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

Per multiple accounts a child was seriously injured today at Madrona Middle School when a tree branch fell on him. The boy was waiting to be picked up after the first day of school.  According to one report, the boy had a seizure on the scene.  His current condition is not known.

This evening the City Council is set to hear an updated report on the Optimized Street Sweeping Program. A hallmark of that Program was the introduction of increased enforcement of no parking during street sweeping hours through signs and fines. Newly released figures in the Staff Report indicate that despite a substantial increase in revenues due to the citations that the Program is actually costing the City approximately $220K a year to operate.

A group of concerned citizens who call themselves the “No Signs, No Fines Committee” have prepared an alternate Staff Report which asserts much of the data provided by the City is flawed.

That alternate Staff Report can be found here.

One of the members of the “No Signs, No Fines Committee” also provided a statement which was included as supplemental material to the agenda item on the street sweeping program. That statement is as follows:

In all the 35 years that I’ve lived in Torrance, the City has swept nearly all streets in the city once a week. In 2014 the City began requiring that cars be moved or be ticketed on street sweeping day, and called the program Optimized Street Sweeping. Today’s Staff report says that after 4 years of OSS, Torrance is losing money on every ticket they write.

Should the Optimized Street Sweeping program be continued?

 

• The goal of the grant Torrance wrote which initiated the OSS Program was to clean our waterways that lead into Machado Lake.
• To accomplish that, the Water Quality Control Board mandated the installation of full capture screens for our drains. That has been done.
• The requirement to move cars on street sweeping day or pay a fine was added by the City itself, and never was required.
• The Staff claimed a 50% greater pickup would be possible with OSS.
• Torrance’s own data shows they are not picking up any more tonnage now than they did before OSS.
• The sweepers are cleaning the same streets with the same frequency as they did before 2014.
• The Staff report today says that administration of the ticketing component of this program is costing more than it’s bringing in.

Therefore, there is no reason to continue a program that is not mandated, does not improve the environment and is losing money.

I ask the Council and Mayor to halt the ticketing component of the OSS immediately. You can leave the signs up, just don’t ticket people.

Do not raise ticket prices in order to ‘pay for’ the costs of a useless program!  If you’re not ready to drop the ticketing component permanently, then institute a 6 month moratorium on ticketing, and observe the results.

At the very least, codify a method of allowing neighbors to opt out of the ticketing component on their streets. Residents pay for street sweeping through taxes; many people do not wish to pay again via ticketing.

Christy Andrews is not in good health. Her kidneys are failing, but she will not let that stop her from fighting for her daughter. She is on a mission. She will not back down or be intimidated and she will not stop. On behalf of her daughter, she has reached out to everyone she can think of including U.S. Senator’s, State Legislator’s, the Torrance City Council, the TUSD School Board, and nearly every TUSD Administrator. With her grievances left unaddressed, she has now sought legal representation.

At the beginning of last school year everything was fine. Of her daughter she wrote, “She was an A, B student … all of the teachers spoke very highly of my daughter, how well she was doing, what a great student she was, how she participated and was a joy to have in their class. Then the bullying started in November, my daughter would not go to school, her attendance dropped, her grades started to drop her whole attitude about the school changed.”

She now says her daughter suffers from PTSD, anxiety, and depression due to the emotional distress she experienced at J.H. Hull this past year. Her allegations are serious. In one instance, a boy pushed her daughter and pulled her hair. In another altercation, her daughter was hit in the mouth causing a swollen lip and loose tooth.

Andrews also says that, “There were rumors going around the school that my daughter was sucking D@ck, was a whore, and was sleeping with boys. My daughter would be walking on campus and kids would refer to her as a whore/hoe and the school did nothing to stop it or help her.”

Andrews brought these concerns forward to the administration on numerous occasions, but the bullying did not stop. Frustrated at the lack of action, Andrews at one point wrote, “I will be damned if I lose my daughter due to JH Hull’s lack of acting on the concerns that are brought to them. I will not stand by and allow my child to be bullied!”

“I have talked to them many times but they have allowed my daughter to be bullied and have allowed my daughter to be attacked they have allowed her to be called a whore and they allowed students to say my daughter gives sexual favors. ALL of these things that were/are being said are UNTRUE.”

The bullying was not the only issue. Last May, she wrote to several TUSD administrators and the School Board about lap dances that were occurring on campus during lunch time:

“I am a concerned parent of a student at J.H. HULL that wants to know why [name withheld] (a 6th grader) is allowed to give lap dances to boys at J.H. Hull? Is this a normal practice that is allowed at Torrance middle schools? Your principle NEVER seems to know what is going on at her school, there is no point in talking to her I have tried. Try talking to [name withheld] (a 6th grader) he is one of MANY BOYS [name withheld] gave a lap dance to at lunch and then kissed him. Where are the teachers when this is going on? Where is the supervision? I am highly upset that my child was exposed to this. This just disgusts me that these things are happening on school ground in the common lunch area, it was not hidden it was in the open yet, no adult said anything nor did they stop it”

After multiple e-mails on the subject, including several sent to Superintendent Dr. Mannon, she eventually received a short e-mail from the J.H. Hull principal which stated:

“We have completed an investigation regarding the incident and appropriate consequences have been given to students involved. Thank you for your concern.”

Andrews was never told what consequences, if any, were doled out by the District.

In another troubling account, she claims that one of the teachers complained to her daughter of an “aching urethra.” When her daughter asked what that was, the teacher stated that she would learn about it in health class.

Andrews, who has a background in criminal investigations, claims she was later able to uncover evidence that this teacher had previously been suspended twice for inappropriate conduct and had a DUI on his record. When she brought this information forward, the principal seemed unaware of the prior suspensions. Andrews wanted the incident put in the teacher’s file, but according to Andrews the school did nothing despite the teacher admitting to having made the remark.

Andrews also expressed concern that the principal at J.H. Hull, Patty Girgis, is married to Karim Girgis who is the principal at Torrance High. Karim Girgis was a named defendant in a lawsuit against the District that alleged negligent supervision due to school officials failing to act on repeated tips about the former Torrance High wresting coach who molested dozens of students. That case recently resulted in a $31 Million settlement against the District.

Of that relationship, Andrews wrote:

“Knowing that she is married to this man and that she is the one handling my complaints on a teacher makes me feel very uncomfortable especially since she refuses to take any action or to ease my worries by discussing anything with me. I feel this just got swept under a rug. We are talking about kids and this is her JOB to make sure the kids that attend that school are safe and when a complaint is made to take care of it and to assure the parent and child that it will be handled properly.”

Andrews has similar complaints against the TUSD administration as those alleged in the wrestling coach case.  In another letter to the School Board she summed up her experience by stating:

“J.H. HULL has failed to provide my daughter the right to an education in a safe place. I have reached out numerous times to Torrance School Board along with J.H. Hull head staff to get these issues resolved instead I was met with hostility and resistance or I have been ignored and or passed along from person to person with no resolution … Instead they did not like me pushing back on them so they turned on [my daughter] by bullying her, discriminating against her, intimidating her, picking on her, they singled her out and made life hard at J.H. Hull.

My daughter should and does not have to put up with what she has … having a teacher scream at the top of their lungs at her on a couple occasions, having teachers making inappropriate comments to her with no repercussions, my daughter has been discriminated against, racially profiled, made to feel lesser than, and we are talking about staff members of J.H. Hull head administrators, they have lied about her, they destroyed evidence, they made my child out to be the bad guy, they’re going as far as trying to say my child has a behavioral issue which is a total bunch of crap. My child has the biggest heart, and is the most caring, loving person I know.”

Andrews is raising the alarm not only on behalf of her daughter, but for all students that attend TUSD. Said Andrews, “It is not right for children to go through what my daughter has. I know there are more family’s out there that have been through this and now they will know they are not alone and hopefully come out and share their stories.”