COVER ARTICLE

By Karla Butte

WHAT:

WHEN: WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 12^TH

TIME: 7:00 P.M.

WHERE: RIVIERA SCHOOL CAFETERIA, 365 PASEO DE ARENA

INFO: R.H.A. HOT-LINE [310] 784-9RHA

A happy New Years / Super Bowl greeting from the Riviera !!! I hope you all survived the holiday season, like I did, but it was touch and go there for a while. Is there such a thing as 'too much togetherness' ? Anyway, thank you to all of you who sent in your membership recently. Although membership is up over last year, it still hasn't made it near where it was a couple of years ago, so please clip and mail the membership coupon to us ASAP if you haven’t already done so. We need your membership in order to continue to providing the maximum effective service to this community without cutbacks. Also, a special thanks again to Maxine Dessau who continues to support us in grand style !

Part of our charter is to provide information regarding important issues applicable to the Hollywood Riviera. In that vein, we are proud to again present a panel discussion to inform the area about the "Hillside Ordinance" as it is commonly known. This issue is one of the single most important items that affects our properties - so it is imperative that you attend the meeting to obtain accurate and current information. We will have representatives from Planning Staff, Planning Commission, City Attorney's Office, and City Council to cover 'hillside' procedures from start to finish.

Finally, do you have a pet peeve, especially one that is related to our area ??? I do. I hate gasoline powered leaf blowers !!! No good comes from them: They pollute the air with hydrocarbons and nitrous oxides, are very noisy, and only scatter airborne particulates from one place to the next, no real reduction of material occurs. Many other local Cities have banned or are in the process of banning them. I think Torrance should too. What do you think ??? Please send me your thoughts on this subject or any other Pet Peeves you have and maybe we'll address them in an upcoming issue of the Riviera Reporter.

WHAT'S UP IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD:

PLANNING DEPARTMENT:

The following Hillside Overlay District cases are scheduled to be heard or have recently been heard by the Planning Commission:

• 3820 Newton Street. Second story addition to an existing two-story single family residence.

LOST DOGGIE

A chow mix, female dog with reddish brown coat and tags was lost over the Holidays in the Hollywood Riviera. It ran off with a white and brown spotted, tailless Springer Spaniel. If anyone has seen it or knows of any information, please call 378-8984.

FLYING WITH THE AIRPORT COMMISSION

By Jim Gates

Two issues dominated the recent Airport Commission meeting. The first was a recommendation to update the Airport Master Plan. The plan would serve as a blueprint for future airport development and operations planning. The current plan, last updated in 1981, does not include many major recent developments, such as Robinson Helicopter and the General Aviation Center. Andy Hriz, the new airport manager, will prepare a decision item asking the Commission to recommend the update. If approved by the Council, the updating process could begin within a few months and will involve inputs from Torrance residents, city management, airport users and businesses, and the FAA.

The second issue, closely related to the master plan update, is a concern that developments on airport property along Crenshaw would interfere with the Instrument Landing System (ILS). If the Federal Aviation Authority decertifies the airport's ILS, airport users would be left with a non-precision approach from LAX. Instead of landing from the east in instrument weather, the planes would fly directly from LAX, over the north and west parts of the city, and circle to land below the clouds. This procedure would be noisier and reduce the safety of those in the air and on the ground. The Commission continues to request further information / definition on planned development of this area from the City (not as yet supplied) and will monitor the resulting effect on the ILS. We'll keep you posted.

Riviera Rain Report

By Doug Holker

During this winter season, the weather has played an important role, especially to our neighbors in the North. The Riviera has received slightly above average amounts during the past several months. Our first rain occurred on 29 October 1996 with 1.3 inches. The second rain came nearly a month later with 1.9 inches on 21/22nd November. Remember we had a good rainfall prior to Thanksgiving. The major rainfall came during a three day period between the 9th and 11th of December, when it rained 3.3 inches. What these storms produced was huge early snows up in the Sierras, with resorts having six to eleven feet of snow before the New Year. The Riviera had an additional 1.4 inches over the holidays and a major rain on January 12th of 1.5 inches, with over half of the rain coming in less than one hour. Our total 1996/7 rainfall is 9.6 inches. Not really enough to cause any damage or flooding. So what caused all the flooding? The simple answer is "The Pineapple Express." Those early rains here caused the large build-up of snow in the Sierras. However, prior to New Years, the warm unstable

airmass off of Hawaii was pulled up by a dipping polar jetstream and acted as a firehose on California from about Bakersfield north. From New Year s Eve for 48 hours it rained hard. My family was vacationing just south of Yosemite and we received about 25 inches of rain. Some areas had 40 inches

of rain during that week! The snow pack dropped about three to four feet from the rain. The quiet streams, were running full with sediment rich water. The ground was saturated which resulted in overland flow. The rivers without reservoirs flooded first. Then when foothill reservoirs filled to capacity, the downstream lowlands flooded too. The levee s could not hold back the major runoff. Many areas that didn t receive significant rainfall during the storms became flooded because of their proximity to the outlet rivers of the Sierras. Many areas remained flooded for over a week after the rains as the reservoirs released their waters. It is easy to understand how the entire San Joaquin Valley was once a lake. It was again the first week of 1997.