CITY HALL SKETCH: The Low Hanging Fruit

It was approaching 11 p.m. last night when Hermosa Beach City Council turned to the matter of the grandly named 'Downtown Beautification Subcommittee' – a body formed in May, which did not meet until January, and which had spent two sessions arriving at a masterplan to fix some brick planters and paint a couple of welcome signs.

The subcommittee was composed of Council Member Ray Jackson and Mayor Mike Detoy. The same two councilmembers who make up the less impressively named 'Finance Subcommittee'.

Their proposal: spend $100,000.

On plants.

Specifically, on plants at five locations around the city, plus brick repair and – the centerpiece of the vision – $15,000 for a landscape designer to advise on the correct plant palette for a handful of planters that had, over the years, gone somewhat feral.

"$15,000 for design," said Council Member Rob Saemann, through the gritted teeth of a man who has just been handed a menu with no prices and then shown the bill for the catch of the day. "Preposterous." He paused. "$100,000 is mind blowing...$100,000 including $15,000 to design three planters is out of control."

He was not the first to find the numbers arresting. A member of the public noted that she had once landscaped a planter outside her house for under $200. Another suggested the friends of the park could grab some shovels. A third said flatly that the $100,000 should "go back in the piggy bank."

To be fair, the subcommittee had considered grander ambitions. String lighting across Pier Avenue, for instance, had come up. It was evaluated in 2018 and ruled out because the poles are too short. The subcommittee considered it again and reached the same conclusion. Palm tree lighting had been tried, but the string lights kept dying. Wayfinding signs, landscape lighting on Pier Avenue, a gateway experience for visitors arriving from Valley Drive – all were discussed, all were set aside in favor of what Jackson described, with some enthusiasm, as "low-hanging fruit."

What might that fruit be, you ask ? One confidential source close to the subcommittee suggests strawberries. Pick-your-own stands at every gateway, a planter-based farmers market at 2nd Street, Hermosa Beach rebranded as the agritourism destination the South Bay has always needed. At $15,000 for a landscape designer, and facing a budget crisis, we might as well try to monetize the real estate.

The sign on Valley Drive, Jackson noted, "looks like you know what." The sign on Prospect Drive: also "you know what." These were problems this fruitarian subcommittee could solve.

Chamber of Commerce representatives noted they had not been consulted. Businesses had not been consulted. The subcommittee had consulted primarily with each other. Jackson was pretty clear about Project Planter, saying "there was no need at this juncture to talk to the Chamber based on what we were doing...but they're not precluded from painting and pulling weeds and planting and all those things to beautify businesses." The Chamber's weed pullers took note.

"I didn't go to the extent of creating a focus group," said Community Development Director Alison Becker. 'I was asked to herd the cats'. Animal Control had entered the chat.

Saemann moved to fix the vintage signs -- cost: approximately $500 -- and return the rest to the beautification fund for future use. Mayor Pro Tem Keegan seconded it. It passed 3-2.

Jackson and Detoy voted no.

The planters, for now, remain as they are.

Those strawberries will have to wait.

City Hall Sketch is The Hermosa Review's satirical take on our local government. Events depicted are real. The strawberries might not be.