City Council To Discuss Hermosa Beach Reopening, Recovery

Press release from the City of Hermosa Beach:

May 12, 2021

The Hermosa Beach City Council will hold a virtual study session at 5 p.m. on Thursday to discuss Hermosa SHINES, a communitywide reopening, recovery and resilience plan that outlines the City Staff’s focus for the next 12-18 months and will inform Council decisions about the fiscal year 2021-22 budget, public safety, temporary programs to accommodate outdoor dining and retail as well as other local initiatives.

SHINES is an acronym representing six elements that are critical to Hermosa’s future: Safety, Health, Infrastructure, New technology, Economic development and Service. Hermosa SHINES focuses the City’s efforts on these six critical elements. It also builds on past community input about Hermosa’s future and takes lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic to create a cohesive guide for benefitting the entire community as Hermosa writes its next chapter.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, our community, businesses and City organization have had to navigate uncharted territory, and all of us should be enormously proud of everyone who stepped up to support and serve our community,” said City Manager Suja Lowenthal. “It’s been a very difficult year, but now we are looking forward to reopening our community and our local economy. We have listened to the community and outlined the City’s priorities for benefitting the entire community in Hermosa SHINES. We encourage everyone to read the plan, tune in to Thursday’s online presentation and let us know your thoughts on how we can build on Hermosa’s small beach town culture to create a more resilient and welcoming community.”

During the Study Session, the City’s Department directors will address the plan’s individual elements over the next 12-18 months, and City Staff will present plans for resuming in-person City services as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. The plan also includes various initiatives and legislative items.

City Staff has provided a proposed ordinance that is scheduled for introduction and first reading at the May 25 City Council meeting. A preview copy has been made available to the public in the upcoming Meeting Agenda. The proposed ordinance is based on the community’s input from previous discussions about Downtown’s future and lessons learned during the pandemic. Noting that downtown is less than 5% of the City but generated 35% of police calls from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. prior to the pandemic, the proposed ordinance addresses the safety and quality of life issues caused by the rowdy party atmosphere and overconsumption of alcohol in downtown. The proposed ordinance is intended to address these late-night alcohol activities and ensure businesses continue to operate responsibly, while Hermosa SHINES is intended to simultaneously help keep downtown a vibrant destination for dining, live entertainment and shopping.

The following are key points regarding the proposed ordinance:

• The temporary limited live entertainment program remains in effect;
• The proposed ordinance would supplement the outdoor dining and retail programs currently in effect; and
• The proposed ordinance is designed to create an environment for restaurants to thrive during prime dining hours.

“During the pandemic, demand for our services in downtown dropped significantly,” Hermosa Beach Police Chief Paul LeBaron said. “This decline made it possible for us to focus more on crime prevention initiatives and to target crime in other parts of the City, including vehicle break-ins, drug violations and package and bicycle thefts. We have heard the community’s requests for more law enforcement throughout the City and proposed this ordinance to ensure our police can continue to serve the whole community and to make our downtown a more welcoming retail, dining and entertainment destination for people of all ages.”

This press release was produced by the City of Hermosa Beach. The views expressed here are the author's own.