Recently in Redondo Beach Category

We often need their help. Now they want ours.

The firefighters at Fire Station 1 in Redondo Beach have entered a nationwide contest to win a new kitchen.

The Rescue Remodel contest pits firehouses from around the country against each other, and the station with the most votes will receive a kitchen renovation valued at $25,000. The contest is sponsored by Ikea, the Swedish home furnishing giant, and The Family Handyman, a home improvement magazine.

Votes can be cast by visiting rescueremodel.com and be made until Feb. 28. There are five firehouses competing and by Tuesday afternoon the Redondo Beach station was in third place with 20,310 votes. Palos Fire Protection District Station #1 in Palos Park, Illinois ,was in the lead with more than 53,800 votes.

But support for the Redondo Beach station has been building thanks, in part, to social media. Links to a video the firefighters put together - a rendition of Rihanna's "We Found Love" called "We cook our food in a hopeless place" - have been posted on Facebook and Twitter.

In a letter posted on the Rescue Remodel website, Steve Hyink, Fire Division Chief of Operations, said the kitchen was there when he was assigned to the station 28 years ago. It has survived leaky roofs and floods. Each time firefighters save up enough money for a remodel, something more important needs to be fixed, or more life-saving equipment needs to be bought. Redondo Beach Fire Station Number 1 was built in the early 1950s and designed to last 40 years, Hyink wrote.

"We don't like to ask for help, but it would really be appreciated if we could just get some cabinets and a new counter," Hyink added.

The
Redondo Beach Fire Department has three stations, including the
harbor patrol facility in King Harbor.

We've been getting calls and e-mails from readers who have seen the media coverage on the death of Jennifer Jensen and want to help her two sons, Shaun and Alex.

Jensen was on her way back from the market on Dec. 23 when her motorcycle collided with a driver making a U-Turn on Sepulveda Boulevard in Manhattan Beach. She was taken to Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Torrance, where she died a short time later.

Jensen was a single mother and lived with her two sons in North Redondo Beach. Shaun, 23, is a full-time student and cares for his older brother Alex, 25, who is mentally disabled. They have no other family members to rely on.

Jensen worked as a nurse for many years, but went on disability after a bad motorcycle accident several years ago. She had no life insurance, and the brothers are now struggling to pay bills and the rent.

But good Samaritans from across the South Bay have come to their aid. A story in today's Daily Breeze spotlighted the relationship Shaun and a local business owner who lost his son two years ago have forged since Jensen's death.

And for those who may have read about the Jensen brothers and are interested in helping, you can send an e-mail to Pam Drake at HelpJensGuys@gmail.com. Drake is a close friend of the Jensen family and is working to organize a benefit BBQ and motorcycle run.

A fundraiser dinner at the Shade Hotel in Manhattan Beach is also being planned. We'll have more information when it becomes available.

Redondo Beach Mayor Mike Gin has been selected to a list of the top 10 mayors in California compiled by a state political news publication.

Capitol Weekly selected Gin, 48, from a pool of more than 400 mayors across the state, basing its criteria on mayors believed to be interesting and talented, enjoy their jobs and have high-prospects of upward political mobility.

The weekly news magazine pointed to Gin's diverse background - Gin is a married gay man and an Asian-American - calling him an "intriguing up-and-coming politician. "

Gin, a Republican, was first elected mayor in 2005 and was re-elected in 2009. He ran for Jane Harman's empty congressional seat and finished fifth. Harman's seat representing the 36^th Congressional District was won by Janice Hahn, a former Los Angeles city councilwoman representing San Pedro.

Including Gin, four mayors from Southern California made the list. Among them are Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster, Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Based in Sacramento, Capitol Weekly covers state government and politics. It is published every Thursday.

Gin was recently profiled by National Public Radio as part of a six-part series on mayors across the country.

More from Capital Weekly:

Michael Gin has a lot of the qualities you see in many up-and-coming political figures in California.

He's youngish (48), Asian American, and married. More unusually, he's both married to another man -- he and partner Christopher Kreidel were among the same-sex couples married in 2008, when it was legal -- and a Republican.

In 2005, Gin won a runoff in a landslide after the conservative California Republican Assembly hit him with anti-gay attack mailers that even his opponent, councilman Gerard Bisignano, condemned.

In short, Gin is an intriguing up-and-coming career politician. But with his time as mayor set to run out in two years, the question is where could he go?

He ran for Jane Harman's empty congressional seat and finished fifth. A run for the newly redistricted Legislature could be a possibility. If Republicans want to have a future in California, there's an argument to be made they should be promoting people like Gin. But, at least in its current form, the party isn't likely to get behind him for higher office.

Beleaguered Vernon can't catch a break.

Vernon, population approximately 100, saw the State Assembly taking steps Wednesday toward dissolving the city into Los Angeles County. A bill seeking to break up Vernon is authored by Assembly Speaker John Pérez, D-Los Angeles, who called the city's corruption "the worst we've seen in this state."

Now Vernon is getting dubious looks from more-populous cities for leading The Mayor's Challenge, a competition between Southern California cities to save water and reduce pollution during April, Earth Month.

On Thursday, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach were sitting in second and third place, respectively.

Residents can make a pledge in the competition by going to www.mywaterpledge.com through the end of the month. The victor city's residents will be eligible for tickets to Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim games and Disneyland as well as discounted passes to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.

With prizes and pride on the line, some have complained that Vernon is too small to win the contest that is tabulated on a per capita basis.

Steve Creech, vice president of the Wyland Foundation, the nonprofit putting on the contest, said that if Vernon stays in first place it would be co-winner with another larger city.

"The remaining 99 percent of prizes available would go to the next city," Creech said. "And for that matter we would have to see if the vote from Vernon would be authenticated."

Fourth through 10th place on Thursday was occupied by Long Beach, Signal Hill, Villa Park, Gardena, Monrovia, Mission Viejo and Torrance.

A friendly but spirited competition has ensued between South Bay cities for the top spot in The Mayor's Challenge. Redondo Beach Mayor Mike Gin released a video on Wednesday urging residents to participate. Gin appeared in the video with someone dancing in a lobster suit.

Creech appeared sympathetic with Vernon's plight as the tiny city tries to makes its presence large in the contest.

"Somewhere in Vernon is a person who cares," he said.

USC researchers who have been looking into this week's massive fish kill in Redondo Beach harbor have reported that they've discovered toxic algae that produce domoic acid -- known for sickening and sometimes killing marine mammals -- in the guts of the dead sardines floating in the city's marinas.

Researchers have not found any toxins or harmful algae inside the harbor, however, and they're still attributing the die-off to a nearly complete lack of oxygen in the water.

In an e-mail sent early today to other scientists, members of the media and other interested folks, USC professor David Caron said it's not clear how the domoic acid poisoning may have contributed to conditions causing the fish kill:

Domoic acid can cause a variety of neurological disorders, and death, of animals consuming fish contaminated with the neurotoxin. Research also indicates that domoic acid poisoning can cause abnormal swimming behavior in some fish.  It is possible that high levels of domoic acid in the sardines in King Harbor may have exacerbated physiological stress of the fish brought on by oxygen depletion of the water, or may have been a contributing explanation for them congregating in the harbor at very high abundances, but this has not been confirmed.

The toxic algae consumed by the fish likely came from a huge bloom that's been present at least since Monday off the coast -- stretching from Point Conception to San Diego, according to researchers who've tracked the greenish-brown mass by satellite.

After the jump is the extended and fascinating email from Caron on what's been learned so far. Sampling was continuing today.