Riviera HOA Torrance City Council Candidate Forum

The six candidates for Torrance City Council congregated at Richardson Middle School yesterday evening for a forum sponsored by the Riviera HOA.  Below is a summary of their responses to the questions posed.

Q. Now that ExxonMobil is resuming operations, what should the Torrance City Council do to ensure the health and safety of residents? How comfortable are you that the City will have adequate oversight of the refinery going forward?

• Eng: I submitted a Citizens’s Petition to the AQMD raising concerns prior to the recent hearing where approval was given to re-start the refinery. I would love to have a City Council observer ensure the refinery adheres to obligations imposed upon it at the recent hearing.
• Herring: I am proposing to use the fine money to appoint an independent safety monitor to provide input to the community.
• Rizzo: I’m not happy with what happened.  We should improve training regimens and how we communicate to the public.  We should rely upon state regulators to enforce regulations.
• Griffiths: We are very concerned about safety, but we are not the experts or the regulators.  We do need to develop better tools to communicate with the community.
• Dagastino: I served on the ExxonMobil advisory panel and felt like we did not get the full picture of what was happening.  I would hope people make suggestions to AQMD about what they should do with the fine money.
• Sheikh: Exxon should undergo a safety and compliance audit every three months.

Sidenote: Several residents affiliated with the group FLARE spoke at the last Council meeting on this issue urging the Council to take steps such as:

1. Install real time air quality monitors, easily accessible to the public and managed by a third party, surrounding the Torrance Refinery.
   2. Remove Hydrofluoric Acid from the Torrance Refinery.
   3. Better track and investigate Cyanide emissions from the Refinery.
   4. Implement a MUCH BETTER disaster preparedness plan to communicate with schools, residents, and local hospitals, etc.
   5. Conduct public outreach with residents, schools, businesses, and homeless populations as to what to do in the case of disaster such as an explosion or Hydrofluoric Acid leak.

Mayor Furey responded to these concerns by saying there was really nothing the City could do to address the issues as it was outside their jurisdictional authority.

Q. In light of FPPC findings against Mayor Furey’s Campaign what, if anything, would you like to see happen next?  How would you deal with division it has exposed in the community?

• Eng: We shouldn’t indict the mayor.  People that scream the loudest may not necessarily represent the truth of what happened.  The wheels of justice will turn and we should wait for all the facts to come in.  I’m glad to see his son resigned from the Traffic Commission.
• Herring: My military service taught me values such as truth, honor, and integrity.  I’m content to let the investigation takes its course.
• Rizzo: The FPPC investigation has concluded and there is an ongoing DA investigation.  I learned from my days in law enforcement not to comment on an active investigation.
• Griffiths: This has been a difficult time for our City government. Even just the perception it has created has let down the people.  It presents a black eye to the City, but there is not much the Council can do.  Only the people have the right to determine what they want to see happen.
• Dagastino: We are not privy to all information.  There has been too much premature judgment.  The mayor’s son resigned.  The fine has been paid.  The city needs to move forward.  It’s a terrible distraction.
• Sheikh: We need political stability.  It’s too premature to make a final judgment.  It’s time to move forward.

Sidenote: The Council has declined to take actions such as a formal censure of the Mayor or recommendation to the School Board Personnel Commission that Patrick Furey, Jr. resign from his position on that Commission.

Q. Do you support a Tree/View Ordinance?

• Eng: Yes, I think it’s good.  Interest in privacy and views should be balanced. Trees should be maintained.  View seeker should be required to pay costs of vegetation maintenance.  View seeker should not be allowed to have line of sight view into homes of neighbors.
• Herring: Yes, let’s get this resolved.  It’s been kicked down the road for too long. I applaud this Council for taking action.
• Rizzo: Yes, it’s long overdue.
• Griffiths: Yes, I am the Chair of the Committee on this issue.  We need to balance privacy and view protection and keep costs neutral.  City shouldn’t bear costs.    
• Dagastino: Yes, we should use examples from other cities.  An ordinance is a long-time coming.  Views should be protected.
• Sheikh: Yes. City should be involved in helping neighbors resolve this issue.

Side Commentary: The City has conducted ongoing outreach and studies on this issue for years.  Considering that everyone seems to support it, the question that should be asked is how come the ordinance has not come up for a formal vote by the Council.  Why does it take so long?

Q. How do you feel about mansionization?  Would you advise the planning department to strictly adhere to the Hillside Overlay Ordinance? 

• Eng: It’s a good guideline that allows for appeal.  System is good as it is.
• Herring: Should be looked at on a case by case basis.
• Rizzo: There might be exceptions to the ordinance.
• Griffiths: We shouldn’t apply it as a blanket.  It’s a good mechanism that allows for extra levels of review.
• Dagastino: Strict adherence is critical.  Views should be protected.
• Sheikh: We should support ordinance.

Sidenote: For an interesting case study on this issue and the passions/conflicts it can create among neighbors review the lengthy discussion at the last Council meeting about the property located at 406 De Encanto.  It got so heated at one point that a resident had to be escorted out of Council Chambers by uniformed law enforcement.

Q. Many residents are concerned about developments like Legado that are located on the border between Torrance and neighboring cities.  What can Torrance do? How would you deal with neighboring cities in these situations?  

• Eng: Torrance gets the traffic, other cites get the revenue.  We should be more proactive in working with the residents to determine if development works for us.
• Herring: I am concerned.  Best thing to do is to ask residents to voice their concerns to neighboring cities.
• Rizzo: We need to have open lines of communication.
• Griffiths: I have individually shared my opinion.  We need to improve traffic and are working on key intersections like PCH and Hawthorne.
• Dagastino: Cities should work with South Bay Cities Council’s of Governments (SBCCOG).
• Sheikh: It’s a concern.  We should propose new guidelines to alleviate traffic.

Side Commentary: I recently attended a community meeting led by a Councilmember from Redondo Beach where the Legado development was discussed.  The Redondo Beach Councilmember revealed at that meeting that Redondo Beach has had no formal communication with City of Torrance staff or officials on Legado.  Why doesn’t the Torrance City Council formally take a position on the issue and then send a letter to Redondo Beach either in support or raising concerns?

Q. Are pensions a concern?  

• Eng: We should do a comparison study and see where we fit compared to other cities.
• Herring: Torrance has a balanced budget and I will work to ensure we balance the budget in the future.  We are moving in the right direction.
• Rizzo: It’s a concern as it will consume a larger portion of the budget.  We are not in trouble.  We should stay the course.
• Griffiths: They are damaging our City.  Pension expenses take away from city services. Not much we can do about it as people under the old program need to retire.
• Dagastino:  Only been an issue since 2012 when they made changes to how the unfunded liability was calculated.  Things will balance out.
• Sheikh: It’s a concern. We need to retain small businesses in order to create more revenue to cover the cost.

Sidenote: Comparative studies have already been conducted by organizations such as the California Policy Center and the Wall Street Journal.  Those studies have found that Torrance’s penision risk is high compared to other cities.  Also, while Torrance does plan a balanced budget it actually ran a deficit in the last fiscal year.

Q. How do we improve business and employment opportunities?

• Eng: Small business should pay less in taxes and fees while big business should pay more.
• Herring: We should increase Economic Development Department by two people and create business development district for downtown.
• Rizzo: We need more Economic Development Department staff and should work with the Chamber of Commerce and groups like the United Small Business Alliance.
• Griffiths: Need to do more outreach to businesses interested in coming to our City that will fill the void left by Toyota leaving.
• Dagastino: We should find more business ourselves and think of Torrance more like an international City and hub for Exports/Imports.
• Sheikh: We should eat, and shop Torrance.  Toyota leaving is their loss.

Side commentary: How are we going to pay for increased Economic Development Department staff?

Q. What can we do about increases in burglaries?

• Eng: Put more cameras on streets.
• Herring: Encourage residents to “see something/say something” and organize neighborhood watches.
• Rizzo: Use the community as our eyes and ears.  “See something/say something.”
• Griffiths: City should lobby state for more funds.  They stopped paying to imprison people, so they should pay to help us protect people.
• Dagastino: Torrance is down 23 officers.  We need more police.
• Sheikh: We need more police presence.

Side Commentary: How are going to pay for more police or cameras?

Q. Do you support City paying for Rose Float and Fireworks?

• Eng: Maybe to Rose Float; Yes to fireworks.
• Herring: Yes to Rose Float; maybe to fireworks.
• Rizzo: Yes to Rose Float; maybe to fireworks.
• Griffiths: Yes to both.
• Dagastino: Yes to both.
• Sheikh: Yes to both.

Side Commentary:  The City is currently using one-time money for the Rose Float and monies stemming from the Water fund for the fireworks.  There is no budgeted plan for these expenditures in the future.  How are they going to pay for these expenses?

Q. Who are your primary donors?   

• Eng: I received a check from my first individual donor.
• Herring: I’m honored to have the support of the Torrance Police and Firefighters Association.
• Rizzo: I’m supported by the Torrance Police and Firefighters Associations.
• Griffiths: I’m supported by several individual donors.  I am not receiving contributions from any unions.
• Dagastino: I’m supported by the Torrance Police and Firefighters Associations as well as the National Women’s Political Caucus.
• Sheikh: I don’t have any major organizational donors.

Side note: Interestingly, Councilmember Griffiths received the endorsement of the Police Officer Association in the last election, but as he noted not in this election.

Prior to closing, the moderator conducted what he termed political theater.  He said a few hardball questions about the Furey issue were received from the audience.  He noted that the panel seemed relatively disinclined to engage on the first question about the Furey’s and didn’t think they would be willing to offer much more, but said that he didn’t want to overrule the sentiment in the room by not asking the questions.  He asked the audience if they really wanted to put the candidates on the spot and ask the questions or was it that only a few people wanted to hear them.  He did not reveal what the questions were. Only a handful of the about 50 or so people in the room raised their hand acknowledging that they wanted the questions asked. I learned afterward that the questions received by the audience, but not asked were:

1. Have you ever hired Patrick Furey, Jr. as your Campaign Manager?
2. Should the Council recommend that Patrick Furey, Jr. resign his position on the School Board Personnel Commission?
3. Should Mayor Furey be recalled if the DA investigation reveals further adverse findings?