general will continue to be an issue. At the 11th hour, key figures in a local development company made six $1,000 donations to both Chen and Mattucci. The company currently has no projects in Torrance, but it is responsible for the massive building going up at Crenshaw and Lomita in Lomita. The concern: Were the donations a bid to influence the vote on a future project?

•  The firefighters union has suggested that the City could save funds – and make more money available for their salaries – by privatizing garbage collection. Is that what was behind Athens Services’ $1,000 donation to Mattucci?