Redondo Pier Gets a Big Wave of Support

The battered and blighted Redondo Beach Pier got its long-awaited vote of confidence on Tuesday, when citizens were asked in an advisory measure whether the horseshoe-shaped landmark should be rebuilt.

By about 58% to 42%, Redondo Beach voters said yes.

But an even greater proportion--76%--said in a second advisory measure that the new pier should have more open and recreational space than the old, commercial structure that was nearly destroyed by fire and storms two years ago. And in a third measure, 67% of the voters said they want the city to avoid using their tax money to rebuild.

City officials said the results were no surprise, despite a groundswell of opposition to rebuilding that had emerged after a series of disasters demolished about half the horseshoe-shaped landmark in 1988.

The vote, they said, now clears the way for the city to erect a new and possibly bigger pier with a more open feel than the jammed ambience so many objected to in the old pier.

“I’m real excited,” Mayor Brad Parton said, adding that a new design for the structure--estimated to cost between $4 million and $6 million--could be chosen before the summer’s end.

Added City Manager Tim Casey: “We’ve always felt, what a wonderful opportunity, to be able, with at least half of the pier, to start again from scratch.”

The vote, he said, will allow an architect who was in the process of drawing up alternative renderings for the pier to resume the work that has been on hold since the council decided last year to postpone reconstruction.

But resident Bud Moran, who had argued that the old pier had drawn crime and congestion to the city, said reconstruction will only aggravate parking and traffic problems in the neighborhood around the pier. Also, he said, it will encourage the council to abandon legal efforts to limit the city’s liability should another pier fall prey to natural disaster.

City Councilwoman Barbara Doerr said the vote sends a conservative message to the city.

“I think it says people are fond of their pier, but they want to be cautious about it,” she said. “They want more open space and recreational facilities, and they don’t want general funds used to pay for it, because it is a regional resource (and not a purely local one).”

Built in 1929, the horseshoe-shaped Redondo Beach Pier had become an international tourist attraction before a violent storm in January, 1988, nearly demolished its western curve. A second storm in April took an even larger chunk out of the landmark, and a month later a spectacular fire consumed much of what was left, demolishing, among other things, the popular fishing promenade.

The City Council’s initial reaction was to rebuild, using state and federal disaster assistance funds, but Moran and others vehemently objected. Although pier lovers noted that the 98-year-old city had never been without a pier, opponents said the landmark had become tacky and cheap-looking over the years and argued that perhaps the city would be better off without the crowds, the noise and the traffic it drew.

The council decided to put the matter to a referendum, but to make sure the city had a choice, the city attorney asked for a court ruling on the city’s obligations to rebuild under its lease with pier businesses. In January, a Torrance Superior Court commissioner ruled the city had to rebuild. The council appealed.

Moran and others say they are now concerned that, in the wake of Tuesday’s vote, the council will drop that appeal.

“If they do,” Moran warned, “it’ll be the worst thing to ever happen to this city.” He and others have noted that at least half a dozen piers have been damaged or destroyed by natural disaster during the city’s history.

“If we don’t win the appeal,” he said, “every time the pier is destroyed, the people will have to replace it--and there’s no guarantee we’ll always get federal and state funds to help us rebuild.”

City Atty. Gordon Phillips said Moran is incorrect and said there are strategic arguments on both sides for continuing or dropping the appeal. Mayor Parton said he will convene an executive session later this month so Phillips can brief the council.

But Councilman Terry Ward said he is ready now to drop the appeal, calling it “a waste of money.” And Councilwoman Kay Horrell said she, too, is inclined to abandon litigation. “We asked the people and they’re telling us to rebuild,” Horrell said. “The message has been delivered.”

City Manager Casey said the city does face some limitations in how the new pier can be built. The city’s lease with pier businesses requires that every square foot of commercial space on the old pier be resurrected if a new horseshoe pier is erected in its place--a clause that on the surface appears to be at odds with the voter mandate to add open space.

But Casey said the space can be added by redesigning the promenade--by tiering businesses, for example, or concentrating them in the center of the pier walkways, leaving open-air promenades on either side. Both possibilities would be an improvement, he said, over the old pier, where the view of the Pacific was obstructed by T-shirt shops, restaurants, shell jewelry booths and souvenir stands.

Parton said he also hopes to earmark money in next year’s budget for beefing up pier maintenance, whitewashing the parking structure, for example, and steam-cleaning it twice a week.

Voters leaving the polls yesterday echoed the mixed feelings that have been the hallmark of the pier debate.

“I’m 72, and so I have a couple of memories of the pier,” said resident Ivan McElroy as he left the voting booth Tuesday. “I think it should be rebuilt. It’s such an eyesore the way it’s just standing there now. But I think they should be much more judicious about how they rebuild it this time.”

Added another voter, who would not give his name because he feared his comments might harm the fishing business he operates near the pier: “It would be kind of nice to have it back, but not with all the problems that seem to go with it. I work in the harbor and see all kinds of things there on evenings and weekends. The boom boxes. The noise.”