Lawndale City Council Restores Chamber of Commerce Funds

A month after cutting off its funding of the Lawndale Chamber of Commerce, the City Council reversed the action last week.

Councilman Larry Rudolph, who had been part of the council majority that voted Aug. 18 to stop subsidizing the chamber, said the city never should have taken the money away and led the way to what became a unanimous decision to continue providing the chamber $58,600 a year.

Councilman Dan McKenzie and Harold E. Hoffman, who had also voted to stop the subsidy, said after the meeting that they switched their votes because they realized that there were three votes on the five-member council to resume the contribution.

The council had cut off the chamber’s subsidy-- which provides more than half of the organization’s annual income--after some longtime chamber members lost a fight for leadership of the business organization.