Hermosa Beach City Manager Sergio Gonzalez has an old career in a new town

Hermosa Beach City Manager Sergio Gonzalez previously served in South Pasadena. Photo

Hermosa Beach City Manager arrived in the city last month after previously serving in South Pasadena. Photo

Hermosa Beach voted to contract for fire services with Los Angeles County on April 25. One week later, South Pasadena decided to pull out of a firefighting partnership with three neighboring San Gabriel Valley cities.

Sergio Gonzalez, who had his first day as Hermosa Beach City Manager last month, had just finished his tenure in South Pasadena when the decision came down. The comparison is not an exact one, not least because the two cities face different fire fighting needs. But it illustrates the challenges that await Gonzalez as he takes the wheel in Hermosa, a city that is demographically similar to South Pasadena but with its own distinct beach culture and its own set of issues.

Gonzalez comes from a city that, like Hermosa, is affluent, well-educated and small, with roughly 26,000 people to Hermosa Beach’s 20,000. While in South Pasadena, Gonzalez built a reputation for both fiscal prudence, including minimizing the use of paid consultants for city projects, and municipal innovation, such as far-reaching environmental efforts that mirror those Hermosa has pursued over the last decade.

But South Pasadena is less densely populated — it has a land area of 3.4 square miles, while Hermosa’s is 1.4 square miles. It is about twice as close to downtown Los Angeles, and a light-rail station on the Metro Gold Line opened in the city during his tenure, making it more connected to the regional transportation grid. And, of course, South Pasadena does not have a beach.

Those differences will require immediate adjustments for Gonzalez. For example, South Pasadena has one of the most aggressive historic preservation ordinances in Southern California, with about 1,000 properties on the local registry. Hermosa, by contrast, is in the midst of a General Plan overhaul during which even the attempt to catalog historic properties produced an outcry.

Gonzalez said different approaches embodied in the municipal code reflected different conditions: South Pasadena’s extensive supply of older architecture makes it an attractive destination for film crews, which shifts the calculus on preservation. Ultimately, he said, it’s about a city’s decision as to “what kind of culture, what kind of makeup it wants to have.”

“It’s a careful balance of personal private property rights versus the overall good for the city. [In South Pasadena] they found that the majority wanted to keep the charm, the uniqueness of that historic inventory,” he said. “It’s almost 180 degrees different here, and that is in part because of the housing stock. I don’t think we have too many turn-of-the-century Craftsmans or Victorians in the Beach Cities. When people came here it wasn’t quaint tree-lined streets that called to them. It was the ocean.”

Though he hadn’t yet been hired at the time, Gonzalez is aware of the blowback the city experienced on that issue. Gonzalez described Hermosa’s residents as highly engaged, something else the town shares with South Pasadena. But he said his governing philosophy is to keep in mind the needs of the vast majority of residents who are affected by city decisions, but might never show up to City Hall.

“Certainly 95 percent of residents are not engaged. They’re fine. Their streets are paved, the lights are on, the water is flowing, they’re safe, and there’s a great school system…But the decisions we make should take into account the benefits to the entire city,” Gonzales said.

That philosophy has driven Gonzalez to stake out a set of priorities that enjoy wide consensus in the city: infrastructure and economic development.

Gonzalez arrived in Hermosa at a busy time for the city’s Public Works Department. The recently approved budget allocates funds for nearly 40 capital improvement projects, including many ongoing from previous years. Some on the council, particularly Councilmember Carolyn Petty, have criticized the lack of shovel-readiness.

Gonzalez acknowledged the added time needed to assess the city’s needs on streets, storm drains and sewers. But he pointed out that some projects were ahead of schedule — the recently approved Community Center roofing will be completed next week, he said — and insisted that the planning process would soon yield dividends.

On economic development, Gonzalez’s experience in South Pasadena will be of immediate help. John Mayer, a senior planner with the city of South Pasadena, joined the city at the same time as Gonzalez. Mayer said in an interview that a downtown revitalization plan was among the most challenging projects in their time together.

A plan to erect a series of mixed-use developments in a town square hit a snag when one tenant, a bank, was unwilling to part with a piece of property. Gonzalez, Mayer said, was undeterred: he devised a way to close off an alley and create a kind of plaza without acquiring the additional property, and today the area is considered a success.

The experience, Mayer said, demonstrated his former colleague’s “large reservoir of calm.”

“When a door closes, he opens a window,” Mayer said of Gonzalez. “He always had a positive outlook, and always thinks about other ways to get things done.”

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