Riviera Homeowners Association

Our next meeting will be online! Much like the kids attending school from home, we’ll be in our ‘virtual Richardson auditorium’ for this one. We hope you’ll join us, for a timely discussion on our upcoming election, new legislation likely to affect the Riviera, developments on Developments, and more.

The RHA is inviting you to the
RHA General Meeting for October 2020:
Wednesday Oct 14, 2020 7:00 PM Pacific Time

To join our Zoom Meeting, click on this link
Alternatively, use this information:
Meeting ID: 851 0591 2862
Passcode: 909090

Don’t worry, if you’ve never Zoomed, after clicking the link above you can click on “download and run Zoom” then on “join from your browser”. Sorry, no refreshments. (But then, no chairs to put away!)

November election information

The Riviera Homeowners Association studiously avoids making electoral endorsements, so instead we will recommend these sources to help you with your decisions:

To find out where to vote, go to lavote.net/locatorbyaddress

LA Times election endorsements:  
www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-09-09/la

Daily Breeze election endorsements:
 www.dailybreeze.com/tag/endorsements

Ballot Measure summaries and full text:
https://ballotpedia.org/California_2020_ballot_propositions

For more comprehensive help with election information:
lavote.net/home/voting-elections/current-elections/find-my-election-information

The RHA encourages everyone eligible to vote (once)!

Airport Noise

The City’s Airport Noise Abatement Center and the Webtrak tracking for Torrance Airport were both suspended from October 1 to December 31 by City Council without resident input at a recent City Council meeting.
Webtrak helped identify planes that were operating outside of curfew hours, or flying low, loud or outside the recommended paths.  Enforcement is suspended for now.

However, the Noise Abatement Center phone number at the airport is still working, and you can reach it at (310)-784-7950 to log complaints. Residents can also email complaints to noiseabatement@torranceca.gov . 

Complaints and recommendations will be presented back to the city early next year. If you wish to leave a message for one or several Council members about this or other issues, call the City at 310 618-2801.

Census 2020

There is still time to complete your household census. Do it now, the census ends on October 15.

The census population count determines how many representatives each state will have in Congress for the next 10 years and how much federal funding communities will receive for roads, schools, housing and social programs.

Torrance School Board Candidate Forums

There are 4 candidates for the 2 open seats on the TUSD School Board. The Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce will hold its candidate forum on Thursday October 8 at 8:30 am. To view it online, go to this website:
https://www.torrancechamber.com/torrance-unified-school-district-board-of-education-candidates-forum/ 

The League of Women Voters held their forum on September 21. You may view it here: www.torrancevotes.org/candidate-forums.html

Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments Off on October 14 General Zoommeeting

Please save this date:

Wednesday October 14th 2020
7:00 P.M. to 8:30 P.M.

Join us for our first ever online Zoom RHA General Meeting!

We’ve planned a great event, with guest speaker Mike Griffiths (Torrance City Council Member), who’ll discuss the impact of recently passed bills to your block, our City and State. And we’ll give all you need to know on how to vote in November, highlight a couple of the 12 ballot measures, and provide the latest on Butcher-Solana.

This will be new for all of us, but we’re positive we can make it a success—especially if you are with us! We hope to see you online on the 14th and don’t forget to join or renew your RHA membership now! Whether tracking statewide bills that greatly affect our neighborhood, donating to our local school programs or giving scholarships to college-bound seniors, we’re still here. And, we need your help with dues that enable us to do these things, plus keep you informed, via newsletters and meetings (that we hope will return before too long). We need you to renew or join today!

Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments Off on RHA General Meeting Announcement

Lawmakers from the San Francisco/Bay Area have decided that they know better than our local officials, how our zoning laws and housing should be handled. As a result, over the past two years, there’s been a push to gut the CEQA (Environmental) and local zoning controls that are currently, have been, and MUST remain, in the hands of each City.

Our representatives head back to Sacramento Monday, and begin to vote on a slate of bills that will remove local controls. Unfortunately, these bills are being presented under the pretext of fixing the affordable housing and homelessness crisis; but they do nothing of the sort!  In fact, some of them even reduce the required numbers of affordable units developers must include in order to get density bonuses and height breaks. (One of the bills even allows rescinding of voter-approved ballot measures, some as old as 108-years!)
These bills remove open space requirements, parking space minimums, height restrictions, and single-family zoning, all challenged by state Senator Scott Weiner (SF).
Here’s a great article that sums up the overreach problem very well.

For an overview on the 9 Worst Bills, see LivableCalifornia.org (ACT NOW page). You’ll be able to get a synopsis of the worst bills there:
SB 1120, SB 902, SB 995, SB 1085, AB 725, AB 1279, AB 2345, AB 3040, AB 3107. You’ll also be able to click on one link, and instantly have a letter of opposition sent to the appropriate lawmaker of each bill.

Time is of the essence! Because virtually all news coverage has been on the life and death issues of CoVid, and the hugely important protests, Legislators are able to fly under the radar, with folks understandably more focused on saving lives and livelihoods.

Please WRITE and/or CALL TODAY!  Once these bills get passed, it will likely be too late for our Cities to have the power to do anything about it!

Senator Ben Allen
(310) 318-6994
Ben.Allen@sen.ca.gov

Assembly member Al Muratsuchi
(310) 375-0691
Al.Muratsuchi@asm.ca.gov

Daily Breeze
letters@dailybreeze.com
[Please provide your name, city and telephone number (telephone numbers will not be published).  Letters of about 200 words will be given preference. Letters will be edited for length, grammar and clarity.]

LA Times
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/submit-letter-to-the-editor
[Fill in your full name, mailing address, city of residence, phone number and e-mail address. Submissions that do not include this information cannot be published. They typically run 150 words or less and may be edited. You will be contacted if your letter is a candidate for publication.]

Beach Reporter
tbrnews.com
[Once there, click on “Opinion” then “”Submit a Letter” to get direct submission form.]

Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments Off on Density: Days of Decision

On Friday, our CA State Senator Ben Allen will vote on the latest in the long line of zoning changes that will be terrible for our City and our State.

SB 902 is yet another terrible zoning bill that diminishes local control of our own cities.  Call him at (310) 318-6994 to say, “VOTE NO on SB 902.”

SB 902 allows nullification of already-approved voter initiatives in order to open up protected lands and shorelines, all for San Francisco Senator Weiner’s dream of 10-unit luxury apartments almost everywhere.

Under SB 902, municipalities would be empowered to undo decades of voter-enacted citizen initiatives that restrict land use. This anti-democracy clause went unnoticed for months, due to the complex wording.

This does nothing towards gaining AFFORDABLE HOUSING. All it does is take away our rights as voters!

For text of Senate Bill 902, click here.

CALL Sen Allen TODAY at (310) 318-6994 and and say NO to SB 902!

(And then, tell 20 of your friends to do the same!)

Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments Off on Weigh in on Higher Density

Dear RHA Members and Riviera Residents,

Well, not quite sure where to begin this note…

While life (apparently) goes on, it sort of feels like nothing has meaning until we get thru this surreal experience.

That said, there are clearly situations that affect us all, that we assume you’ll want to be kept aware of.

While we have no new info about things like the Butcher-Solano or Legado developments (yes, our government has deemed that building is an essential job, and must continue), other issues will have an even more immediate impact on your daily life.

It seems unlikely that the Riviera Homeowners Assn. will be able to hold a final general meeting in what would traditionally be before the end of the school year. And so, it’s even more important than ever before for us to be able to communicate with residents, quickly, efficiently.

This is a great time to verify your email address, so we don’t have to rely on mailing a printed copy of a newsletter or bulletin to your home. Not only will that save the RHA expenses that can be better spent on other things (college scholarships, anyone?), but it will get information to you in a far more timely matter.  And, if we’ve learned nothing else, things are happening very quickly!

If you are getting this notice by email, please forward it to interested friends and family. To subscribe to the RHA blog on our home page HollywoodRiviera.org – enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email.

Please stay at home, to keep yourself, your family, and your community safe and healthy. Talk to you soon!

RHA Board of Directors

---

Covid-19 resources:

• County of Los Angeles: covid19.lacounty.gov
• County of Los Angeles Public Health: publichealth.lacounty.gov 
• California Department of Public Health: cdph.ca.gov
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: cdc.gov

---

Big announcements from Torrance and Redondo Beach

As of today, both Torrance and Redondo Beach have announced closures of beach and Esplanade parking, walkways, trails, playgrounds, beach access points, and park sites.

Street Sweeping and parking

As of March 16th, Street Sweeping and parking enforcement in the City of Torrance is temporarily suspended until further notice.
Please work with your neighbors if additional street parking is creating issues.

Torrance was Hacked

In case you haven’t heard, Torrance was hit by a city-wide computer attack on March 1st. As a result, they’ve had to make many changes, so in order to access all necessary postings, up-to-date changes, etc, please visit https://www.cityoftorranceca.com/

CoVid 19 Test Location

If you feel you have symptoms of possible COVID-19 infection, and no other current health care provider, give Make You Well Urgent Care and Family Practice a call at 424-292-4060. 
You can be tested and treated for any symptoms you are experiencing. Make You Well is located at 23365 Hawthorne Blvd.
Their practice accepts all PPO insurances, and is in network with many HMO’s.  PLEASE CALL FIRST FOR INSTRUCTIONS.

Scholarship

We’re close to announcing our annual High School Senior Scholarships. Names will be posted on the hollywoodriviera.org website in the next couple of weeks, so check in with us there shortly!

We’re trying to get the most updated lists of store hours and restaurant rules, but the info keeps changing so rapidly. 

Stronger together – six feet apart!

Please do your part to STAY AT HOME and avoid unnecessary travel or close physical contact with your neighbors. Please DO reach out to your friends or neighbors for support via our miraculous electronic devices. Plant a garden, learn a language, finish that book or paint job – seize the day!

And just for fun…

Filed under: Uncategorized | Comments Off on A Trying Time