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Huntington Beach council backs honor for music director Tom Ridley

Conductor Tom Ridley during a Huntington Beach Concert Band rehearsal at Marina High School in 2016.

Conductor Tom Ridley during a Huntington Beach Concert Band rehearsal at Marina High School in 2016.

(Kevin Chang / Daily Pilot)
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The Huntington Beach City Council on Monday moved forward with a proposal to name the Central Park bandstand after a music director who is largely credited with saving the local concert band when it hit hard times.

The council also was presented with the logistics of constructing a trail connecting Central Park to the shoreline. One complication is that the trail as proposed would run through private property.

The council voted 6 to 0, with Councilman Mike Posey absent, to have the Community Services Commission review the possibility of naming the bandstand after Tom Ridley, music director of the Huntington Beach Concert Band. The commission’s approval is required before naming park features. The commission will present a recommendation to the council after its review.

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Councilman Patrick Brenden, who proposed the bandstand naming, said at the meeting that Ridley has been working as a director for the band since 1977 and is deserving of the honor.

When the recession hit in the late 2000s, the Huntington Beach Concert Band lost its funding, but Ridley stepped in and worked with the musicians to save the group and grow the Huntington Beach Concert Band Summer Series, a program of musical performances held in Central Park.

Shawn Thompson, who said she was a neighbor of Ridley’s, took the podium to voice support for him.

“You could not pick a finer citizen to name something after,” Thompson said. “He has always loved music. I listened to his sons practice for years. He was the one who suggested someone for piano lessons for both my daughters.”

Linda D. Couey, the general manager of the concert band, echoed Thompson’s sentiments Friday.

“For 40 years he has worked to develop a band for Huntington Beach which rivals any community band in the country,” Couey said. “His giving of his time and talent for the [band] and for the whole community cannot be overestimated.”

The council also heard details of a proposal to construct the “Shipley to Shore” trail, which would connect Central Park, at 18002 Goldenwest St., to Harriett M. Wieder Regional Park, at 19251 Seapoint St.

The park’s namesake was the first woman elected to the Orange County Board of Supervisors. Wieder died in 2010 at age 89.

During the presentation, Janeen Laudenback, community services director, said the project would utilize some of the existing trail system, parts of which are paved, that already winds through portions of Central Park.

While affecting the county-owned Wieder park and the city-operated Central Park, the trail would also run through the land owned by Southern California Edison, some oil operations and other private property.

Laudenback said the project is “a big conversion of a lot of property owners.” A particular “pinch point” is an area near Edwards Street and Ellis Avenue that is home to various oil operations.

Laudenback also said policing the trail is another concern.

She said areas would be hidden from major thoroughfares and the terrain is not conducive to police patrols. Besides, Laudenback added, the Police Department does not have the resources to provide regular patrols for the area.

Laudenback said the project could take years to complete because of the need to collaborate with multiple property owners and secure funding.

Dave Dominguez, Huntington Beach’s facilities manager, said Friday that the city is currently focusing on connecting the Central Park dog park with the Urban Forest, a park at 6711 Ellis Ave. that is being restored.

Dominguez said the city applied for a $35,000 federal habitat grant that it promised to match.

He said if the grant is approved and the project can get underway, then that segment between the dog park and the Urban Forest can be completed within months.

“We think this is going to be a great addition to Central Park and the city,” Steve Engel, told the council. Engel and his wife, Shari, have volunteered to restore the Secret Garden, a plot behind the Huntington Beach Public Library. “We want this to be the most successful trail ever.”

Jean Nagy, founder of the Huntington Beach Tree Society, said at the meeting that she thought of the trail while visiting a nature center in Palos Verdes. She said that nature center had a trail to the beach, and “if it’s good enough for them then it’s good enough for us.”

Nagy has already started work on the existing portions of the trail, setting up old boulders along the edges.

benjamin.brazil@latimes.com

Twitter: @benbrazilpilot

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