BLUE FOLDER ITEM
Blue folder items are additional back up material to administrative reports and/or public comments received after the printing and distribution of the agenda packet for receive and file.
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
JANUARY 25, 2022
J.1 DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON THE CITY’S STRATEGIC PLAN, GOALS AND
OBJECTIVES
CONTACT: MIKE WITZANSKY, CITY MANAGER
LETTER SUBMITTED BY SUSAN LAPIN (CITY OF REDONDO BEACH PUBLIC
ART COMMISSIONER) & PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS
To: Mayor Brand and Redondo Beach City Council
Strategic Planning Meeting
Tuesday, January25, 2022
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We are writing to recommend the City Council revise the use of the Historic Library in Veterans Park to be a Creative Arts Center for the benefit of the Redondo Beach Community.
This has been a long-time goal of Friends of Redondo Beach Arts and the Redondo Beach Art Group. For many years our surrounding South Bay Cities have had Museums and/or Creative Arts Centers and we believe it is now the time for Redondo Beach artists, residents and visitors to also have a place where they can explore and enrich their lives, expand their way of looking at the word, learn, create and flourish.
Now more than ever art is so important for the health, mind and soul of our Community. Providing art and culture to a community is proven to contribute to its citizen’s quality of life, reducing crime, enhancing real estate values, supporting tourism and local businesses.
Some of the uses of a Creative Arts Center can include:
• Art installations and exhibitions
• Lectures
• Music
• Workshops
• Classes
• Meeting Space
Thank you for your consideration. We would welcome an opportunity to meet with the City to explore in greater detail how Redondo Beach can expand and enhance their cultural presence with the addition of a Creative Arts Center.
Sincerely,
Nina Zak Laddon
Friends of Redondo Beach Arts Creative Advisor
CA 101 Curator
TEDxRedondoBeach Organizer
Co-Founder Redondo Beach Art Group
Founder Power of Art
Debbie Collette
President, Friends of Redondo Beach Arts
Former President Redondo Beach Art Group
Rosine Sorbom
Friends of Redondo Beach Arts Board Member
President, Redondo Beach Art Group
Karen Baughman
Co-Founder and CFO, Redondo Beach Art Group
Past City of Redondo Beach Public Art Commissioner
Susan Lapin
Friends of Redondo Beach Arts Advisor, Former Board Member CA 101 Administrator
TEDxRedondoBeach Administrator
City of Redondo Beach Public Art Commissioner
24 January 2022
Honorable Bill Brand
Mayor, Redondo Beach
415 Diamond Street
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
Re: Self-Service at North Redondo Beach Branch Library
Dear Honorable Mayor Brand, City Council Members, Library Commission and Staff, I am writing in support of the North Branch self-service proposal by the Library Commission.
In an ideal world, both libraries would be open at least 5 days and evenings a week and at least one library would be open each day of the week. I understand that budget constraints preclude that. The North Branch’s hours have been reduced to only 32 hours a week, which is a hardship for many working families that want to bring children to the library regularly.
The Library Commission’s recommendation for a self-serve option at the North Branch is a cost-effective way to extend library hours, particularly at the North Branch. Library patrons have been using self-serve checkout for years without incident. I am sure that the self-serve option will be a success.
The majority of Redondo Beach’s residents–especially school children–live within a 1-mile walk of the North Branch. The North Branch is also well-served by the Torrance 13 bus that connects south Redondo Beach to the Artesia corridor. Not only is the North Branch a more suitable building for self-service, it is also a more accessible location.
The North Branch is also in the inland, hotter part of the city. The North Branch will be a cool respite during heat waves for seniors and families with children who need a few hours of air-conditioned comfort to prevent the negative health effects of overheating. Ventilation and filtration can make the library a safe community center, even in the middle of a pandemic.
Los Angeles County also has funds available for community cooling centers. I urge you to pursue open+access funding from LA County and the California State Library, and to cover the remaining costs after grants. This would be a great learning and health benefit to our residents with very low costs to the city.
Thank-you,
Grace Peng, PhD
From: Barbara Epstein
To: CityClerk; Mike Witzansky; Bill Brand; Todd Loewenstein; Nils Nehrenheim; Zein Obagi; Christian Horvath; [email protected]; Laura Emdee; Michael Webb; Brandy Forbes; Ted Semaan; Cameron Harding Subject: I-1 public Participation
Date: Tuesday, January 25, 2022 3:07:26 PM
CAUTION: Email is from an external source; Stop, Look, and Think before opening attachments or links.
Dear City Leaders,
I was inspired by Mike Witzansky’s statements last night in Councilman Obagi’s Zoom Meeting. His philosophy so matches mine about the quality of life here in Redondo.
So I want to share a few thoughts with you that I consider important.
First I need to tell you our Paramedics have done a stellar job saving people’s lives. For the third time in a little over a year they have come to help Jack under difficult circumstances.
Thank them!
Next, the Senior Services Department are wonderful, so helpful and making Senior lives better. Huge thanks!
Address: State Of California Corruption
It is painfully obvious that many of our government agencies, appointed and even elected officials, are catering to special interests, and nobody is really talking about it. In order to protect ourselves as a city we need to question why, how, and what can be done about it? Contact State Of California Attorney General and ask for an Inquiry into the decisions of Governor Newsom, State Senate and Assembly, California Public Utilities Commission, and possibly others, about AES, and SB 9&10. There needs to be investigations and possibly law suits.
I request City Attorney spearhead this effort as a matter of Justice for the People of Redondo Beach.
Discuss: Form Separate Recreation and Parks Department
It has been very difficult to get effective action in parks issues since we moved here in 2012.
Redondo Beach needs its own Recreation and Parks Department to form parks policies and make parks decisions.
I understand that in past administrations parks were very low priority, but it’s time to demonstrate that that attitude has changed.
The People Of Redondo have demonstrated that parks, community gardens and outdoor recreation are very important to them.
It is not appropriate for Public Works to make park decisions. Their role needs to be to implement park decisions after they are made by our new, separate, Parks Department.
Think About: How To Expedite Decisions Quickly
It took an awful long time to get the curb cut for the wheelchair family. That access needed to be restored instantly. Torture!
It took an awful long time to approve Pickle-ball. Where are those courts? It has taken forever to get the skateparks put in. I went past the park near my old school in Harbor City and saw the kids enjoying a great skatepark, in Los Angeles, of all places.
I asked for a rustic bench in Wilderness Park to honor my hero, Lillian Light, for all the years she led Audubon’s “Sharing Nature With Children” education program there. I started asking over two years ago, we had it all arranged, then Covid shut us down and John La Rock relocated.
I started back at Square One and am still trying to get a simple wooden, rustic bench in Lillian’s name. Her family has already given up, but I haven’t. She and her environmental leadership mean that much to me.
An Eagle Scout candidate waited a year or more to get permission to do his project at Wilderness Park.
We need a skilled strategist to help us here.
We Need: Conflict Resolution
The behavior of some of our people in positions of responsibility at City Hall has been unacceptable, destructive, and distressing, undermining the well-being of its citizens.
I came from a community that had no drama at public meetings. There were never insults, never violations of citizens’ constitutional rights, no unseemly ties to commercial special interest entities, no dirty tricks.
Some time back I asked for a Code of Honor for our City Hall. I was notified that that suggestion was voted down.
Let’s try again.
I am looking to Mike Witzansky and Mike Webb to make sure this happens and gets enforced.
Thank You For Your Consideration
Barbara Epstein
[email protected]
Sent from my iPad