Hermosa Beach Council Candidate Worner cites journalism work
by Kevin Cody
At the start of the crowded November 5, 2024 Hermosa Beach city council race, Elka Worner had, arguably, the lowest name recognition of the five candidates. Though raised in Hermosa Beach, her work as a newspaper reporter, and television news producer, and being a single mom left little time for community involvement, aside from Girl Scouts and neighborhood activities.
But over the past few weeks, Worner has vaulted from unknown to possibly the most talked about candidate in the race.
Her good fortune began in early September when she spoke at a city council meeting in opposition to a proposed communications protocol
The protocol, which the council would approve with some modifications, stated, “The Public Information Officer and City Manager will handle these [press] inquires to ensure City Council actions are conveyed clearly and accurately.”
Worner told the council at their September 10 meet, “Usually, reporters sit down with city officials for interviews. It’s better that way because we get the information directly from the source.”
She went on to say, “I’ve interviewed celebrities, politicians, and even the Taliban face to face when I covered the war in Afghanistan.
“[But] during my three years at Easy Reader, I never sat down once for a face-to-face interview with a city official.”
“I’ve actually had more interviews with the Taliban than I’ve had with our city manager,” Worner said.
Councilman Raymond Jackson, a retired U.S. Army Colonel, inferred from Worker’s reference to the Taliban that she “equated our city manager to the Taliban.” He then added, “Fox, in journalism, is an oxymoron, and that’s whom she worked for.’
Councilmember Justin Massey added, “She spent her career at Fox News and Fox Business Network, neither of which practice journalism.”
The criticisms fed into a long simmering complaint about the council that it is closed to criticism. That criticism became Worner’s campaign springboard.
“Residents feel they don’t have a say in the important decisions that affect their lives,” she wrote in a press release after the meeting. “And when they do speak up, they are attacked by the very people who are supposed to represent them.”
Worner was born in Germany. Her family moved to Majorca, Spain, where she learned Spanish, at an early age. She spoke no English when her family moved to Hermosa when she was in second grade. She will be forever grateful for the warm welcome she received, she says.
After attending Hermosa schools and Mira Costa High School, she studied international relations at the American University in Paris, where she learned French. During this period, she studied a year in Turkey, where she leaned Turkish. Following her undergraduate studies, she earned a Masters in journalism at Boston University.
She started her journalism career at United Press International, and also worked at Easy Reader, and the Los Angeles Times. She worked as a press officer for Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti, and then spent nearly three decades as a producer at Fox Business News. Her beat was the California tech industry. She also traveled overseas, covering the Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland, the war in Afghanistan and the 2015 Jerusalem Intifada. After retiring from Fox four years ago, she freelanced for Easy Reader until last summer when she filed to run for city council.
“As a journalist, I learned to ask the right questions, distill information and be open to both sides. I’m registered as an Independent,” she said in response to being asked what qualifies her to be a councilmember.
During her precinct walking, Worner said, she is learning that despite Hermosa being just 1.4 square miles, different neighborhoods have different concerns.
The south end, near the beach, is concerned about homelessness. The north end, near the beach, wants to underground utility lines. Residents in the downtown are angry about changes in the resident parking pass program.
“People east of the highway plead, ‘Don’t forget about us,’ she said.
Worner said she opposes Measure HB on the November ballot, which would increase sales taxes in Hermosa by .75% .
“I opposed the tax,” she said during a recent candidates forum, “because we need to do everything we can to give our businesses an edge. There are empty storefronts downtown, and I don’t think adding a tax will help attract new businesses. The city says it needs $3 million to help fund public safety, but the Police department is fully staffed. We don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.”
“In 2018 there were 130 city employees,” she said during a recent interview. “Now there are 150. Hermosa’s population hasn’t changed.”
Worner is undecided about whether or not to lift Hermosa’s ban on short term vacation rentals.
“I have a friend who is an empty nester who loves hosting out of town visitors. But I don’t want short term rentals to break up the neighborhoods,” she said.
To this day, she said her best friends are the neighborhood kids she grew up with. She recalls volleyball at the beach and running around town with no parental supervision.
“The only rule was ‘Be home by 6 p.m.’’ The term ‘helicopter parent’ hadn’t been invented,” she said.
But she is also concerned that the short term vacation rental ban will open the city to litigation. Manhattan Beach’s original short term vacation rental ban, which was similar to Hermosa’s, was ruled illegal.
She opposes building a new civic center, which the city has retained consultants to study.
Instead, she said, “The city should finish the long list of outstanding capital improvement projects, like the city yard.”
She characterized as “outrageous” the city;s retention of a consultant to advise a civic center advisory committee.
“I started in journalism because I wanted to save the world. Now that I’m retired, I can devote 110 percent of my time to helping the community,” she said. ER