PART ONE: SURVEY SAYS...
I’ve been hearing a lot of complaints from friends and acquaintances about the UPAC recommendations recently approved by our City Council. Many people I talk to think we don’t need wider sidewalks. Others want a bike path down Pier Avenue. But mostly, folks are complaining that the UPAC recommendations were based on 479 responses (out of 18,566 residents) to a survey completed well over a year ago.
Some are wondering--since community awareness of the Pier Avenue renovation issues has increased substantially since then, would the survey results be different now? Could they get more residents and business owners to take the survey? Well, a few civic-minded friends of mine (Jeff Duclos, Jim Lissner, and a couple residents and business owners) decided to find out. They drew up a totally new survey, one that they feel is more detailed and specific, and now they want to know what you think.
I know a few members of the UPAC, and I believe they’d support this effort. They’ve always maintained that their goal is to do what the citizens want, and they have worked hard for a year to do just that. Plus, they're probably tired of the complaints, so...
Let’s put this “controversy” to bed, and let’s all take the new survey, OK? Since most Hermosans never took the first survey, here’s your chance to prove that the UPAC survey statistics are wrong (or right). I admit that I’m curious to see what we all actually want for Upper Pier Avenue. I suspect it could be exactly what the first UPAC survey said we want. But maybe it won’t be.
The survey is being circulated in a variety of ways. There will be an insert in one of the local papers this week. The surveys will be available at several Pier Avenue businesses. And you can also get a copy online here.
I think many folks don’t want wider sidewalks on Upper Pier Avenue because they believe that it will only make room for patio dining which will only pave the way for another drunken Frat Row like we have on the Plaza. No matter how many times the Planning Commissioners or UPAC members or City Councilmembers try to assure everyone that Upper Pier will not go wild, we just don’t believe them. They’ve lost our trust.
A few things have been happening lately, however, that have given me some hope about our town’s future.
First, the police have gotten much stricter about over-occupancies and permit enforcement of our downtown alcohol-serving establishments. The city is dinking the bars left and right. Good job, Chief Savelli.
Secondly, the ABC has also dropped in on Hermosa Beach, and they’ve been doing audits. They’ve got the bars on their toes. They know they have to straighten up and fly right or get cited. Good job, ABC.
Third, our local Neighborhood Watch program (run by the fabulous Kelly Kovac-Reedy and Tracy Hopkins) has given a voice to the silent majority...the residents. These gals work tirelessly, and they have facilitated neighborhood meetings between the police/fire departments and hundreds of residents. They also send out weekly newsletters about local crime and emergency preparedness. If you haven’t joined HBNW, please do. Their website is here.
Fourth, because of things like HBNW, City Council is now hearing what the residents want, and because of the new regime, they seem to be listening. Councilmen Michael DiVirgilio and Peter Tucker have asked the council look into downtown parking and public nuisance problems, for example. (More on the parking issue below.)
And finally and most importantly, our Planning Commission has called for permit reviews of three downtown bars. This hasn't happened in ages, so this is a great sign. It sends a message that the city is not that permissive parent anymore. The kids can party, but they’d better follow the rules. And what good are rules if we don’t enforce them?
The first big show-down is this Tuesday, May 20th at 7pm at City Hall. That’s when The Dragon will be up for review. Here is the staff report if you want to read about what the Planning Commission is considering. The public is allowed to speak, so if you have something to say, you should go down there and say it. No doubt Dragon will have a room filled with cheering supporters.
Now, I’ve met the owners of The Dragon. They seem like nice guys. They have worked hard to get where they are, but if they have broken the rules, there has to be repercussions. And that goes for all the bars. We have no less than 15 bars open until 2am within two small square blocks. That’s more than twice the number of bars the state says we should have for our population and density, which is why I believe we have so many nuisance problems.
But I don’t pretend to know the answer, and I don’t envy the Planning Commission. They have to preserve the public safety and welfare while not violating the land rights of the business owners (i.e., not getting the city sued). It’s not an easy job. Thanks for doing it.
That’s all for now. Oh, except the big parking thing that’s happening on May 27th. Here’s the info from the mailer:
City Council to consider proposal to extend parking
enforcement hours from 10:00 p:m. to 12:00 midnight in the
Preferential Parking District.
Tuesday, May 27,2008 at 7:30 p.m.
Hermosa Beach City Hall
1315 Valley Drive
Hermosa Beach, CA 90254
The City Council encourages your participation
in the discussion and consideration of the proposed changes.
If you have any questions, please contact the
City Manager's Office at (310) 318-0216.
If you want to comment about any of these items, please go here.
Cheers,
Marianne
ThisIsHermosa@aol.com
May 19, 2008 | webmaster |
How I Spent My Strike Vacation
Now that the WGA strike is over, I’ve gotten busy again, which means I haven’t had much time to update my blog. This is good news for some of you. Yes, you can admit it. One person actually sent me an email telling me that I had too much time on my hands.
I won’t deny it. I did have a lot of free time (outside of picketing and adopting a pound puppy), but I really wanted to spend that time doing something more than nothing, which is what screenwriters tend to do when they don’t have deadlines. Getting active in small town politics seemed like a good idea back in November, especially since the beginning of the WGA strike coincided with our City Council elections.
I had no idea what a time-suck my little run at local activism would end up being.
Besides starting this blog, I went to (or watched online) every city council and planning commission meeting. I met with the mayor, the chief of police, two city councilmembers, two planning commissioners, and the co-chairs of the Hermosa Beach Restaurant (Bar) Association. I met with city leaders in neighboring towns. I went to our city council election debates. I joined Neighborhood Watch and two other citizens’ groups. I even went on a Hermosa Beach pub-crawl with one of HB’s ex-bar owners. Oh, and I learned how to use VBulletin software and write in HTML code.
And that’s really nothing. There are dozens of people in Hermosa Beach who volunteer their time doing way more than I did over the last six months, and they have been doing it for years. To all you good folks, bless you. Hermosa Beach is very lucky to have you.
OK. So, what have I learned in my humble attempt at civic activism?
Well, if something in our city is pissing me off, I know now that going to City Council meetings and writing letters to the editors of the local papers really isn’t enough. It’s totally necessary and don’t stop doing either if you do either or both already, but the truth is…you have to do more if you want to effect change.
A member of ThisIsHermosa’s online townhall said that “very few things come (of City Council Meetings)…which haven’t been decided beforehand.” While I disagree that speaking at council meetings has no value, after having gone to a few myself now, I do agree that most stuff seems to get decided beforehand.
The problem with this is that most folks don’t even know what’s going down in City Hall until after it’s happened, and by then, it’s usually too late to do anything about it. Unless, of course, you’re willing to fork out $17,000, which is what it cost Jim Lissner to do that parking referendum that helped overturn a City Council decision last year. Ditto for Rosamond Fogg’s Stop Oil Initiative.
Of course, most people don’t have the time, energy, or patience needed to be a watchdog and do the kind of networking necessary to sway the opinions of our city leaders. If you’re like me (lazy), then basically the single most important thing you can do is elect a City Council who thinks like you.
The City Council appoints the Planning Commission. The City Council hires the City Manager who hires the Chief of Police. And all commissions and committees all report to the City Council who votes on basically everything.
With Michael DiVirgilio now on the council and Sam Edgerton gone, it’s like a whole new ball game. The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) and our Police and Fire Departments are now doing regular code inspections of Hermosa’s bars, and for the first time that I can determine, our Planning Commission has called for official CUP reviews of three downtown establishments: The Dragon, Blue 32, and The Shore.
There was an era back when Bergie and his Rat Pack ran City Council that this sort of thing was unheard of. In fact, when the police started doing these code enforcement checks, some bar owners admitted that they didn’t even know what their permitted conditions were.
So this is a huge victory—even if no sanctions are applied, even if no permit is modified. Why? Because we are finally sending a message to the alcohol-serving establishments of Hermosa Beach that they must abide by the conditions in their permits. And that’s all I have ever asked for. I have never wanted anyone closed down. I have never asked for anyone’s license to be revoked. What I have consistently asked for is pretty simple: go downtown, get drunk, and party your butt off…but please follow the rules (and don’t drive drunk).
If you’re interested in the upcoming CUP Review of The Dragon, the meeting is on April 15th. It starts at 7pm at City Hall. The public is allowed to speak. Here is the staff report if you are interested. Also, here is The Dragon’s ABC license, and here is their CUP.
I want to close by saying that although I’ve learned a lot about our city over the last six months, there are three things that I still don’t understand:
- How can a committee like UPAC have two members of the City Council on it? That committee makes recommendations to the City Council, which then votes on the recommendations. How can two councilmembers vote on their own recommendations?
- Why do so many of Hermosa Beach streets and alleys still need repaving? What is up with that? We have money in our coffers. Repave the damn streets already. It’s embarrassing.
- How come City Council meetings happen on Tuesday nights? Do none of our city leaders watch American Idol?
If someone can explain these to me, please do.
Cheers,
Marianne
ThisIsHermosa@aol.com
P.S. If you want to comment about this article, please go here.
Apr 12, 2008 | webmaster |
Neighbors for Neighborhood Restaurants
At last month’s Annual CUP Review of Hermosa’s alcohol-serving establishments, dozens of patrons stepped up to testify about how much they love their favorite bars. And that would be fine if it weren’t for the fact that these annual reviews aren’t supposed to be popularity contests. The Planning Commission isn’t supposed to rule on which Hermosa bar is the most awesome. They’re supposed to review the police and fire department reports, listen to resident complaints, and then decide if the conditions in these establishments’ CUPs have been violated and what, if any, penalties should be applied.
Despite the fact that there was plenty of data to warrant an official CUP review of at least three alcohol-serving establishments, Commissioners Hoffman and Kersenboom voted against moving forward and instead delayed the process another month. (Commissioners Perrotti and Pizer seemed to understand that it’s the Planning Commission’s duty to enforce the conditions imposed in the CUPs, but they didn’t have the three votes required to call for an official CUP modification/revocation hearing.)
Over the years, the Planning Commission and City Council’s consistent lack of CUP enforcement (including the 50-50 code which I talked about here) has allowed for certain bars to become public nuisances due to the over-serving of alcohol. Public drunkenness, excessive late night noise, public urination, littering, lewd conduct, and vandalism have led to a general decline in the public welfare and safety in our beautiful city.
Many of these bars have occupancies of 100 people or more, and on weekends, they have lines spilling out of their doors. It’s easy for them to get a bunch of their patrons to come down to the Planning Commission and City Council meetings and sing their praises. It’s much tougher to get residents down there, especially when most residents don’t even realize that violations are occurring. The only thing that most folks know is to avoid downtown at night.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. The residents have rights. We have a right to clean and peaceful neighborhoods. We have the right to insist that restaurants in our city abide by the laws and codes.
If you’re tired of the lack of action by the Planning Commission and City Council, you can do something about it by clicking here. It’s a petition that a buddy of mine put together. If you agree with what it says, please print it, fill it out, sign it, and send it to Neighbors for Neighborhood Restaurants. Tell your neighbors about it too.
By adding your name to this petition, you are not saying “no” to bars. You are simply saying “no” to unlawful behavior. With this petition, we are calling our city leaders to action and reminding them that their duty is to protect the interests of the residents as well as those of the business community.
Thank you.
If you want to comment about this, please go here.
Mar 07, 2008 | webmaster |
High Noon in Hermosa Beach
The drama in Hermosa Beach has been playing out a little bit like a western over the past few years.You know the genre. Set against some spectacular landscape such as Monument Valley, the movie usually starts with bad guys riding into town and robbing the homesteaders of their territorial rights. The bad guys are often aided by corrupt or ineffectual lawmen. Unable or unwilling to fight, the townspeople are only saved when a lone gunslinger drifts into town and takes up their cause. In the end, order conquers anarchy, and the community is restored.
In our case, the spectacular landscape is our beautiful beach city. The homesteaders are the residents, and their quaint downtown has been taken over the nightclub scene. The bars are like modern-day greedy cattlemen who have appropriated our land to fatten their cattle on, only instead of selling cattle, they’re selling booze.
The lawmen in this story are our past city leaders. It is their intentional (or unintentional) action (or inaction) that has aided the guys in the black hats. And just like in any western, if anyone ever tries to file a complaint, they’re told, “We’re a Saloon Town, and that’s just the way it is.”
With all hope lost, the homesteaders take to running for cover every night at 10pm, locking their windows and doors, as their town is stampeded.
That is, until the hero arrives.
While I usually prefer Clint Eastwood in this role, I’ll take any city leader who is courageous, moral, and tough enough to stand up for the townspeople. Like Shane, sometimes this gunfighter hasn’t picked up his gun in awhile. His trusty Winchester rifle is sitting on a shelf somewhere, collecting dust.
The story of Hermosa Beach has a dusty Winchester rifle too. Its name is “Section 17.04.050 of the Hermosa Beach Municipal Code,” or as we lovingly refer to it, “The 50-50 Code.” Here’s what it says in layman’s terms:
Of the sixteen bars in our town, the majority call themselves “restaurants.” They have Type-47 permits from the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) designating them as “bona fide restaurants.” According to the 50-50 Code, however, being a bona fide restaurant means that the gross receipts from selling prepared food must be as much as those from selling alcohol.
That’s where the “50-50” term comes in. The Hermosa Beach Municipal Code (and State code too) says that when full liquor is served at a bona fide restaurant, at least 50% of the total sales must result from the sale of prepared food. The reason this code was written was not to forbid people from getting drunk. Getting drunk is thankfully legal. Rather, I have been told that one of the early reasons this code was written was to ensure that if people were going to consume alcohol, they also had a meal because it’s healthier. The ABC allows more Type-47 permits than, say for example, Type-48 Bar/Club permits (which have no restrictions on the ratio of food-to-alcohol sold) because Type-47 establishments are supposed to have a lower alcoholic impact on the community.
So here we have a simple code originally written to protect the public health, safety, and welfare, and yet it’s not being enforced in Hermosa Beach. We have several supposedly “bona fide restaurants” who blatantly serve far more booze than food, functioning as flat-out nightclubs. Without enforcement of the 50-50 code, these establishments are effectively operating under unrestricted ABC permits, with no limit on the amount of alcohol that can be sold to the community. I doubt the ABC would have willingly handed out that many unrestricted licenses to such a small area of any city.
If you want to hear residents talking about the fall-out from having 16 bars in their neighborhood, check out the video playback from the February 12th City Council meeting. To view the video, go here. Select “Video” next to the February 12th meeting, and then drag the playback counter to 1:42 where folks get up and talk about it. You’ll hear about tagging, vandalism, a car being lit on fire, drunks peeing in and sleeping in residents’ yards, and even a drive-by shooting.
If you want to listen to what precipitates this out-pouring of complaining, drag the counter to 1:33 and listen to Councilman Michael DiVirgilio asking the city last night to dust off another big weapon we have—the law.
Right now, in Hermosa Beach, you can wander out of an establishment belligerently drunk, urinate in someone’s yard, start a fight while yelling at the top of your lungs in the middle of the night—and not get arrested or even cited. In fact, our police deal with most drunks by putting them in cabs and sending them home.
I talked to a few neighboring city leaders and asked them what they do when drunken behavior gets out of hand, and none of them thought that putting anyone in a cab and sending them home as a policy was a good idea. There’s no assurance that they would get home, not to mention there are potential liability issues.
Now, I’m not disrespecting our police. They do a fantastic job in an impossible situation. I think our biggest problem is that the problem is just too big—as many as 5,000 people patronizing the bars on a busy night and only four police officers on duty downtown. It’s not as if the police aren’t trying. It’s just an impossible task.
But if we start enforcing the 50-50 code, there will be fewer drunks staggering out of the bars and into our streets at 2am, making enforcement of our current laws less of a daunting task for our police.
And if code and law enforcement is not enough to restore balance to our town, Hermosa Beach City Attorney Michael Jenkins offered up yet another possible weapon for the fight. At the February 12th City Council Meeting, Jenkins said that a bar’s operating conditions in their Conditional Use Permits (CUPs) can be modified or revoked if that business proves to be causing a public nuisance.
This came as a surprise to me since everyone I’ve ever talked to about this told me that CUPs are “property rights” and cannot be challenged or changed. But the truth is…that’s not true. Just because no bar’s CUP has been challenged in Hermosa Beach for years, that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.
It can. In fact, if an establishment can be proven to be a public nuisance, restrictions can be added to their CUPs (e.g., earlier closing hours, no patio, or no live entertainment). This is huge. This means the citizens can take back their town.
We can be our own heroes, but we have to do more than just grouse and grumble about the way things are. The reason the bars have succeeded in Hermosa Beach is because they come to every City Council showdown fully armed.
We citizens also need to start showing up at the showdowns fully armed and ready to fight. And I hope you are, because there’s a big one coming up…
On Tuesday, February 19th at 7pm at City Hall, the Hermosa Beach Planning Commission is having its Annual CUP Review of the bars. That’s when the Planning Commission pours over a spreadsheet created by the police department, listing all the calls for service in 2007 related to the 28 businesses with liquor licenses in the city and appraises the bars’ compliance to their operating conditions. But because not every incident or disturbance that occurs in town is actually reported to or by the police, it’s crucial that citizens show up and register their eye-witness complaints as well.
Ron Newman, co-chair of the Hermosa Beach Restaurant Association will be there, and you can bet a bottle of whiskey that he’ll be telling the commission that crime is down, that their bouncers are cracking down on the problems, and how wonderful the bars are for Hermosa Beach.
If you disagree, then please attend and be heard. We need to tell the Planning Commission that if the bars are not abiding by the conditions in their permits such as the 50-50 code, then restrictions must be applied to their CUPs (e.g., earlier closing times). Let's remind our city leaders that we’re not a Saloon Town. We’re not Barmosa. We’re Hermosa.
If you want to comment on this, please go here or post in this archive.
Feb 14, 2008 | webmaster |
Surfing the "Whitewash"
We had a meeting this past week with the Public Works Director Rick Morgan to talk about the Surf Legends Statue project
The idea is to create a “Gateway to Hermosa Beach” on the corner of Pier Avenue and PCH with a piece of art that celebrates our surf culture. It’s an awesome idea, especially when you consider that more than 60,000 cars pass by that corner every day and yet we have no definitive “Welcome to Hermosa Beach” marker. After four years, the project is still sorely short on funds. The statue will cost at least $150K, and the city is looking for a corporate sponsor after whom the gateway would be named. You can read more about it here, and if you want to help with a donation, you can do so here. Every little bit helps.
Anyhow, during the meeting, we got to talking about a bunch of other things like the bars and the tattoo parlor guy who’s suing the city, and someone said, “You’d think Hermosa would be a liberal town, but it’s not.” That got me thinking…
We used to be a funky little beach town. We had our locals bars, our head shops, the Tender Box, and the Either-Or-Bookstore. Hermosa used to be so laid-back. Why is everyone so uptight now? Why do people complain about the bars? Why is a tattoo parlor being banned from opening up shop? What happened to “I’m OK; You’re OK”? What happened to Hermosa Beach?
My opinion? The club scene happened. I don’t think most people would’ve blinked an eye at the opening of a tattoo parlor if we weren’t already feeling besieged.
Over the past decade, we’ve all watched our sleepy beach town transform into a flat-out Clubbing Mecca, catering to every area code but our own. Did you know that on a busy night, police estimate that up to 5,000 people hit the plaza and that the majority of these club-goers are not locals?
Sure, we’ve always had our share of out-of-towners visiting our beaches, but now we have a new breed of visitor that’s turned Hermosa into Sunset Strip. And we’re well on our way to becoming Daytona Beach if people don’t start paying attention. This isn’t hyperbole. Both the Hard Rock Hotel chain and Hooters are rumored to have expressed interest in staking claims in our thriving club scene, and who could blame them?
Talk to anyone who knows the bar business, and they’ll tell you that even a poorly run bar can make money on our Plaza, whereas a little beach eatery like the Hermosa Fish Market doesn’t stand a chance. But just why can’t family-friendly restaurants and retailers make it downtown? Many have tried.
“Because we’re a bar town. Always have been,” you say.
I’m glad you bring up that bit of local conventional wisdom. While it’s true that the bars have been a part of our “100 Years of Beach Culture,” it wasn’t that long ago that we used to have to drive to Sunset to go clubbing. Now, everyone comes here. Hermosa Beach has been skillfully rebranded as THE place to party.
This new party image is an environmental disaster for Hermosa Beach. The bars and clubs have polluted our commercial ecosystem to such an extent that anything other than another bar or club has a hard time surviving here. The retailers and family spots inevitably get choked off by the bar pollution. Their target demographics just don’t come downtown because it’s overrun with the party crowd. God knows I love booze, but even I stay away. It just isn’t a locals’ scene anymore.
This leaves Hermosa Beach with two major industries—the bars and the hotels—neither of which caters to the residents. Now, I’m not a localist. I believe in tourism and commerce. We need businesses that bring our cash-starved city its much-needed revenues. Which brings me to our next piece of local conventional wisdom…
“The bars make our city money.”
Well, I’ve looked into this, and guess what? I don’t think it’s true. Here are some numbers given to me by the City manager’s office and from our official city budget.
- The bars and clubs earned the city $561K in sales tax revenue in 2005-06.
- Hermosa Beach spent $653K for downtown police foot patrol in that same year.
Now, I’m not even including the cost of cleaning up after the party that happens in our city every weekend night (hint: it’s not cheap), but just looking at those two numbers right there, it seems as though the bars are running at a net loss for the city. I’m beginning to think that this whole meme about the bars making us money is whitewash created by the Hermosa Beach Restaurant Association (read, “Hermosa Beach BAR Association”) and their PR machine.
So if the bars are losing us money, who’s footing the bill? In the city budget, you can see that the real cash cows of Hermosa Beach are the property owners.
Why then are we donating our downtown to an industry that doesn’t primarily service the residents? Why are we subsidizing something that’s stuffing the bar owners’ wallets while chasing other lower-impact businesses away?
Maybe you don’t care. Maybe you’re one of Hermosa’s residents who really enjoys our club scene. You’re not one of those uptight abolitionists who’s sick and tired of the drunk drivers, the glut of taxis, the vomit, and the vandalism. Nonetheless, I’m still hoping you DO care that the city never seems to be able to find the funds to repave many of its streets or for projects like the Surf Legends Statue.
And I’m really hoping you care about the impending sale of the Mermaid and Seasprite properties because we’re one Hooters away from completely losing our charm and becoming MTV’s next big Spring Break destination.
We are drunkenly teetering on the brink, and we need to find our balance again.
Please, stop listening to the whitewash. We’re a beach town, not a bar town. It’s time we take our old brand back.
How? Well, there are some great ideas swirling that I’ll be reporting to you soon. In the meantime, the Upper Pier Avenue Committee (UPAC) is a great start. They really want the community’s opinions on the up-coming Pier Avenue renovations. There’s a UPAC townhall this Saturday January 26th at 10am at City Hall, but if you can’t make it, give them your opinion in an email. The committee chair is Councilman Kit Bobko (kit.bobko@gmail.com).
The Surf Legends Statue is also a move in the right direction for Hermosa. Unless, of course, you prefer this…
Thanks for listening…even if you disagree. Please join the forum and be heard.
Thanks,
Marianne
Please post your comments here.