MAN OF THE YEAR
Photo courtesy George Barks Barks is former mayor, Sister City prez People kept telling George Barks that the city needed him. It was the early 1970s, and Barks kept hearing from residents about hot-button property rights issues. They thought his pro-business attitude was what the city needed, and urged him to run for City Council. But although Barks was well known in the community, he had not served on a city commission, often considered a stepping stone for a council seat. So to establish his civic bonafides Barks got involved with the Hermosa Beach Sister City Association. The program, one of hundreds that sprung up around the country during the Eisenhower Administration, aimed to create “citizen diplomats” who would foster international cooperation from the ground up. Barks, who will be honored Tuesday as the Man of the Year by the Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce and Visitors’ Bureau, went on to win that council seat, as well as two more terms. He oversaw an influential period in Hermosa’s history, and the terms in office established a streak of civic involvement that continues till today: he is such a frequent and determined presence at City Council meetings that “I…
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