Support for Rolf Strutzenberg

When Rolf Strutzenberg served on the Planning Commission, he was the lone vote against blindly approving the single largest construction project in Redondo Beach History — in only one meeting. The South Bay Galleria development or “South Bay Social District” was so large and complex it demanded much more careful scrutiny to ensure it was successful for Redondo Beach Residents.

Due to Rolf’s astute advocacy, both on the Planning Commission and later to the City Council on appeal, residents ended up with a vastly improved result over what the commission blindly approved.

These improvements included critical design upgrades, millions of dollars towards traffic mitigation, a bike path extension, as well as public art installations that would have never been considered had he not intervened.

Rolf has the best interests of Redondo Beach at heart and would make an excellent City Council Member who will foster continued, cost-effective improvements to the city.

–Planning Commissioner Wayne Craig, Redondo Beach

Redondo Beach elections

Rolf Strutzenberg is the person for the job of District 1 councilmember.

He has been a dedicated, involved resident for many years, serving on commissions and on the RBUSD School Board, as well as attending council meetings regularly. He is aware of the issues Redondo Beach faces and is committed to serving the residents. As for his priorities, he has many resident-focused goals. Among them, he intends to address the lack of tree coverage in the city.

With the tendency of the city to go along with developers removing trees, his aim of protecting and increasing them is vital.

Further, the true test of someone seeking office is if they show up and participate in city matters. Mr. Strutzenberg has done that, whereas it seems like the other candidates for District 1 have emerged only now that it is election time.

–Lara Duke, Redondo Beach

Moral dilemma

Dear ER:

While working on Redondo Beach City Charter updates, our committee faced an intriguing challenge: what constitutes reasons for an elected official to be removed from office during their term? For years, the Redondo City Charter required a person convicted of a crime of moral turpitude to be removed. The committee’s conundrum was what would happen if a person admitted the required acts but was not convicted of them.

This past week, Redondo Beach faced a version of this conundrum. District 4 Councilman Zein Obagi entered into a “Deferred Prosecution Agreement” (DPA) with the United States Attorney’s office for the Central District of California. This agreement differed from the one reached with the State Bar months ago, which caused him to be suspended from practicing law. This DPA includes accepting all the facts in the case. However, it does not require him to plead guilty.

This brings us back to a “crime of moral turpitude.” Had this gone to trial, a negative result for Obagi would have been sufficient to trigger his removal. However, this DPA may not meet that threshold despite his agreement with all the facts.

Actions by his colleagues on the Council, who can remove him if he does not resign, will indicate how they treat the apparent breach of societal norms this DPA represents. We hope that they will do the right thing.

Bob Pinzler

Redondo Beach