Torrance City Council – A Town Hall Style Conversation About Local Politics

For the past several months members of the Torrance Refinery Action Alliance (TRAA) have appeared at Council meetings during oral communications to express ongoing concerns about the danger posed to the community through the use of hydroflouric acid (“HF”) at the ExxonMobil refinery.

The TRAA claims that as part of the consent decree agreed upon between the City of Torrance and ExxonMobil that the refiner agreed to use modified HF in order to reduce the risk use of the dangerous chemical presents to area residents in the so called “killzone.” TRAA claims they recently discovered that in 1998 Torrance allowed ExxonMobil to reduce the percentage of the additive from the agreed upon 30% to 10% or even less.

In stunning allegations, one member of TRAA claimed at the last Council meeting that in 1998 then Fire Chief R.S. Adams penned a document on behalf of the City approving a reduction in the HF additive.  Subsequently in 1999, according to the speaker, the fire chief retired and was hired by ExxonMobil.  The member then suggested, “you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see that this smacks of something really awful.”

Several other members expressed continued concerns about the lack of progress on a study the City had promised to conduct at a meeting on the issue last October.

One of those speakers expressed shock that nothing had been done and criticized the Council for what he termed a relaxed approach to this issue as he believed the City has already had sufficient time to complete the study.  He wondered why the Council was not asking questions and demanding action from the City Manager.

Yet another member suggested the City Attorney vacate the consent decree with ExxonMobil suggesting it was outdated while another member called for an independent investigation into the whole affair as the issue is undermining confidence in the City of Torrance.

In response, Mayor Furey took aim at one of his favorite targets, the Daily Breeze.  He stated that “some things published in the newspaper were not paradigms of accuracy,” also noting that was a kind way to say how he really felt.

He encouraged people not to repeat those inaccuracies contained in the local paper and then went on to question the memory process of former elected officials who claim they knew nothing about what was occurring when the additive was presumably reduced because, according to Furey, “that’s not true.”

One of the former elected officials Mayor Furey referred to is current School Board President Don Lee who was quoted extensively in the Daily Breeze article claiming the Council was not informed back in 1998 when the City allowed ExxonMobil to reduce the additive.

Councilman Weideman also took umbrage with the questions proffered by the TRAA.  He offered that it was not the nature of oral communications for the Council to engage in a dialogue and that for somebody to say I would like to ask you all a question is out of bounds.  At the conclusion of the meeting, he followed up those statements by saying that he found it objectionable when a gentlemen stands up here and says I’d like to ask you a question.

The disclaimer included in every City Council agenda and read aloud prior to oral communications states that, “Council cannot act on items raised during public comment, but may respond briefly to statements made or questions posed; request clarification; or refer the item to staff.”

In the spirit of the holidays, the Council will consider suspending parking enforcement from December 20^th to January 3, 2016.  The idea was proposed by Councilman Griffiths at the last Council meeting.  At that time, he noted that “it is a stressful time of the year with all the people visiting” and that he thought it would be a nice gift the City could give the residents.

The lack of enforcement will only pertain to parking tickets issued for street sweeping.  Other parking violations will continue to be enforced.  The staff report noted that over the last three years that an average of 148 parking citations for street sweeping violations occurred during the holiday season.  The expected violations for this holiday season, however, could be much higher as Torrance recently enacted increased street sweeping parking enforcement as part of the Optimized Street Sweeping Program.

The matter will be heard at Tuesday’s meeting.

The City of Torrance and the Torrance Unified School District (TUSD) have recently been sued in Los Angeles Superior Court by Stephanie Clift acting on behalf of her minor son Justin.  The lawsuit stems from a terrible accident that occurred in October 2014 when Justin was hit by a car in a crosswalk near Walteria elementary.  Justin, only 5 years old at the time, suffered a traumatic brain injury in the incident and still has not regained full consciousness.

The lawsuit alleges that Walteria Elementary had inadequate parking and driveways close to the school to allow for the pick-up and drop off of elementary age children.  This resulted in parents utilizing the intersection at Madison and Newton as a drop off point for students.

The suit also claims that in order to avoid traffic during rush hour that vehicles cut through the side streets surrounding the school, including Madison and Newton, and that defendants, the City of Torrance and TUSD, knew or should have known that this increased traffic mandated the use of a crossing guard at the intersection, or at the very least additional signage.  The suit further claims that defendants were negligent for failing to correct this dangerous situation and protect students as they were trying to get to and from school.

To defend the suit, the City Council is set to approve at this evening’s Council meeting a fee agreement with the law firm of Woodruff, Spradlin & Smart in the amount of $416,000.  In the initial answer to the complaint, the City denied all liability and asserted that plaintiff, by his conduct, assumed all hazards or risks and that his conduct contributed to the injury thereby absolving the defendants of any liability.

Another listed defendant in the suit is Herbert Hirschmann, the driver of the vehicle.  Stephanie had previously expressed frustration that nearly a year after the accident that the driver had not received so much as a ticket due to the unwillingness of the City prosecutor to file charges.

Shortly after the accident, and at the behest of many parents of Walteria children, the City initiated a study to review the crossing guard program.  Eight months later, the City Council approved the relocation of 5 existing crossing guard posts and the temporary addition of crossing guards at 3 new sites.  One of the new sites to receive a crossing guard was the site of the accident at the busy intersection of Newton and Madison.

The relocation took effect at the beginning of the current school year and resulted in some school sites losing crossing guards.  Anza Elementary, for example, lost guards at the busy intersection of Carson/Anza and also at Ruby/Palos Verdes.  Arnold, Edision, and Fern Elementary also lost crossing guards at certain locations.