South Bay Echo for Thursday Sept 2

Redondo Pier rebounds, BeachLife Festival prepares, Redondo Mayor mounts anti-density initiative and a little beauty from an unexpected place.

Hello friends... Thanks for joining me on this first Substack post. This will be somewhat of an evolving process as I get my footing on this new platform. For more on what this is all about read my welcome post here. But let’s not waste any time and get right into it.

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

Redondo Pier rebounds

It had only been three weeks since I left The Daily Breeze newspaper as a reporter when the news came in last Wednesday, Aug. 25, there was a shooting at the Redondo Beach Pier. I instinctively went into reporter mode searching for information.

Initial reports said two victims were injured. A few hours later and a fuller picture emerged, a day later even more — a lone shooter from Long Beach, aged 36, opened fire indiscriminately around 8:20 p.m. from the parking structure. Seven to eight shots were heard. Two people were injured, a boy and a man, struck in the lower torso with non-life-threatening injuries. Officers, meanwhile, pursued the gunman locating him near the rock embankment within the horseshoe, according to police. When they tried to detain the man, that’s when the officer-involved shooting occurred and the suspect was killed, though nothing has been released about the exact details.

In an age when mass shootings have sadly become commonplace in America, it will never feel natural to have a shooting in our own community, and nor should it. I think we all breathed a collective sigh of relief to know that nobody else was seriously injured or killed. I know you also share with me in offering our sincere thanks to the Redondo Beach Police officers who handled this situation bravely.

This week, the pier seemed back to normal with visitors, though no doubt many people were hesitant about returning to the area so soon after such a dramatic event. A group of fishermen from Torrance even caught a baby thresher shark off the pier on Wednesday, Sept. 1. This is not a usual occurrence for these waters but these guys knew what they were doing as they floated some kind of device out with a sinker.

Local pianist finds a way

Sometimes life has a way of throwing each of us curveballs we could have never imagined. If you live long enough, it’s bound to happen to you too. Gary Smith found himself in a difficult spot last May when his wife died from cancer and his assets were frozen for more than two months. So he turned to his musical talents both as a way to cope with his grief and make desperately needed money. He set up at the local Walmart near Rosecrans and Inglewood with his keyboard and amplifier and before long he was making $600-$700 per week in donations. Isn’t it amazing how life works out when you put yourself out there and try new things? Gary said he might have overstayed his welcome, though, as people began sitting in their cars just to listen, which caused some consternation by the management. So he moves around a little more now. You might also catch him at the nearby Marshalls. I ran across him the other day playing in the parking lot of a tiny strip mall where he wants to open a music academy soon. To contact Gary to play your next event call 310-877-2865.

Could lack of affordability drive home prices back down?

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With home prices still topping historic highs in the South Bay, warning signs are beginning to emerge that affordability may finally begin to drive prices back downward. As we all know, home prices in the South Bay have been rising on a frenzied pace over the past year due to buyer demand and a lack of supply. We also happen to live at the edge of a continent with the most beautiful weather in the world, so there’s that.

But lately, one key indicator — the California Housing Affordability Index — might be showing signs that this market could be slowing down soon. The index basically says what percentage of California’s population can afford the median priced home in the state when taking into consideration interest rates and other costs.

For comparison, in 2008, just before the economic recession, the housing affordability index reached 11%. That wasn’t good. In 2009 and 2011 as the nation pulled out, it reached 55% proving to be a great time to buy a house. So where are we at today? Recent quarterly index numbers show affordability in the Los Angeles Metro Area is decreasing down from 36% in second quarter 2020 to 24% in second quarter 2021. With declining affordability, less buyers may be in the market, forcing sellers to lower prices…. Just another indicator that could help you decide when to buy or sell a home.

Mayor Brand fights back against Sacramento

If you know anything about Redondo Beach Mayor Bill Brand it’s that he hates it when Sacramento dictates to city governments how they control local zoning. Many other locally elected officials hate this as well, and every year it seems there is an effort to defeat various housing bills that would have devastating effects to local control.

Recently, the California legislature passed SB 9, which allows up to four units on what are now single-family lots, and SB 10, which allows city councils and boards of supervisors to override voter-adopted initiative measures in exchange for higher-density housing. Governor Gavin Newsom will likely sign both bills.

After years of fighting back and organizing opposition, Mayor Brand has spearheaded a statewide initiative called Californians For Community Planning to stop centralized zoning from Sacramento. The initiative is intended for the November 2022 election and would amend the state Constitution to make zoning and land-use local affairs. Brand said the measure has the support of 70% of Californians. To learn more visit CommunitiesForChoice.org. What do you think? Leave a comment below.

Local Events: BeachLife and open water

Finally, our local events section…

I am stoked beyond words for the upcoming BeachLife Festival Sept. 10-12. Crews were hard at work this week preparing for the three-day event with three separate stages. I am looking forward to so many great acts, especially Sunday’s lineup with the Marley brothers Ziggy and Stephen, Ben Harper, Guy Clark Jr. and Brett Dennen. Also looking forward to acoustic sets by Pennywise frontman Jim Lindberg on Saturday, which should be interesting considering we’ve never heard those guys do anything that wasn’t full throttle. So stoked for BeachLife. What are you looking forward to most? For more visit BeachLifeFestival.com.

One last mention for my swimmer friends… There is a major open water swimming event called Swim the Avenues coming up Sunday Sept. 12. It’s a one-mile swim and a 1/2 mile ocean swim right off the Redondo Beach coastline. For more information visit VillageRunner.com/Swim-the-Avenues/.

That’s all for now. See you next week!

Comments or concerns? You can reach me at 310-529-8790 or email at DRosenfeld33@Gmail.com

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