Meet Hawthorne City Council candidate L. David Patterson

L. David Patterson

was elected as the city of Hawthorne Treasurer in 2013. He is also the 1^st African-American to hold the seat. He has served side by side, with the current council, and has no voting authority.  Patterson is hopeful that the city will reach its full potential, sooner rather than later.  Patterson spoke candidly with 2 Urban Girls on topics ranging from why he is running for a voting seat, Hawthorne Mall and those pesky diatribes courtesy of Sandy Mazza and the Daily Breeze.

[adsenseyu2]

The main priority for Patterson, if elected, is to make the city more business friendly.  He explained the process for starting a new business, in Hawthorne, is thwarted by outdated municipal codes and ordinances that council has refused to address.

We spoke specifically of Rosecrans Ave.  There are ordinances that forbid mom and pop restaurants from incorporating a drive thru, at their establishment, but the red carpet was rolled out for a new McDonalds at Rosecrans and Yukon.

Should a four star hotel chose to come to the city, they would not be able to get liquor licenses, due to restricted ordinances banning establishments from being within so many feet from an existing store, such as a blighted corner liquor store.

Hawthorne Mall is not able to be converted to an outlet type mall due to legislation preventing another outlet from directly competing with the Citadel Outlets located in Commerce, CA.  Apparently it would take an act of state legislation to undue those restrictions, which again, the sitting council has failed to adequately address.

Patterson is most vocal about the state of the city’s finances.  With the treasurer’s office not able to fully function, as most city treasurers in the South Bay does, all financial power is concentrated in the Finance Director’s office.  In the city of Hawthorne, all their treasurer is able to do is sign the check warrants.  Sufficient time isn’t given for the treasurer to review the warrant register, nor is he able to verify there are sufficient funds to cover the checks presented to council.

When it comes to reporting of the going on’s with council, Patterson feels Sandy Mazza, from the Daily Breeze, is biased.  At the recent endorsement interviews, with the Daily Breeze (DB), Patterson felt her actions were peculiar.  When questions were asked of the candidates, Mazza would intervene and chose to answer herself, as opposed to the candidates.  It was frustrating to all present.

2 Urban Girls pondered as to why Patterson believes Sandy Mazza and the Daily Breeze aren’t reporting on the multiple complaints filed against mayoral candidate, Alex Vargas, by four women on the city staff.  The managing editor of the DB is also a woman, and they appear to turn a blind eye to the treatment of fellow women alleging sexual harassment by the councilman, yet pounce on the mayor’s personal finances.  Two allegations against Vargas were corroborated by an outside investigation.  The latest two were just settled and findings have not been made available under a separate public records request.  Patterson had no comment of the one-time “rumors” about Vargas, floating through city hall, but did concede he was able to confirm those rumors due to reporting by this blog.

Overall, Patterson says he is running to ensure the business playing field is level for all businesses, update city ordinances that prohibit new business from coming in and working with state legislators to get Hawthorne Mall up and running.

Read more on L. David Patterson and don’t forget, Hawthorne will hold elections on Tuesday, November 3^rd.