Hermosa Beach Development Director Ken Robertson presided over three decades of ‘organic’ growth
by Kevin Cody Ken Robertson oversaw Hermosa Beach development for three decades, from 1989, when he joined the city as a contract planner, until last month, when he retired as Community Development Director. Shortly after he joined the city, plans were made to transform the moribound downtown Pier Avenue from a retail district to a vibrant, though still controversial restaurant and bar destination. The plan was proposed in 1992 by a visiting Regional Urban Design Assistance Team from the American Institute of Architects. The plan was implemented in 1997, in what one councilman called a temporary “social experiment.” Lower Pier Avenue, with its two-way traffic circling a center divider, was closed to cars. The street closure led to sales tax revenue reaching a new high, and what became known as Pier Plaza was never reopened to cars. Ken Robertson, wearing a T-shirt from Hermosa’s legendary Either/Or bookstore. Joining him at his retirement party at the Hermosa Historical Museum are assistant to the city manager Ann Yang, Rabbi Gila Katz, and architect Dean Nota, who was instrumental in bringing to Hermosa Beach the AIA R/UDAT, which helped design Pier Plaza in the late 1990s. Photo…
Read this story on easyreadernews.com