South Bay Echo for Nov 18
Voters restore faith, Brand takes heat, set free after 23 years, Daily Breeze ball drive
Welcome to the 43rd 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
Voters restore faith in contests large and small
My faith in the American experiment was slightly restored this month following an election that avoided a so-called “red wave” that we were hearing so much about. Would you believe it, the pollsters got it wrong again.
So many of the candidates on the crazy train lost their election bids, from all the Trump-backed candidates to our own local school board candidates bellowing about gender doctrine.
I was pleased to see Sheriff Alex Villanueva accepting defeat, alligator tears and all. Maybe Alex has a good heart but he was clearly challenged when it came to working with others. I hope Sheriff-elect Luna can right the ship.
The same goes for Los Angeles where my candidate of choice Rick Caruso lost to Mayor-elect Karen Bass. I was pleased to hear comments from Bass directly addressing the homeless problem. May she succeed in cleaning up our great city.
All three cannabis related ballot measures failed in Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and El Segundo. They would have opened the door to retail dispensaries in those cities while in Redondo, where a similar ballot measure failed in October, the city is moving forward with a retail sales license on its own terms.
In Hawthorne, voters approved a measure to allow pot shops and rejected the City Council’s bid for higher salaries. As I reported in October, the City Council wanted voters to approve salaries of $75,700, a 951% increase from what they currently received.
And in Congress, where the greatest grifters go to flourish, Nancy Pelosi says it’s finally time for new leadership. Thank heavens.
LA Times targets Bill Brand
For the second time in a month a major media story took an angle that Redondo Beach Mayor Bill Brand and his supporters are essentially racist for opposing more housing development. I wonder where they are getting fed this idea…
An LA Times article on Nov. 14 headlined “Crude emails reveal nasty side of a California beach city’s crusade to halt growth” draws from emails obtained by CenterCal Properties during its litigation with Brand and the city.
To show the mudslinging goes both ways, on Aug. 19, former Mayor Steve Aspel, who is closely affiliated with CenterCal, posted one of the emails where Brand made a crack about Aspel’s “cancerous ass.”
Aspel then wrote in a public forum for anyone to see, “…my cancer has been cured… now he has cancer. Karma is a bitch.”
Not very statesman if you ask me.
In an NBC News story in October, Aspel affirms a reporters suggestion that racism is at the root of opposing more density.
The Times story also includes an interview and glowing photograph of Tonya McKenzie, who ran unsuccessfully against Councilman Zein Obagi in the October recall. McKenzie accused Brand and others of “mocking minority groups.”
So why are these stories coming out now?
This is just the latest salvo in the everlasting fight between Brand and well heeled developers. Leo Pustilnikov and company want to put pressure on the courts to grant their development deal at AES. Probably Fred Bruning is licking his chops too.
They want to portray themselves as the crusaders of affordable housing. But anyone with a little more savvy knows better.
A wrongful conviction in the South Bay
We’ve all seen stories of wrongful convictions in movies and television about a lonely attorney working long hours that cracks the case and rights a wrong. What about right here in the South Bay?
This week two men who were exonerated after 23 years in prison for a Hawthorne drive-by shooting filed a lawsuit against the officers they accuse of framing them, according to the Daily Breeze.
After the story finally shook out thanks to a nonprofit group that works pro bono, it was discovered the men had nothing to do with the murder and that detectives ignored information that proved their alibis.
What a glorious day it must have been to set them free.
We all would like to have ultimate faith in our justice system. It’s a great system, but this story and many others like it remind us that it’s far from perfect.
Daily Breeze ball drive begins
For anyone looking for a way to give back this holiday season, please consider the Daily Breeze ball drive, which kicked off its annual effort this week together with Big 5 Sporting Goods.
Every ball donated is given directly to a child before the holidays at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Los Angeles Harbor. The organization serves more than 11,000 kids each year at eight different locations in the Harbor area and 12 LAUSD campuses.
Since its founding 24 years ago, the ball drive has contributed more than 30,000 sports balls to local kids. This year, the paper is aiming for 4,000 balls.
You can buy a sports ball on discount from any Big 5 and throw it right in a bin at the store. Or you can drop off a sports ball at any of these various locations around the South Bay.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Los Angeles Harbor: 1200 S. Cabrillo Ave., San Pedro, CA 90731; and 1444 W. Q St., Wilmington, CA 90744. Participants can order online and have the ball sent to those addresses or they can donate cash to the clubs directly.
UNIFY Financial Credit Union: 14550 Aviation Blvd., Hawthorne; One Space Park Drive, Redondo Beach; 1899 Western Way, Torrance; 8632 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles; and 20305 Anza Ave., Torrance.
Big 5 Sporting Goods: 529 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro; 2745 Pacific Coast Highway, Torrance; 17542 Hawthorne Blvd., Torrance; 20700 S. Avalon Blvd., Carson; and 2515 E. El Segundo Blvd., El Segundo.
For more information visit the Daily Breeze here.
Thanks for reading
Thank you for posting about Bill Brand. It is clear to anyone who knows the struggles Mayor Bill Brand has had to pass Redondo's Initiatives and referendum to stop the AES project.
These developers are relentless. And the land under AES is polluted. Bill Brand is a hero to all that know him or to those in CA whether elected officials or not!
The elections are mercifully over. The only question is when are the poll people going to learn to count. Not enough help. Couldn't they hire high school kids that could count to a hundred and then count up with hashtags? The best was Nancy's comic relief. As she magnanimously stepped down but not out. Oh no. She's going to stay at the fair too long and lurk around as head hall monitor. God help the next minority leader and Speaker for that matter. I say she'll run in 2024. She's only 83 and she's not going to let Feinstein at 89 take the geriatric record. I look forward to the comic relief.