SIGNAL TRIBUNE Serving Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Los Cerritos, Wrigley and Signal Hill
Your Weekly Community Newspaper
VOL. XXXIX NO. 28
Clearing the air LA County assembles advisory group to compile regulations for cannabis in unincorporated cities. Denny Cristales Online Editor
Although cannabis enthusiasts had plenty to celebrate on Election Day in November– when California voters approved Proposition 64 to legalize the possession, cultivation and sale of marijuana for recreational purposes– there are still regulatory measures Los Angeles County is intending to take with the popular plant. Los Angeles County’s Office of Cannabis Management recently created an advisory group to develop recommendations for the region on how to devise regulations for commercial- and personal-use cannabis in unincorporated areas, according to a Los Angeles County press release last week. The office is coordinating with other county departments to formulate and present those recommendations to the county Board of Supervisors by the end of this year. There are 88 incorporated cities in Los Angeles County, according to its website. Incorporated cities are areas with their own city councils. More than 65 percent of the county is unincorporated, and the Board of Supervisors and county departments provide municipal services for those areas as a result. The advisory group intends to meet a total of eight times from June 29 to August 31. The office of each LA County Supervisor recommended some of the members for the team, which consists of health and policy experts, community leaders, cannabis-industry representatives and stakeholders. Joseph Nicchitta, countywide coordinator for the Office of Cannabis Management, and three other staff members will prepare the agenda and topic information for the advisory-group meetings. The County intends to prepare the items a week in advance and make them available for public review on its website. “Our job is to staff the meetings and to give the advisory-board group information, share our perspectives with them and just be a resource for them,” Nicchitta said. “We’re working to our goal, which is these recommendations the board has asked
Living Legends, Unsung Heroes
Signal Hill resident celebrates 100 years Bostonian enriches volunteer work with sharp wit and independent spirit.
Anita W. Harris Staff Writer
T
his past week, the Friends of the Signal Hill Library (FOSHL) celebrated Mildred Wallerstein as she approaches her 100th birthday on Saturday. Wallerstein was recognized as Signal Hill Community Volunteer of the Year in 2016 and as Signal Hill’s Distinguished Older American in 2017 for her volunteer work. At the FOSHL party, hosted at the home of Larry Blunden overlooking Signal Hill and attended by about 20 other members, Wallerstein was presented with a notebook in which to document her next 100 years. Wallerstein will also be honored at a luncheon later this month hosted by the Alpert Jewish Community Center. Amid these celebrations, and with her typical dry humor, Wallerstein wonders what all the fuss is about. “My son was here […] for Thanksgiving, and I said to him, ‘Everybody’s beginning to make this big deal because I’m going to be a centenarian. But I didn’t do anything,’” she recalled in an interview. Anita W. Harris | Signal Tribune “I didn’t invent Penicillin.” Mildred Wallerstein in July 2017 as she approaches her 100th birthday Her son, psychologist Dr. Bruce Wallerstein, told his mother she deserves the recognition. “‘You’re not conceited. You think you haven’t accomplished anything,’” she recalls him telling her. “But he said that I was one of the most independent women he’d ever met.” That independent spirit had led Wallerstein to obtain a degree from Boston Clerical School– now merged with Roxbury Community College– before getting married. “It’s a good thing I had that to fall back on because as soon as I got divorced [at 30], I went right to work,” she said. Wallerstein worked for 37 years, primarily for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), before retiring in 1979. She remembers that the person who interviewed her was concerned about her situation. “He said, ‘We have never had a married woman work in the office, let alone a woman with a child,’” she recalls. Daycare was not available at the time, but moving back near her parents allowed her son to be taken care of after school. She otherwise Courtesy Mildred Wallerstein remained independent, never remarrying, An undated photo of Mildred Wallerstein’s parents, Esther and though she dated a man for 20 years. Louis Cohen, in Boston
see CANNABIS page 15
Last week’s puzzle answers on Page 15
see CENTENARIAN page 10
July 7, 2017
Some Signal Hill residents still noticing odor and bad taste in water Water department officials say treatment adjustments should level out soon. Cory Bilicko Managing Editor
The City of Signal Hill activated a new well on June 23 to serve as its primary source of water, and, while officials are praising its use as one that is beneficial, some residents are complaining about an unusual odor and taste coming from the tap, even two weeks after the switch. In a phone interview this week, Grissel Chavez-Arredondo, deputy director of Public Works, said the City has changed to a newly built, closer well that is able to meet the demands of the system and reduce the City’s dependence on imported water. “We do still rely on imported water based on times of higher demand,” she said. “But [the new well] is basically a local source of water that is coming in and being treated in place of the other wells, which serve as back-up when needed.” She added that a benefit of using a more local well is that, in case of a disaster, it will be easier for the City to access water. However, some residents, such as Michael Hlaca, who lives in the Bixby Ridge neighborhood of Signal Hill, have been complaining about an odor and taste reminiscent of things ranging from bleach to medicine. “A couple of weeks ago, when we turned on the water faucet in the kitchen, the water smelled kind of bad and tasted even worse– not like chlorine, but a medicine taste and a medicine-type smell,” Hlaca said. He added that he uses a reverse-osmosis filtration system for the water– and that it “makes a big difference”– but he’s still concerned about the safety of the water. Hlaca also mentioned that he complained to city officials about the fact that the City never informed residents beforehand about the change. In her interview, Chavez-Arredondo confirmed that a notice see WATER page 9