The Hermosa Beach Neighborhood Association
"Neighbors working together for a better Hermosa Beach"
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on Time Warner Channel 8 and Verizon FIOS Channel 31. HB City Council Debates will be Re-Broadcast daily up to Nov. 3, 2009. Check Time Warner Channel 8 and Verizon FIOS Channel 31, each day.
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Important Hermosa Beach 2009 Election Info:
City Council Candidate's Information Pages
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Statements
and Contact Information |
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(310
) 938-1971 Patrick
“Kit” Bobko -
Candidate Statement http://www.smartvoter.org/2009/11/03/ca/la/vote/bobko_p/
Jeff
Duclos
(310)
374-6921 Jeff
Duclos – Candidate
Statement http://www.smartvoter.org/2009/11/03/ca/la/vote/duclos_j/
Public
Sector Consultant
(310)
372-6140 Howard
Fishman – Candidate
Statement http://www.smartvoter.org/2009/11/03/ca/la/vote/fishman_h/
(310)
798-2969 Michael
Keegan – Candidate
Statement http://www.smartvoter.org/2009/11/03/ca/la/vote/keegan_m/ Kathleen
L. Midstokke
(310)
937-3417 Kathleen Midstokke – Candidate Statement League of Women Voters - Smart Voter Info: http://www.smartvoter.org/2009/11/03/ca/la/vote/midstokke_k/
Local
Business owner
(424)
241-3720 Josh
Ochs – Candidate
Statement http://www.smartvoter.org/2009/11/03/ca/la/vote/ochs_j/ |
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1146
(310)
406-6216 Christopher
Reed – Candidate
Statement http://www.smartvoter.org/2009/11/03/ca/la/vote/reed_c/ Hermosa
Beach City Council Candidate's Debate Video Responses _______________________________________________ HBNA
Candidate Debate from Oct. 1, 2009 HB
Chamber of Commerce Debate from Oct. 15, 2009 Leadership
Hermosa Beach Debate from Oct. 15, 2009 City of Hermosa Beach–Municipal Election Info- 11/3/2009Official Candidates for the Office of Member of the City Councilhttp://www.hermosabch.org/elected/elections/election20091103.html
Election
Candidate Debates: Thursday,
October 1, from 7-9 p.m., in the City
Council Chambers, Wednesday,
October 14, at 1 p.m., at the Thursday,
October 15, from 7 -9 p.m. in the City
Council Chambers, Thursday, October 15, from
10 a.m. to 12:30
p.m.,in the City Council Chambers,
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A Virtual Town Hall ---
The Citizens-Sponsored Survey ---
An Online Forum to post comments View
the
HBNA 2007 Candidate's Debate Video - Q&A www.ThisIsHermosa.com/
Check out the new Virtual Town Hall for Hermosa Beach residents |
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The
Daily
Breeze –
October 27, 2009
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The
Beach
Reporter –
October 8, 2009
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Hermosa
Beach
_______________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________ The
Easy
Reader – October
22, 2009 by
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The Beach Reporter – August 10, 2006
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Hermosa Beach News We Get Letters
Not
enough income |
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The Daily Breeze – July 28, 2006
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Friday Letters to the Editor |
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HB won't reap much from restaurant Recently, Hermosa Beach began hearing a request from the developer of the Hermosa Pavilion on Pacific Coast Highway. He desires to increase his restaurant there to 8,000 square feet, an area larger than three 25-foot-by-100-foot home sites, and to have on-sale liquor, too. Eighteen residents spoke against his plan. Speaking in favor, though, was the salaried spokesperson of the Hermosa Chamber of Commerce business lobby, of which the developer is also a director. The chamber's spokesperson ludicrously stated that sales and property tax from the Pavilion and similar restaurant/bar businesses is a major revenue contributor to Hermosa's general fund. In fact, the city is receiving little more than some underpriced annual business license fees, tax on utilities and no sales tax of consequence from the few businesses in the Pavilion. Also, the assessor's Web site indicates that including all of the supplemental assessments for remodeling done to date, the city is now receiving a mere $39 per day from its 21 percent share of the Pavilion's annual property taxes. Interesting to note is that 10 townhomes, assessed at $900,000 each, bring the city treasure more total annual revenue than can be expected from the entire Pavilion, even if the City Council forever gifts the developer full on-sale liquor and his proposed mammoth restaurant/bar. Additionally, the city's finance director confirmed that total sales tax revenue to the city from all the restaurant/bars citywide which have on-sale liquor is just $780 per day. That's less than 2 percent of the $43,000 per day Hermosa Beach spends on police and public safety. And all know where much of that expensive necessity has to be focused. -- HOWARD LONGACRE Hermosa Beach |
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The Beach Reporter – July 27, 2006
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We Get Letters
Other
issues The proposed upscale restaurant is enormous. Restaurants are risky and once a liquor license is granted, if the business fails, the liquor license stays with the building. In such a large space, will a dance club follow? Remember, Club Saffire was once Marie Callender's. Do we want the problems of lower Pier Avenue to migrate up to Pacific Coast Highway? Club Saffire has already had numerous police visits. Can our
overextended police cover another bar and not our homes? What is the
real cost tradeoff for a successful restaurant/bar? The Chamber of
Commerce claims such a business brings tax revenue. But a presentation
stated we surpass tax income considerably by having to provide
additional policing. Hermosa far exceeds the Alcohol Beverage
Control-suggested percentage limit for population and more bars bring
more crime. |
The Beach Reporter – July 20, 2006
HB Planning Commission deadlocks on alcohol permit - The Hermosa Beach Planning Commission was unable to reach a consensus on a proposal to grant the owner of the Hermosa Pavilion a conditional use permit to serve alcohol on his property. At the July 18 meeting, Pavilion owner Gene Shook took a decidedly different approach to present his vision of a new 8,000-square-foot restaurant to the Planning Commission. Many of Shook's representatives described the new project as “organic” and “upscale,” but the local residents attending the meeting found little solace from these descriptions. One homeowner, Lee Grant, had no problem with the introduction of a new restaurant, but objected to the idea of another establishment serving alcohol. “Why not complement them (the Pavilion's other tenants) with indeed what Mr. Shook suggests, which sounds like an organic restaurant, and let's serve green tea and let's stop issuing liquor licenses,” said Grant.
Conditional Use Permit
Information:
Attention: Hermosa Beach Residents Living Near 16th Street and PCH
Regarding a New 8000 sq. ft. “Restaurant/Bar” with “On Sale” Alcohol License
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Stillwater Bistro at The Hermosa Beach Pavilion
FOR MORE INFO ON: The HB Planning Commission Vote:
A Conditional Use Permit for an "On Sale" Alcohol ABC License 8000 sq. ft. Restaurant/Bar, w/Entertainment and "Private Dining"
Located at 1601 PCH, next to 24 Hour Fitness
Public Hearing Continued to Tuesday, August 15, 2006 at the Hermosa Beach Planning Commission at 7:00 p.m.
For More Information, Read the CUP Agenda at the Web Link, Just Below:
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City of Hermosa Beach Staff Recommended Action: To approve said request. |
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Does a Higher Alcohol Outlet Density
in Hermosa Beach, Generate More Crime?
Alcohol Outlet Density - Retail alcohol outlets per square mile
Manhattan Beach has 27 alcohol outlets per sq. mile with a year 2000 population of 33,852.
Hermosa Beach has 65 alcohol outlets per sq. mile with a year 2000 population of 18,566.
Manhattan Beach averaged less than 20,000 Calls for Service a year from 2001 to 2004.
Hermosa Beach averaged more than 30,000 Calls for Service a year from 2001 to 2004,
with a police force that is half the size of Manhattan Beach's.
Hermosa Beach has more than 2.4 times the Alcohol Outlet Density than Manhattan Beach.
Alcohol Outlet Density as a Cause of Crime and Violence
Alcohol Outlet Density Research Studies
- Year 2004 Hermosa Beach per capita crime comparison to Manhattan Beach -
Hermosa Beach per capita Arrests were 2.5 times higher, than in Manhattan Beach.
Hermosa per capita Criminal Citations were 3.2 times higher, than in Manhattan Beach.
Hermosa per capita Calls for Service were 2.9 times higher, than in Manhattan Beach.
Hermosa Beach Arrests, Assaults and Disturbance Calls reach all-time highs in 2004.
Hermosa Beach Crime Statistics from the HBPD
Criminal Adult Total Calls Disturbance
Burglary Robbery Assaults DUI Citations Arrests For Service Calls
1998 -- 113 17 77 150 562 608 19,951 3,199
2004 -- 140 20 143 164 1,419 1,388 30,215 4,201
Crime Categories That Have Shown an Increase from 1998 thru 2004
Criminal Adult Total Calls Disturbance
Burglary Robbery Assaults DUI Citations Arrests For Service Calls
Up Up Up Up Up Up Up Up
23.9 % 17.6 % 85.7 % 9.3 % 152 % 128 % 51.4 % 31.3 %
Source: The Hermosa Beach Police Department Activity Reports
Hermosa Beach Crime Statistics obtained from:
The California Department of Justice - Criminal Justice Statistics Center
California Dept. of Justice - CJSC Homepage: http://www.caag.state.ca.us/cjsc/index.htm
Comparison of 1998 to 2004 CJSC crime statistics for:
Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach and El Segundo
The following Microsoft Excel spreadsheet downloads, were e-mailed to all four
Hermosa
Beach City Council Candidates,
fpdb/HBPD CRIME STATS - 1995 to 2004 p3.xls
The Daily Breeze – July 16, 2006
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Sunday Letters to the Editor |
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HB bar plan a threat to public safety This letter represents a plea that the Hermosa Beach Planning Commission and City Council exercise whatever influence they have to deny a permit for a 15,000-square-foot restaurant/bar at the Hermosa Pavilion. I currently own a business in Hermosa -- after 33 years in law enforcement for Los Angeles County. There was a time when I didn't think any city could have too many bars. What has happened to our little community shows me I was wrong. The proposed monster bar at the Pavilion is not planned to meet the needs of the Hermosa drinkers. If every resident drank, we'd still have plenty of bars. It's an effort to draw drinkers and their wallets from out of the area. Make no mistake, that effort will be successful. As a former gang investigator, I found that every unsavory element imaginable between here and Riverside would find his way to the 91 freeway and drive toward the sun. That would drop them right here, about six blocks north of the proposed mega-bar. This proposal represents a huge public safety issue ripe for a citizen's backlash. Weekend policing/patrols and 911 response times are already seriously compromised by the Pier Plaza bar scene, even when things are going smoothly. Between 1 a.m. and 2:30 a.m., I have to assume the majority of drivers here in Hermosa are drunk and trying to find their way out of town. This bar is being planned and bankrolled by a truly interesting character, and local officials know it. He has relied on brinkmanship and foot dragging on other issues with the Pavilion, and the notion of a real, viable, restaurant is laughable. If the restaurant doesn't make him money -- which it won't -- he'll have a bigger bar. If he has entertainment, he can charge a cover, which is cash and under the radar as to reportable revenue. In terms of planning, let's make some plans for our kids and their kids. This is not Moreno Valley. The folks who can afford to live here are bright, successful and obviously did something right with their lives, or have a trust fund. Please don't allow our elected officials to turn their backs on these people and pander to the developer and an army of horny twenty-somethings who will descend on our community. They will not be driving down here for dinner. -- RICHARD HALLIBURTON Hermosa Beach |
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The Easy Reader – May 11, 2006
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Hermosa Beach - About Town Four candidates for a vacant City Council seat will square off at a debate sponsored by the Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau 11:30 a.m. Thursday, May 18 at Sangria Restaurant on the Pier Plaza. The council seat was left vacant by the resignation of Howard Fishman, who was elected to the council last November but declined to serve after his wife was diagnosed with a serious medical condition. Vying for the council seat are Jeff Duclos, Kit Bobko and Jeff Maxwell, who ran and lost in November, and newcomer Jancie Brittain. The Hermosa Beach Neighborhood Association sponsors a City Council candidates’ forum 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, May 25 in the Hermosa Beach City Council Chambers, 1315 Valley Drive. Candidates in the June election will be asked to address issues of public safety, quality of life and the future of residential and commercial development in Hermosa. The forum will be broadcast on Adelphia Communications cable TV Channel 8. For more information see www.HBneighborhood.org |
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The Beach Reporter – March 23, 2006
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Hermosa Beach News Boy, 15, killed crossing dangerous PCH crosswalk (3/23)
A
15-year-old Hermosa Beach teenager was fatally struck by a car while
riding a scooter across Pacific Coast Highway in a crosswalk at 16th
Street last Thursday afternoon.
“As he continued across the busy intersection, at least one southbound driver slammed on her brakes to avoid hitting the teen,” said Wolcott. “He continued to the next lane, closest to the curb, the No. 3 lane. The collision smashed the windshield of the Mitsubishi and propelled the teen to the street where he sustained massive head injuries.”
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The Beach Reporter – March 9, 2006
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Hermosa Beach News Locals moms create Watch (3/9)
In the
hopes of better preparing Hermosa Beach residents in the event of a
disaster, emergency or major crime, three local mothers have organized
a Neighborhood Watch effort that they hope will involve the entire city.
The
trio, called Hermosa Beach MOMS, began their emergency preparedness
effort by selling disaster kits to locals to raise money for the PTO.
They then discovered that Hermosa Beach was without an official
Neighborhood Watch program and agreed to establish one.
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KCBS-TV Channel 2 News at 5 PM -
Hermosa Beach Police Issue Warning To Women - Broadcast on 7/29/05 at 5pm.
You can view this news story on Windows Media Player.
KCBS graphic
Hermosa Beach Police detectives believe the two incidents may be linked to a March 8, 2004, attack on a woman who was dragged into a stairwell and beaten.
View the CBS-TV Channel 2 news story on the Pier Plaza Assaults . . . You need Windows Media Player in order get the audio/video of this CBS-TV news story reported by Paul Dandridge.
HERMOSA BEACH, Calif. (CBS) Hermosa Beach police are warning women to avoid walking alone from Pier Plaza nightspots following two attempted assaults possibly committed by the same man who attacked a woman last year. Detectives told the Daily Breeze that they believe the man -- dubbed the "Late Night Attacker" -- was trying to rape a woman when he grabbed her as she walked on Monterey Avenue in the south end of the city early Sunday. The victim was walking alone at 2:15 a.m. on a well-lighted sidewalk when a muscular man confronted her. The woman was able to escape by kneeing him in the groin, police said. On July 8 about 3:30 a.m., a woman was walking home from the downtown area in a dimly lighted alley near 10th Street and Monterey Avenue when a man tried to force her into a car, the Daily Breeze reported. That woman also managed to escape. If you have any information related to the incidents, please call Detective Robert Higgins at 310-318-0341.
Images of America: Hermosa Beach by Chris Miller and Jerry Roberts chronicles the town from the days before it was a town, when the electric Red Car train brought people in over the sand dunes from greater L.A.
If you buy the book, Images of America - Hermosa Beach from the HB Historical Society, The Chamber of Commerce, or PINK, all the profits go to fund the Hermosa Beach Historical Society's Museum Expansion.
The Easy Reader – December 8, 2005
Sunday morning brick breaks church’s stained glass window
By Robb Fulcher
Police were investigating after someone threw a brick through a stained glass window on the front of the 80-year old Church of Christ Scientist building on the corner of Manhattan Avenue and 16th Street early Sunday mourning. “We don’t consider it anything of any gravity, other than its just vandalism, unfortunately,” said a church member.
Police said bricks were used to break the stained glass window high on the front wall on the tall, column-fronted building and another window low to the ground on the 16th Street side. Nobody entered the church, police said.
Some Hermosans living blocks away from the Pier Plaza have complained to police and the City Council about loud revelers sometimes breaking bottles or publicly urinating as they make their ways from the Plaza, which commands a lion’s share of the on-duty officers weekend nights.
Police urged anyone with information about the motive or identity of the vandal or vandals to call Detective Wayne Lewis at 318-0330. Read the complete story with picture of the vandalism.
The Easy Reader – December 1, 2005
Hermosa
police were seeking witnesses after a man broke into a home in the 3500
block of Manhattan Avenue about 3:30 a.m. Oct. 29 and fled when a woman
resident screamed, and hit and scratched him.
Police urged anyone who might have seen the man flee to call Hermosa
Beach Police Detective Bob Higgins at 318-0341.
The man was described as 6 feet tall and athletic wearing a
long-sleeved, button-down shirt and possibly khaki pants.
He entered the home, possibly through an unlocked door, police said.
The woman was awakened by a sound, shouted, and confronted the man, who
was wearing a smooth, latex, skin-colored mask, in a hallway. The man
grabbed her throat and she fought back, police said.
Police are hoping witnesses might have seen the man running from the
home. ER
The Daily Breeze - November 30,2005
Hermosa police ask help in search for intruder - Masked person broke into a Hermosa Beach home last month but fled when a female resident fought him off.
Hermosa Beach Crime Statistics - 1998 thru 2003
Rape Burglary Non-Injury ALL DUI Criminal Adult Total Calls
Auto Acc. Assaults Citations Arrests for Service
1998 -- 8 113 201 77 150 562 608 19,951
1999 -- 6 118 170 119 203 613 680 21,378
2000 -- 6 145 195 97 152 545 616 25,147
2001 -- 9 104 176 141 170 668 846 32,422
2002 -- 15 118 202 131 214 943 1,012 28,728
2003 -- 11 143 258 140 285 989 1,315 32,241
Rape Burglary Non-Injury ALL DUI Criminal Adult Total Calls
Auto Acc. Assaults Citations Arrests for Service
Up Up Up Up Up Up Up Up
37 % 26 % 28 % 81 % 90 % 75 % 116 % 61 %
Crime Statistics from: The Hermosa Beach Police Department Activity Reports
Excerpts from:
The Easy Reader - February 3, 2005
by Robb Fulcher
--- The year 2004 saw a record number of arrests in Hermosa -- 1,388 -- topping the old record of 1,315 set the year before.
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Those high-water marks go back at least to
1991, when the Hermosa Beach Police Department began keeping detailed
arrest records, Chief Mike Lavin said.
--- The downtown area with its active and sometimes
rowdy nightlife has contributed to the increased arrests, Lavin
said.
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“That
is a reflection, I would have to say, of the downtown.
We have so much activity there,” he said.
--- In another possibly downtown-related
development, misdemeanor citations ballooned from 989 to 1,419.
Disturbance calls to police rose from 3,025 to 4,201.
Hermosa Beach Crime Statistics from the HBPD
Burglary Robbery Assaults DUI Citations Arrests For Service Calls
1998 -- 113 17 77 150 562 608 19,951 3,199
2004 -- 140 20 143 164 1,419 1,388 30,215 4,201
Criminal Adult Total Calls Disturbance
Burglary Robbery Assaults DUI Citations Arrests For Service Calls
Up Up Up Up Up Up Up Up
23.9 % 17.6 % 85.7 % 9.3 % 152 % 128 % 51.4 % 31.3 %
Source: The Hermosa Beach Police Department Activity Reports
The goal of the HBNA is to bring neighbors together to address
the needs and
concerns they have
for quality of life issues in Hermosa Beach.
The Beach Reporter – August 12, 2004
Hermosa Beach News
HB Residents complain about Pier Plaza patrons (8/12)
By Whitney Youngs
In a public meeting, Hermosa Beach residents and business owners along with a few elected city officials and employees Aug. 4 discussed several ongoing issues that just don't ever seem to go away pertaining to the city's raucous nightlife in the downtown area and on the pier plaza. City officials fielded numerous complaints from residents who live in the nearby neighborhoods who are sick and tired of waking up in the middle of the night to drunken party animals, some of whom yell and scream down residential streets, urinate in front yards or vandalize private property.
Police Chief Mike Lavin commented on the present environment spanning roughly the past six months, and said that there have been no major incidents and the area overall has improved.
Newly appointed Planning Commissioner and lifetime resident Rick Koenig attended the meeting and said most of the issues discussed centered on a "fraternity-like atmosphere" in the downtown in which a handful of police officers are regulating a scene comprising hundreds of restaurant and bar patrons "I know a lot of people are fed up with the 'red cup syndrome' where people are walking around in public drinking openly," said Koenig, "and the urination and trash in everyone's yard, including mine. These kind of meetings are good in the sense that at least it allows people to vent instead of building up animosity and so it's a step in the right direction."
The public meeting, which began as proactive but eventually turned into a rather heated debate, provided residents with an opportunity to verbalize their frustrations and concerns about a downtown that attracts throngs of young people, both local and from out of town, most every weekend and on some weeknights.
"I think these problems can be fixed. We just need some positive solutions because if all we do is antagonize each other then that's all we've done," said City Councilman J.R. Reviczky. "Unfortunately, if you get 10 people in a room, one of them is going to be an idiot; with 100, 10 are going to be; and with 1,000, you have 100. That's really what the scenario is down there and anywhere. Half of the laws that are passed by government are passed because 10 percent of people have no respect for others. You have a lot of people down there and you have a lot of people down there spending money, you're going to have that 10-percent figure no matter what. That ratio stays the same and we'll always have to deal with that 10 percent.
"We used to staff officers that were on overtime and now we actually have a special shift down there which helps with overtime costs and gives those officers a better grasp of what is going on when you have the same people down there all the time. You have to give that a chance to work and I think that is the phase we are in right now."
The meeting also served as a platform in brainstorming solutions to such problems, which have been at the forefront in the city for years now. Planning Commissioner Sam Perotti also attended the meeting and suggested that at the next session an agenda be drafted as a way of providing a bit more structure. "I think there needs to be continued coordination between the business operators, and the Police and Fire departments. I think that in the long run, things will work out," he said. "In the past, the Planning Commission has modified business conditional use permits by limiting hours mainly based on excessive noise and that has been an effective resource."
Resident Al Benson has been a strong proponent of cracking down on bars and restaurants that become nightclubs in the evening that he believes serve as a breeding ground for much of the boisterous behavior of patrons.
"Of all the things that are going on down there, there are monetary costs - cleaning the plaza, police overtime - and then there are human costs, people are getting hurt and I'm tired of reading in the newspapers of police being attacked as well. All these costs, are they worth it?" said Benson. "It seems like even with implementing some solutions - like reducing noise and occupancy, enforcing underage drinking - but the number of people who come down there does not change and the age group does not change and the amount of alcohol really does not change, we won't have a real effect on alcohol-related crimes."
According to the city's quarterly statistical reports for 2003, the Police Department cited the largest number of adults arrested in more than a decade. According to the report, robbery stayed the same with 13 cases reported in 2002 and 2003. Both assaults and burglaries increased this year compared to 2002 with 140 reported assaults and 143 burglaries compared to 131 assaults and 118 burglaries reported in 2002. The number of reported D.U.I. arrests rose with 214 cases reported in 2002 and 285 cases reported in 2003.
Police transported more people to jail in 2003 with 1,012 adult arrests in 2002 and 1,315 adult arrests in 2003. The number of police calls for service increased this year from 28,728 to 32,241 while the number of disturbance calls dropped from 3,343 to 2,788.
In mid-February, the Planning Commission unanimously voted to review conditional use permits of Aloha Sharkeez and Sangria. "The thing that I don't think people really understand is that the downtown area in the overall picture in terms of parking, taxes, licenses is about $5 million to the city and people tend to forget what it was like 10 years ago," said Sharkeez owner Ron Newman. "For the amount of people who come down, it's pretty well-run. Most of the businesses are upscale and sell food, and it's not going to go away. The people who have businesses have a right to be here. If there are problems, then those problems need to be solved between the individual and the business, and it has to be solved realistically. Hermosa is what it is and without these businesses Hermosa wouldn't be able to survive. I think there should be a city liaison that someone could go to, and that person could meet with both the business and the citizen because if you don't try and solve these problems, no one is going to win."
At its February meeting, the commission reviewed an incident report drafted by Lavin that details the history of officer calls responding to incidents taking place inside or outside downtown restaurants and bars, and several along Pacific Coast Highway. "For the past several years, the city of Hermosa Beach has enjoyed a very popular downtown area," stated Lavin in his report. "In particular, the Hermosa night life has become very popular and several thousand patrons frequent the downtown nightclubs especially on the weekend nights. The Police Department has had to increase the amount of enforcement activity on the Hermosa plaza to keep a lid on the crowds and the associated public disturbances, assaults and public intoxication that have become very commonplace each evening between the hours of 10 p.m. and 2:30 a.m."
The Police Department staffs the plaza with foot patrol units on every night of the week with the exception of Monday and designates additional foot patrols on weekend nights. "All of this activity is paid through overtime and is costing the city several hundreds of thousands of dollars each year," added Lavin. "This activity on the plaza has also been the source of numerous personnel complaints against officers, claims against the city, lawsuits and injuries to officers."
According to Lavin's report, officers received 83 and 71 disturbance calls from Sangria and Aloha Sharkeez, respectively. The report tracks the history of calls from Dec. 1, 2002, to Jan. 10, 2004. Lavin also wanted to make it clear that such number of calls were made in front of an establishment, not necessarily inside of them. Because the two establishments ranked as the first and second in the highest number of calls among the 15 other restaurants and bars mostly located in downtown and some along PCH, Lavin asked the commission to review both CUPs. The commission will determine whether the CUPs were properly and adequately implemented as a way of controlling some of the problems that have come in the form of such disturbance calls.
Among the restaurants with the lowest number of calls, Patrick Malloy's was ranked the lowest with one call followed by the Poop Deck with two calls, the Hermosa Yacht Club and Caf/ Boogaloo with three calls, and the Mermaid restaurant and Barnacles tied for fourth place with five calls each. The report focuses on calls directly dealing with disturbances, assaults and public intoxication. Of the remaining establishments, Shark's Cove received six calls, followed by Pointe 705 with 10, Hennessey's with 11, TJ Charly'z and the North End Bar with 13, Hermosa Saloon with 16, the Pitcher House with 17, the Underground with 33 and the Lighthouse with 45.
Carla Merriman, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, commented on the "red cup" drinking scene and expressed satisfaction in knowing that the bars have begun to take initiative in recent months. "It was good to hear that the bars are cleaning up their act," she said. "I think that more information should be given to residents regarding the value of these businesses on the plaza - Sangria, Sharkeez and Hennessey's are consistently among the top 25 sales tax producers. When I hear residents talking about people on The Strand with red cups and blaming the establishments for that, I think it's ridiculous. The restaurants and bars do not pour drinks to go. I think we need to work in the community as a whole and whatever the chamber can do to help, we would like to as a way to move in a more positive direction."
1. The HBNA Homepage - allows you to enter, The HBNA Web Community. You are now on the HBNA Homepage, which describes the Purpose, Mission and Profile of the Hermosa Beach Neighborhood Association. The HBNA Web Community is made up of; The HBNA Community WebLog, The HBNA Community Calendar, The HBNA Discussion Forums and you can take the The Hermosa Beach Community Survey Online or get it by e-mail.
2. The HBNA Community WebLog - is an online Hermosa Beach community news and informational newsletter also known as a "weblog" or "blog". The HBNA Community Weblog can be reached by clicking the hyperlink below:
Click Here: To Enter The HBNA Web Community
3. The HBNA Community Calendar - is a web calendar that that focuses on local community events that take place in Hermosa Beach. The HBNA Community Calendar can be reached to by clicking the hyperlink on the left of The HBNA Community WebLog
4. The HBNA Discussion Forums - is a wide ranging informational public debate forum that allows Hermosa Beach residents to post questions and coordinate their wants and needs. The HBNA Discussion Forums can be reached by clicking the hyperlink below:
5. The Hermosa Beach Community Survey - is the start of a community needs assessment process that can help to identify, give priority and work to solve quality of life problems in Hermosa Beach.
6. The HBNA Newsletter, will allow you to keep up to date on the current issues in Hermosa Beach that interest you.
The HBNA Newsletter can be e-mailed to you, please send the request to: thehbna@verizon.net
The Hermosa Beach Neighborhood Association
City of HB Info HBNA Photo Gallery HB Crime Info HB Weblinks
The Easy Reader's " Best Of " Hermosa Beach for 2005