Posts by Mark McDermott

Shortly after Superintendent Steven Keller arrived at the Redondo Beach Unified School District in 2006, he realized something was amiss. One walk through the Redondo Union High School campus was really all it took. Roofs leaked, the swimming pool tilted and cracked, and large varmint-holes made running across playing fields a genuine danger. Keller didn’t…

The Redondo Beach Unified School District Board of Education Tuesday night awarded the lease of the district’s property at 320 Knob Hill to an aspiring Christian high school. Ambassador High School won the lease with a dramatic last minute bid increase to $528,000 annually over 30 years. The bid surpassed that of a proposed affordable…

The law firm that represented Building a Better Redondo in its successful lawsuit against the City of Redondo Beach has filed a motion seeking $355,000 in legal fees from the city. Angel Law on Sept. 24 filed a motion for attorney fees in the amount of $354,978 relating to the Superior Court case in which…

The City Council on Tuesday night sent a clear message to the regulatory agency that oversees the water quality of the Seaside Lagoon’s outflow: either relax standards, or the lagoon’s water feature will be closed in 2013. Councilman Pat Aust urged the council to let the Los Angeles Regional Water Control Board know the city…

The new North Branch Library, nine years in the making, was unveiled Tuesday afternoon. The 12,600 square-foot “green” certified library on the corner of Artesia Boulevard and Green Avenue has been a longtime labor of love for a passionate segment of the community including volunteers from the Redondo Beach Library Foundation, past and current City…

A boat with nobody aboard washed up near the Redondo Beach pier late Friday afternoon. Three hours later a search party discovered a man afloat two miles out at sea, but rescuers were unable to revive him. Richard Barras, 59, from Hermosa Beach, was declared dead at 8:15 p.m. The search for the then-unidentified sailor…

The Redondo Beach Unified School District Tuesday received two bids for the development of its property at 320 Knob Hill. One proposal met the district’s minimum lease terms of $500,000 annually exactly and would refurbish the existing buildings as a Christian high school. The other proposal is slightly higher, at $502,027, and would keep the…

A 73-year-old Manhattan Beach man has died after sustaining head injuries in a bike accident on the Redondo Beach Esplanade on Sept. 10. Redondo Beach Police Department investigators are searching for witnesses to the accident. According to Redondo Beach Police Department reports, at 7:44 a.m. on Sept. 10, Eldon Johansen fell from his bike after…

A coalition of newly-formed groups announced a joint campaign Tuesday on behalf of Measure G, a Nov. 2 ballot measure that would approve the city’s proposed new harbor zoning. The coalition includes harbor area businesses, former and current elected officials, the Chamber of Commerce and a group of Redondo Beach mothers. It represents perhaps the…