Elka Warner
Rita Gerace, the sole female candidate for the Hermosa Beach City Council, said she will bring diversity to the all-male city council while prioritizing public safety and streamlining city services.
“We need diversity in Congress,” said the 35-year-old candidate. “More than ever, women need to be at the table and making decisions.”
The Hermosa resident of 11 years said she decided to run after learning in June that two women in Congress, Mary Campbell and Stacey Almart, were giving up their seats. The Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade also propelled her into her politics.
“At any moment, I felt there could be decisions made with this trajectory that could be really bad for people,” she said.
Gerace was born and raised in San Pedro and often visited Hermosa Beach in the summer. Her grandparents and her mother moved to San Pedro in search of her American dream. Her grandfather instilled in her her “incredible” work ethic and also taught her the importance of serving her community.
“He had a 40-foot flagpole and hoisted it every day,” she said. “He built his own boat and called it ‘Apple Pie’.”
Gerace started working in his grandfather’s boat repair business when he was eight years old and worked there every summer until he was seventeen.
“It taught me the value of work,” Geres said of the experience.
Growing up in the port, she thought she would become a docker like many other San Pedro residents. Instead, she became a Realtor with her Compass. She currently serves on the board of the South Bay Real Estate Association.
The daughter of a police officer and a graduate of the city’s Community Police Academy, she has seen firsthand what police officers do to protect their communities. As a member of the council, she wants to improve the police headquarters, which she described as a “shady basement”. She also hopes to provide police with more resources such as: Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR)drones, and more cameras in high-crime areas.
Another priority is to create an e-bike safety plan for the entire city, not just the Strand.
“We need to create safe routes for commuting,” she said.
Gerace opposes Measure M, a cannabis industry initiative that allows cannabis sales in the city.
“We cannot have a catalyst [underwriters of the initiative] Come here and create a monopoly that frankly doesn’t deserve Hermosa,” she said.
Gerace supports a 0.75% sales tax increase and says it’s important to make sure revenue stays in Hermosa Beach instead of going to county and state coffers.
“We have an economic development plan with a number of capital improvement projects,” said Geles. “I think bringing in those dollars really helps.”
If elected, the realtor said it would use technology to streamline the city’s permitting process. Neighboring cities allow builders to submit plans online. Not so with Hermosa.
“I have to get in. Often plans are lost. I don’t know where they are in the system queue,” she said.
After speaking with residents and business owners, she said it was clear that “at the city level, we need to completely overhaul our day-to-day operations.”
Instead of hiring more employees, she suggests better use of technology.
“We have technology that makes it very easy for our staff,” says Gerace.
The candidate was a founding member of the Hermosa Pride organization and helped paint the Hermosa Pride lifeguard tower near the pier. Gerace also graduated from Leadership Hermosa. As a member of her Chamber of Commerce, she is a business advocate who wants to apply her real estate skills to work for her Chamber of Commerce.
“I go out to real estate every day and earn the trust of sellers and buyers,” she said. “I want to win the community’s trust. I want my community to know that I have their back. I hear you.” endoplasmic reticulum
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