South Bay Echo for Jan 7
Mourning a hero, Hyperion lawsuit filed, king tides, King Harbor liveaboard update
Hello friends… Welcome to the 18th edition of South Bay Echo, your source of local hometown news with a real estate angle.
This Substack is brought to you by Rosetree Real Estate, a full service real estate brokerage dealing in residential and commercial properties to both own and lease. For more information visit RosetreeRealEstate.com. DRE# 02145024
Firefighters mourn loss of their own
We got another reminder this week that heroes are among us. How easy it is to forget. LA County firefighters and other first responders came together on Thursday to mourn the loss of veteran firefighter Jonathan Flagler, who was killed in a Rancho Palos Verdes house fire in the early morning hours.
Flagler was a 21-year veteran who leaves behind a wife and two teenage sons. A caravan of police SUVS, motorcycle officers and three fire engines escorted Flagler’s body from the hospital to the coroner’s office at 12:30 pm. A memorial sprang up at Station 83 in RPV and firefighters could be seen outside grieving.
It's so easy to take the fire department for granted. It might seem from outward appearances a cush job. But any day of the week these men and women could be asked to lay their lives on the line, not to mention the long-term effects from exposure. There is always the rare chance they don’t make it home. Jonathan Flagler was a hero because he paid the ultimate price, but he was a hero every day that he put on the uniform as well.
Lawsuit filed in Hyperion sewage spill
This week the firm I work for, the Parris Law Firm, filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles and its sanitation department on behalf of residents in El Segundo over the toxic smells coming from the Hyperion Water Reclamation plant since July.
Among the revelations in the lawsuit, it’s revealed the 17 million gallon sewage spill that flooded the plant in a nearly catastrophic event could have been prevented.
Officials at the plant had been operating the screens that filter debris on manual mode on full speed rather than an automatic setting that could regulate its speed. As a result, the screens became clogged and a series of missteps led to the plant flooding and the residents of El Segundo continuing to live in misery.
The city of LA shelled out more than $1.4 million to residents for hotel stays and air conditioners. But for many residents this compensation wasn’t enough as the smell continued to linger months after the vouchers ran out. And in many cases AC units and other filters were unsuccessful.
There is still time to sign up for the lawsuit, which is considered a mass tort. For more on the case and to sign up, visit Hyperion.Parris.com.
King tides bring dramatic changes
If you happened to be along the shoreline on Sunday or Monday you might have noticed the tide was unusually large. It wasn’t your imagination. This was a king tide. The low tide exposed vast portions of the sand like a shimmering slick track and the high tide made us all think a little harder about sea level rise.
King tides are especially high springs tide formed annually when the Earth is aligned with the moon and sun. What makes the king tide different than a normally high spring tide is that the sun and moon are at their closest to the Earth where their gravitational pulls have the most effect. For some boaters in King Harbor Marina who found their boats on the rocks, it wasn’t as fascinating.
King tides are a great time to visit the tide pools at Abalone Cove or Haggerty’s in Palos Verdes. It’s amazing to know that our Moon and Sun can actually move the vast oceans. What a world it truly is.
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Marina liveaboards face inspections
The saga between the new owner of King Harbor Marina led by Dr. Allen Ginsberg and the liveaboards is not over yet. The management backed off a total eviction when the issue was raised by this substack and then Fox LA in a television broadcast in November. But just as expected, it wasn’t long before they tightened the screws in other ways.
The marina office recently sent a letter to all liveaboards informing them of certain demands that would now be imposed.
They must keep their boats clean of any stored items such as flotsam of any kind.
They must maintain a working motor, which I know from experience most liveaboards do not.
They must be subject to an inspection where blue dye is placed in their holding tanks.
And they must pay $125 per month for a pump out service even though most liveaboards do not use their onboard heads.
Several of the marina residents I spoke with are not too happy about the changes. Most of these requirements are already in a liveaboard addendum to the wharfage agreement. But those agreements are commercial in nature and do not establish a landlord-tenant relationship, according to the marina.
In the past, the management was more easy going. It’s basically the same management, only difference being the owner. And there is little the city can do about it.
That’s all for now… thanks for reading. If you like it, please comment or share it.
David, I wonder if the owners of the house in which the firefighter died had pulled permits for the remodeling and if so had the inspector signed off. May he rest in peace and Lord have mercy on his family.