About Town Redondo: Juneteenth, Public Works votes, home design standards
City to mark Juneteenth each year
A unanimously approved city council resolution Tuesday night makes Juneteenth an annual celebration in Redondo Beach.
The city Historical Commission and Library have been directed to create related events each year on June 19.
“To actually educate people,” said City Councilman Nils Nehrenheim. “It’s about the day, and the history of the day.”
“This is very personal to me,” said Councilman Zein Obagi, Jr., citing his work as an attorney in employee rights. “Systemic racism continues to permeate employment in California.”
June 19 is the date that, in 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas with word that Abraham Lincoln had freed the slaves two years earlier. The former slaves’ celebration became a yearly tradition.
Texas declared the day a state holiday in 1980 and Juneteenth became a national holiday in 2021.
Ballot measures ease Public Works burden, Witzansky says
At a city council meeting Tuesday night, City Manager Mike Witzansky explained the significance of the successful March 7 ballot measures to the Public Works department.
“It may have felt like a fairly benign election topic, but it wasn’t,” he said, pointing out that Public Works had been “hamstrung” in contracting processes.
The changes will allow more work to be moved to contractors — from city employees — faster and more cost-effectively. Witzansky noted that the city has 112 current capital improvement projects underway.
“Rather than lean on our employees, we can do more contracts,” he said of the city’s staff, which was cut back significantly after the 2008-10 recession.
City council members also praised passage of the measures.
“Every single district in the city will be helped,” said Councilman Nils Nehrenheim.
“This is a big deal,” said Councilwoman Laura Emdee. “It will help us not depend on staff as much.”
Public workshop on new city home design guidelines
A city update to its Residential Design Guidelines to Objective Residential Design Standards is the subject of a public workshop, Wednesday, March 29.
Administered by the planning commission, the 6:30 p.m. meeting at city hall seeks input on a draft of the updated design standards. The document is available for view at www.redondo.org/RDGupdate. The current guidelines were adopted in 2003.
The city seeks to update its criteria to reflect the existing character of neighborhoods.
Girls youth flag football to debut Saturday
The inaugural season of the first all-girls youth flag football league in L.A. County will hold its opening ceremony and kickoff Saturday at 12 p.m. at Redondo Union High School.
The Girls Beach Cities Sports flag football league is for kids age 6-12. More than 125 girls are signed up to play.
A schedule of four games follows the opening ceremony.
In February, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) approved high school girls flag football as an officially sanctioned sport.
Beach Cities Sports flag football was founded in 2008 as a non-profit organization serving the beach cities, extending to El Segundo, Torrance and Palos Verdes. ER