Mayor Pete Tucker said the city will win the day when a potentially bankrupting, $700 million lawsuit comes to trial. He also outlined ways the city is addressing the economic downturn, and praised municipal workers and the town’s private sector as he delivered the annual State of the City address.
Speaking to public officials, activists and businesspeople in a banquet room of the Beach House Hotel on Thursday, Tucker first addressed the breach-of-contract lawsuit by Macpherson Oil Company, which at one time had secured permission to slant-drill for oil under the Pacific Ocean, from a base on city-owned land.
“We as a city feel we have a great defense for our case,” Tucker said. “…We believe when we go to trial we will win this case.”
After a 12-year fight up and down the court system, the city has been told that it can get out from under the breach-of-contract claim if it can convince a jury that the oil drilling project was too dangerous to allow. A civil trial focusing on alleged dangers of the project is scheduled to begin Jan. 18, 2012.
Tucker said he and fellow councilman Michael DiVirgilio, appointed as a subcommittee by the full council, have met with Macpherson representatives about a half dozen times. Both sides have repeatedly said their positions were far apart when it came to a potential settlement.
Economic forecast
Turning to the city’s overall economy, Tucker noted that the city government’s revenues rose a mere 1 percent in the last fiscal year, adding that experts have predicted little improvement in the economy’s near future.
He said the City Council has taken up the principles of zero-based budgeting, asking heads of municipal departments to consider the resources they would need to run their operations “like a business.”
“We’ve asked out department heads to think outside the box,” he said.
Tucker also noted that a committee is studying possible changes to the business license tax, which has not been raised in 19 years.
He said a recent fee study by the city might result in some adjustments as well.
“Some businesses might not be paying enough, and some might be paying too much,” he said.
Tucker expressed gratitude to the city’s employee unions for cooperating in discussions that could lead to the implementation of a “two-tier” pension approach, in which future employees get smaller benefit packages than those of current employees. He said the city could begin seeing a reduction of about 20 percent in its pension costs.
“I’m very proud of our labor people who have stepped up to the plate on that,” he said.
Noting another silver lining, Tucker said revenues from the hotel taxes paid by visitors, often called the “bed tax,” were “starting to go back up again” after the downturned economy saw them fall.
Makeover mulled
Tucker praised public works achievements such as last year’s makeover of Pier Avenue, the town’s iconic main drag.
“I call it the Rodeo Drive of the beach,” he said. “I think you’re going to see a lot of [business] renovations and a lot of new businesses coming in.”
Tucker noted that the $4.3 million project was funded through the federal, state and county governments, saying, “No [city] general fund moneys were used for this project.”
Tucker pointed out that the city received federal environmental awards for the use of reclaimed water and a cutting edge system to keep storm water runoff from reaching the ocean on Pier Avenue, and for a state-of-the-art storm water filtration trench that was placed under the beach sand near the pier.
Tucker also praised the city’s police and firefighters, pointing to an elite accreditation received by the Police Department in November. The department joined only 15 other law enforcement agencies in California to hold the honor from the nationally recognized Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement, Inc.
The accreditation followed an extensive audit of conduct and standards by outside experts, an in-depth agency-wide self-evaluation, and the adoption of new directives and standards by the department.
Stepping up
Tucker expressed his gratitude for the community spirit of numerous businesses, individuals, service clubs and the Hermosa Beach Chamber for volunteering to improve the town’s facilities and to take the reins of popular community events.
In 2010 the Saint Rocke music venue assumed responsibility for the Sunset Concert Series at the pier, while Spyder Surf and downtown merchants took over the annual holiday tree lighting ceremony and expanded it with Snowfest, a feature of the event that saw 53 tons of snow on the western slope of Hermosa Avenue.
Last weekend the Chamber of Commerce staged the popular St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
“That’s the spirit of Hermosa, rolling up our sleeves and helping out,” Tucker said.
In addition, community donations totaling $120,000 were used to renovate ball diamonds, dugouts and other features at Clark Field, and Sea Sprite hotelier Thelma Greenwald donated $150,000 for improvements to the Hermosa Beach Playhouse.
“Here again is someone in the community giving back,” Tucker said.
The Hermosa Beach Kiwanis Foundation and Hermosa Beach Woman’s Club helped maintain the town’s Veterans Memorial, and Leadership Hermosa Beach secured a grant from the Los Angeles Lakers Youth Foundation to replace the aged basketball floor in the Community Center.
Tucker also praised the all-volunteer Hermosa Beach Murals Project for raising money to beautify the town, beginning with a 20 foot-long mural of downtown Hermosa in the 1920s that is being painted by a renowned muralist on the north face of the downtown municipal parking structure.
Tucker noted that a special committee has been studying the future of the financially strapped city school district, which he called “one of the best” in the area. He said efforts must be made to preserve the two-school district for the sake of Hermosa’s kids and its property values.
“If we ever lose our school district it would be a sad day for Hermosa,” he said. ER
