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Torrance Education Foundation Recognizes Local Teachers
These photos were taken Tuesday evening at Edelbrock\’s, Vic\’s Garage in Torrance, where the Torrance Education Foundation held a recognition and appreciation reception for Torrance school teachers that had applied for and received STEM grants.
STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math; which are all subjects that American students need to excel in if we are to compete in tomorrow\’s world. The Foundation awarded 48 grants totaling $39,500 for K-12 enrichment projects: Family STEM Nights, CyberPatriots, Hour of Code, After-School Engineering Club, Math Counts, Science Olympiad, and Robotics. The teachers recognized at the event are doing their part to see that happens by receiving these grants that give them the money to provide a little more to their students. Continue reading
4th Annual Torrance Cherry Blossom Cultural Festival
These photos were taken Sunday, March 15 at the 4th Annual Torrance Cherry Blossom Cultural Festival, which was held in the southeast corner of Columbia Park in Torrance. The free, family friendly event was sponsored in part by the City of Torrance, the North Torrance Homeowners Association, the Torrance Sister City Association, Torrance Craftsmen’s Guild, and Soka Gakkai International-Buddhist Association for Peace, Culture and Education. Entertainment was provided by Susan Mann’s Wahine Ilikea Dancers performing Polynesian dances, O-Edo Ichi-Za performing traditional Japanese fan dances, and Myo’on Taiko drumming. There were also several food trucks available and one of them even sold Japanese food. There were booths with arts and crafts for sale by the Torrance Craftsmen’s Guild.
Columbia Park has over 110 cherry blossom trees that were donated by Soka Gakkai International-USA. The significance of the cherry blossom tree in Japanese culture goes back hundreds of years. In their country, the cherry blossom symbolizes hope, virtue and new beginnings while also representing the fragility and the beauty of life. It is a reminder that life can be very beautiful but that it can also be tragically short. I think one of the most surprising things about yesterday\’s event is that even with the extremely odd [non]winter we had, the trees still knew what weekend they needed to bloom for us. Continue reading
If it\’s too loud you\’re too old? Maybe not.
Every once in a while I write an article that I know ahead of time is going to upset some people; I am relatively confident there will be those that are not going to like this article. I am okay with that and apologize ahead of time if you don\’t approve of my thoughts.
A couple months ago, at a Torrance City Council meeting, there was a topic of discussion regarding a free \”summer\” concert series that runs from January through October on Saturday evenings from 6:00-9:00 PM at the courtyard on Cabrillo by El Prado. Since the event is sponsored by BFD Buffalo Fire Department and The Depot restaurants and the owner, Chef Shafer, is known for his support of local charities it was pretty open and shut as to whether or not the City of Torrance would grant Shafer the permit he requested to hold these concerts.
When it came time for public comments there was one gentleman that lives somewhere in the courtyard complex and he came complaining about the noise. Naturally, Shafer had the deck stacked against the guy as he had customers come in and talk about how much they enjoyed the concerts. What I found odd was the one young lady that said she lived a couple blocks away and could hear the music, but wished it was louder so she could hear it better. Continue reading
Fiesta Floats of the 126th Tournament of Roses Parade
It is New Year\’s Eve, and the time is up for the preparation of the floats for the 126th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade with will begin at 8:00 AM on January 1, 2015. I began my day by heading back out to Irwindale and Fiesta Parade Floats, the leading award winning float-builder in the Tournament of Roses Parade.
I lucked out today as I happened to arrive at Fiesta Floats after they had begun removing some floats from the building they were built in, giving me the ability to take some photos without dozens (or hundreds) of people vying for position to take their photos. If you have been following the progression of the float construction you can see that the Torrance entry dedicated to hometown hero, Louis Zamperini, came out very nice. It will be one of the first floats in tomorrow\’s parade. Continue reading
Torrance comes to Fiesta Floats
On Sunday evening several bus loads of Torrance residents, along with their mayor, the city council, commissioners and other various dignitaries headed out to Irwindale and Fiesta Parade Floats to check out the progress of the float that the City of Torrance is sponsoring for the 126th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade.
The theme of this year\’s Rose Parade is \”Inspiring Stories\” with the Grand Marshal being Torrance hometown hero, Louis Zamperini, who passed away earlier this year. The Torrance entry is called \”A Race Well Run\” and will feature black-and-white photos of Zamperini\’s life, the Olympic torch and other imagery that reflects Zamperini\’s life including a replica of the B-24 plane he was shot down in during World War II. Since the movie Unbroken was released on Christmas Day the City of Torrance hopes that this float, dedicated to the memory of Louis Zamperini, can once again bring international recognition to the city.
Sunday\’s visit required a little imagination as all the floats essentially had most of their big items removed so flowers and seeds could be added prior to the reassembly which must be completed by Tuesday night. If you would like to see the progress that has been made over the last two weeks, you can see a few of my photos on CNN\’s iReport. I will return one more time, on New Year\’s Eve, so I can get some up close and personal shots of the finished product. Continue reading
Candy Cane Lane returns to Sleepy Hollow
It is that time of year again, when the residents of the Seaside area of South Torrance, also known as Sleepy Hollow, show true community cooperation by decorating entire blocks in an extravaganza of Christmas lights, transforming the neighborhood into Candy Cane Lane.
A tradition that, by all verifiable accounts, began in 1985 has become seemingly more popular with each successive year; if not with the residents most definitely with the visitors that come to view the lights. In prior years it seemed that you had to know where you were going in order to find the decorated neighborhood. This year I have spotted several signs directing drivers to the Christmas lights and some streets seem to have been modified to keep the traffic flowing and to keep people from becoming lost in the maze of streets that all seem to look alike when the sun goes down and the lights come on.
These photos were taken on Tuesday and Wednesday nights because I wanted to get some photos in before the crowds got too big. Even though it is still two weeks before Christmas several long lines of cars can be found driving up and down the decorated streets. It is a safe bet that the weekends will be even more crowded with both car and pedestrian traffic. The lights at Candy Cane Lane are on from 6:00 until 10:00 PM and will be on every night until at least New Years. If you decide you want to visit the decorated area, I highly recommend parking and walking the streets. It may be chilly but there are plenty of people selling hot chocolate, home-baked cookies and popcorn. There are carolers, musicians and an occasional Santa Claus sighting has been reported. It is a good time for young and old, you will enjoy yourself. Continue reading
An Open Letter to the Torrance City Council
On July 15 the City of Torrance got a new mayor, Pat Furey; and a new city council consisting of incumbent Gene Barnett, and newly elected council members Kurt Weideman, Heidi Ashcraft, Tim Goodrich and Geoff Rizzo. Now, it is true that Weideman and Ashcraft had one year and six months experience respectively as they had both been appointed, not elected, to the council but their combined 18 months of experience is but a drop in the bucket compared to the time put in by the council members they replaced. The fact is that on July 15 Torrance lost 30 years of experience between the departing of Mayor Frank Scotto, and Councilmen Bill Sutherland and Tom Brewer. Since Pat Furey was elected mayor, this resulted in another vacancy on the Torrance City Council. The options to fill the vacancy are either hold a special election at the cost of $200,000 or let the current council agree on an appointment. It was decided to solicit applications for the vacancy.
Apparently there were 12 applications submitted including six candidates from the June election; Leilani Kimmel-Dagostino, Michael Griffiths, Alex See, Milton Herring, Rahmay Khan and Ryan Mand. Additional applications were submitted by Charles Deemer, Ray Uchima, Mario Obejas, Jimmy Gow, William Daniel Feliz and recently retired City Clerk Sue Herbers. The current city council must make a decision at the upcoming council meeting scheduled for August 12 or a special election must be held. It is in the best interest of the city that a consensus is reached and the special election be avoided. I do not think there is much argument by any intelligent citizen that an appointment is the best way to go about this; the only discussion is who should be appointed. While no one has asked my opinion, I am going to give it anyway. Continue reading
Louis Zamperini Celebration of Life Photos
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The following photos were taken Thursday evening at the Louis Zamperini Celebration of Life which was held at Torrance High School\’s Zamperini Stadium. I should probably preface this by saying that I am not really in the habit of going to memorial services for people I do not know but over the past couple of years Mr. Zamperini\’s name seemed to pop up more and more in conversations so much so that I felt like I did know him slightly. As I was walking the dogs last night I recalled how our family moved to Torrance [almost] 50 years ago and that even then my dad would mention the Zamperini name; even if I did not really appreciate who this man was. By the end of last night\’s event I felt that I knew Louis much better and I wished I had made more of an effort to learn about him while he was alive.
The remembrance to honor Louis Zamperini\’s life was a very moving and educational event. From local juvenile delinquent to hometown and national hero, we learned a lot about Zamperini. We were able to hear from people like former Torrance Mayor Ken Miller whose family moved next door to the Zamperini family 80 years ago when Miller was a freshman at Torrance High and Zamperini was a senior. Zamperini\’s daughter Cynthia, his son Luke and his grandson Clay all spoke of their lives with a living hero that was, by all accounts, a very humble man. We then got to hear from people like Kyle Gauthier that had only recently met Zamperini who had donated several thousand dollars to help send this young man to Victory Boys Camp, a camp he established in 1952 for wayward youth, where he taught other juvenile delinquents the skills to succeed in life. Speaker after speaker pretty much had the same things to say; this was a man that endured a lot, but was made a better man for it. Continue reading
The City of Torrance has a new mayor and council
On Tuesday evening, the Torrance City Council went through a major changing of the guard, with Pat Furey being sworn in as our new mayor; and Kurt Weideman, Heidi Ashcraft, Tim Goodrich and Geoff Rizzo being sworn in as new council members. Weideman had been appointed to the council a year ago when Councilwoman Susan Rhilinger resigned due to health; and Ashcraft was appointed in December when Cliff Numark was elected to the El Camino College Board of Trustees. They have a combined year and a half of experience compared to the 30 years of experience between the departing Mayor Frank Scotto, and Councilmen Bill Sutherland and Tom Brewer. It is going to be an interesting time for Torrance; no doubt.
The evening began with a ceremony marking the departure of City Clerk Sue Herbers who retired after 20 years of service. In her farewell address she mentioned that she will still be around and be as active as ever; even if it is as an audience member. She did mention that if the council decided to accept applications for the vacant seat that we now have since Furey became Mayor, she would apply. More on that later, but personally, she would be outstanding.
Herbers last official duty was the swearing in of Council members Weideman, Ashcraft, Goodrich and Rizzo; Pat Furey as Mayor and Rebecca Poirier as the new City Clerk. And with that we lost 50 years of experience in one swoop. Continue reading
Torrance residents: Be careful out there
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If you follow current events in Torrance you are probably aware of the decision to install permissive blinking yellow lights for left turn lanes and certain major intersections in the city. The intent, of which I am in favor, is to allow cars that are sitting in the left lane at a red light with no oncoming traffic to proceed with caution. It is a great concept that I am sure everyone agrees is long overdue; however, when these signals are installed they also need to be programmed and apparently they are not being programmed correctly or whomever decided on the cycling of the lights did not give any real thought to the process or the possible consequences of their haphazard decision. Allow me to elaborate.
This evening at 9:45 my fiancee and I were walking the dogs eastbound on 182nd Street approaching Prairie. At Prairie we would cross 182nd and continue south on Prairie. As we reached the northwest corner of 182nd and Prairie I immediately pressed the button for the WALK signal to protect Tanya, the dogs and myself as we crossed 182nd Street. As we stood there waiting for our WALK signal Tanya and I noticed that all the left turn lanes for the east/west traffic were blinking yellow immediately. There was no protective green for the cars in the left turn lanes in either direction. It became clear that instead of supplementing the green light as it should, the new signal was replacing it! There is no more protective green arrow for left turns. That is not the intent of those signals; but it gets worse. Continue reading