South Bay Echo for Feb 4
Saving St. James, weed stores in the South Bay, replacing Autumn Burke and more political BS
Hello friends… Welcome to the 22nd edition of South Bay Echo, your source of local hometown news with a real estate angle.
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Saving St. James preschool
It seems that an online petition and an in-person rally staved off plans for now to close the small St. James Preschool on Pacific Coast Highway in Redondo Beach, according to the Daily Breeze. The preschool has been in existence for more than 30 years.
Faced with financial constraints due to mortgage debt and the Covid pandemic, Monsignor Michael Meyers relayed in a Sunday bulletin last month that the church would close the preschool to help pay for the development of a $9 million property on North Broadway, which the church bought in 2019.
Well, this outraged many parents who launched an online petition that quickly gained more than 1,000 signatures. Flyers were also distributed at church.
Msgr. Meyers got the message, stating in a subsequent bulletin on Jan. 28 that the preschool would remain open at least until 2023. In this alert, Meyers made known more about the church’s financial situation. He said the church has about a $6 million mortgage left on the preschool property, which it’s struggling to pay off.
One has to wonder how the financial picture might be different had that nun and former principal not pilfered more than $800,000 from the St. James School in Torrance.
Are weed stores coming to the South Bay?
This week a ballot initiative to allow up to three cannabis dispensaries in Redondo Beach qualified for the 2023 general election ballot, according to the Daily Breeze. Similar initiatives, all led by Catalyst Cannabis Co., could pave the way for dispensaries in Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and El Segundo.
Meanwhile, the Redondo Beach City Council last week voted to jump start its own ordinance that would allow up to two dispensaries and impose a 5% tax.
I say it’s about time. Medical use of marijuana has been legal in California for more than 20 years — commercial use since 2017. Yet the South Bay beach cities have kept a reefer-madness mentality as if it’s the 1930s.
There has been an illegal dispensary operating on Artesia in Redondo Beach for years and neighbors would not even know it’s there. This is a service that people want and marijuana is far less dangerous than alcohol. So let the people have what they want.
Replacing Assemblywoman Autumn Burke
I don’t know about you guys, but whenever a politician resigns mid-term to “spend more time with their family,” I get a little suspicious. That was the case this week when Assemblywoman Autumn Burke announced her resignation on Monday.
Now, maybe there is a perfectly good reason. A medical condition, perhaps. And I understand completely the stress of a pandemic. Boy do I ever. Burke had her daughter co-sign her resignation letter with crayon to highlight the “unprecedented challenges” of the pandemic.
It was all very cute, but I’m not buying it.
This is a two-year term. If life was really that tough, she could have stuck it out for less than a year. We’ve all done it. Instead, Burke chose to resign immediately so that a successor can be selected in a special election. And it’s unlikely there will be much competition on short notice.
Stepping up to the plate as if on cue was Angie Reyes English, a former councilwoman in Hawthorne who must have had a physical aversion to speaking to reporters because she never returned a single one of my phone calls when I was with the Daily Breeze.
As a reporter, it can be pretty easy to tell when a politician has good intentions or not. Are they an open person or a closed one? Sometimes it’s more difficult to figure out why, but not even speaking to the press, even about simple matters, is a pure giveaway you’ve likely got something to hide.
I observed Reyes English on the Hawthorne City Council speak rudely to people. She dictated, it seemed, with little consideration or kindness. I received several phone calls, off the record, about her behavior behind the scenes at City Hall. She was not well liked, I was told. She was under investigation by the District Attorney but charges were declined.
The Associated Press has a good piece about the various factors at play that have led to a spate of resignations at the Assembly lately. Mainly, it’s about redistricting and of course, re-election. Don’t let the crayons fool you.
Garcetti and his magical lung capacity
Here’s another one in the folder for political malarkey. Faced with reporter questions this week about briefly not wearing a mask while posing for photos at Sofi Stadium over the weekend, Mayor Eric Garcetti said there was nothing to worry about. Whenever Eric takes his mask off, he holds his breath. So all that negative publicity can go away now.
What a heaping pile of donkey doo-doo. Now, for the record, I thought all these stories about Newsom and Garcetti taking their masks off to pose for photos were really silly. But what’s even more silly is that ridiculous response from Garcetti that was not even meant as a joke. It’s meant to insult our intelligence.
This is just one of many super out-of-touch, phonier than a wax statue statements that Garcetti has made over the years. Not only will this guy try to tell you that Los Angeles is better off since he’s been in the office, that conditions on the streets don’t rival Haiti in parts. Now he wants us to believe he can hold his breath like an Olympic free diver.
Get right out of town, Eric. As far as I’m concerned, he can’t get to India fast enough.
Thanks David! Autumn Burke's resignation comes at a strange time. The Democrats have the majority. Why leave? And several other Assembly members have also resigned. What's up with that? Gov. Newsom is going to spend money for a special election. That's ok but his recall was a waste of money? No common sense there.
And so sad about St. James school but glad it's staying open!
Thanks for reporting this all out.
Oh Lord. Now I'm scared. English is my new assemblyman. You definitely know where the bodies are buried. If Breeze picked up this little tea for two I missed it. It's not bad enough that Mad Maxine is my congressional representative, but English and Waters are both totalitarian and brook no dissenting opinions. Always liked Burke's mother Yvonne, but the girl can't hold a candle to her mother. Wonder what the payoff for Burke is playing musical chairs w English. Again, keep us posted.