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TORRANCE >> Behind an opportunistic offense and a stout defense, the Inglewood football team remained undefeated by handing Lawndale a 21-0 loss Saturday at El Camino College.

Stalled momentarily by three penalties on its first drive, Inglewood’s offense got a big spark when Husan Longstreet found Terrell Bradshaw for a 59-yard pickup. Four plays later, Jamari Johnson pushed his way into the end zone to give the Sentinels a 7-0 lead.

“(Longstreet) is a fighter. Whether he’s going good, bad or indifferent, he’s going to fight,” Inglewood coach Mil’von James said. “He’s resilient, and he’s indicative of our culture and what we do at Inglewood. I love coaching him.”

After Lawndale’s second punt of the first quarter, Inglewood put its hurry-up offense on display. Following Caleb Harper’s 25-yard run, Longstreet connected on passes of 22. 29 and seven yards before finding Kamal Jabari for a 3-yard TD.

Longstreet finished the game with 191 yards and 2 touchdowns on 14 of 25 passing. Bradshaw finished with 100 yards on four catches.

Lawndale had a pair of chances to get on the scoreboard in the first half.

Starting at their own 15, the Cardinals utilized a little trickery to move the ball upfield. Installing the Wing -T offense into its playbook this week, Lawndale ripped off runs of 28 and 13 yards, but its drive stalled inside the Inglewood 10.

Lawndale’s offense, held in check all night, picked up just 109 yards.

“I thought we prepared well this week, and I felt that we shocked (Inglewood) a little with the Wing-T and went a little old school,” Lawndale coach Travis Clark said. “I thought it would give us a chance to win, but some other plays didn’t go our way. It will be a great learning tape for our kids.”

Lawndale failed to get on the scoreboard just before halftime. After getting the ball at its own 20 following an Inglewood turnover on downs, the Cardinals 28-yard field goal was blocked, and Lawndale went into the half trailing 14-0.

“Anytime you see something new and are able to adjust is a bonus. You never know what you’re going to see in the playoffs,” James said. “Our defense responded the way I would like them to mid-game. We didn’t see the wing-T on film, but kudos to them for pulling it out of nowhere. We made the plays we needed to and I want more as a head coach, but a win is a win.”

On the first drive of the second half, Lawndale had a chance to swing the momentum in its favor following a Daveon Upshaw interception. But Upshaw fumbled the ball inside the Sentinel 1, and Inglewood recovered.

The Sentinels made it a 21-0 game late in the third quarter when Longstreet connected with Johnson for a 15-yard score, and Amir Garrison’s interception on Lawndale’s ensuing drive sealed the Inglewood victory.

Inglewood was marred by penalties throughout the game, racking up 13 penalties that cost the Sentinels 102 yards.

“The penalties were a problem, and discipline is key,” James said. “That is on me for the next five weeks, to make sure we rectify all those issues and we correct them, move forward and grow as a program.”

NORTH LAWNDALE — A Bloomingdale Trail-style elevated greenway could replace a mostly unused railroad that passes through North Lawndale, pending an ongoing study to determine if the project is feasible.

The city’s planning department is hosting a series of community meetings to gather feedback on the 606-style plan and determine residents’ priorities for what they want out of the landscaped trail. Early feedback from residents shows people want the trail to highlight the neighborhood’s cultural history and bring an array of art and creative programs to the area, planners said.

Tentatively called the Lawndale Line or the Altenheim Line, the trail would be built on the Altenheim railroad corridor that runs between Fillmore Street and Taylor Street from California to Kostner Avenue.

A virtual meeting on the project is being held 5-7 p.m. Thursday. Residents can register to attend the meeting here.

The initial planning effort has two main focuses: determining the design and program offerings of the trail itself and figuring out what kinds of private investment the trail should encourage in the surrounding area.

The railway that would be transformed into the Lawndale Line trail is 2 miles long and significantly wider than the 606 Bloomingdale trail. The size of the railway presents plenty of opportunities to build amenities that go beyond a simple pedestrian and bike trail, said Brian Hacker, a city planner leading the project.

The trail could have gardens, a forested section, public art and facilities dedicated to athletic and recreation activities, Hacker said, depending on what residents ask for.

“The opportunities are many because we’re working with 2 miles of elevated trail. We can do a lot of things with it,” Hacker said.

Planners worked with landscape architects from Hood Design Studio to envision ways to incorporate resident feedback from a previous community meeting into the plans. Designers identified three main things residents said they wanted the path to include: art, ecology and representations of Lawndale’s heritage, said Paul Peter, principle at Hood Design Studio.

Entryways where visitors get onto the trail could have gateways that share cultural or historical images and information about the Lawndale community, Peters said.

“Where you enter, we can use the gateways to tell stories, to tell the history of the place,” Peters said.

Sections of the trail could host art installations, performances or programs for music, theatre, film screenings, sculptures, spoken word poetry and rap, Peters said.

Landscaping on the greenway can also “strengthen and improve the biodiversity” in the neighborhood, Peters said, which was another priority residents expressed.

Much of North Lawndale has been historically disinvested, including the area around the Altenheim railroad where the trail would be built. As a result, there are countless vacant lots in the area.

Since a bulk of those lots are owned by the city, the planning department would be able to guide any investment in the area spurred by the Lawndale Line so those investments would serve the needs of legacy residents, Hacker said.

“When the city is investing in public infrastructure, it’s going to drive private development, equitable private development as well,” Hacker said.

Gentrification was a serious consequence of the 606’s Bloomingdale Trail, so preventing displacement is a major concern among residents, Hacker said. Strategies to prevent displacement can be built in to the Lawndale Line plans, and the city can promote investments in the area that can maintain affordability, he said.

“Anti-displacement strategies will definitely be a part of this plan, and we want to make sure that it’s responsive to the challenges that the community is currently facing on those fronts,” Hacker said.

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During his nearly five years heading the tiny Centinela Valley Union High School District, prosecutors say, Jose A. Fernandez devised policies to dramatically pad his salary and retirement benefits.

In 2013 alone, supervising a handful of schools in Hawthorne and Lawndale, the former superintendent pocketed $663,000 in pay and benefits. He kept the school board in the dark, prosecutors say, covering his actions with lies and misrepresentations.

Now, Fernandez, 57, is facing a dozen public corruption charges and up to 15 years in state prison. Records show he was arrested Wednesday morning and booked into Los Angeles County jail.

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Fernandez was charged with six counts of conflict of interest, three counts of misappropriation of public funds, two counts of grand theft and one count of embezzlement with allegations of excessive taking because of the dollar amounts involved, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

The office’s Public Integrity Division opened an investigation in 2014 after the Daily Breeze reported on Fernandez’s excessive salary and fringe benefits, according to a felony complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

For its investigative reporting on Fernandez, the Daily Breeze was awarded a Pulitzer Prize, journalism’s top honor.

Fernandez served as superintendent of the school district from 2009 until he was fired in 2014.

In December 2010, prosecutors say, he overwhelmed the school board when he asked its members to consider revisions to 3,000 bylaws and policies. He called them “standard updates” based on model policies developed by the California School Boards Assn., according to the complaint, but buried in the deluge of changes were provisions he wrote for his own benefit.

In his contract, officials said, he gave himself the shortest work year — 215 days — of anyone in the district and gave himself sole discretion to determine if he worked extra days, for which he would earn extra pay. The average work year in education is 246 days.

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Without the board’s full knowledge, he also obtained a $750,000 custom life insurance policy for himself and a $910,000 home loan — at 2% interest over 40 years — paid for with district funds.

Fernandez also concealed from the board a plan to increase his pay in 2013 and misrepresented the cost of a plan to enhance his retirement benefits.

After the Daily Breeze investigation was published, Fernandez told board members that media reports about his compensation were “incorrect and exaggerated.”

A call to the school board Wednesday was not immediately returned.

Fernandez is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday. Prosecutors have recommended his bail be set at $495,000.

A woman who answered Fernandez’s phone Wednesday afternoon said she had no comment and hung up.

If convicted on all the charges, Fernandez faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in state prison.

[email protected]

Target Corp. is known for its big-box stores, but lately the company’s been thinking small.

The Minneapolis-based retailer is gearing up to open a small-format store in Lawndale, bringing its total fleet of downsized locations in Southern California to 17. The expansion reflects Target’s plan to move into dense urban areas as well as on or near college campuses — places where a traditional 130,000-square-foot store won’t fit.

The strategy speaks to the growing number of retailers that have downsized their brick-and-mortar operations in the face of Amazon’s strong online sales. Target, Walmart and other big-box retailers have also beefed up their online operations to capture more e-commerce business.

A grand opening for the 36,000-square-foot Lawndale store at 14310 Hawthorne Blvd. will be held Nov. 10 and hiring is underway to bring on 70 employees. Job seekers can apply at target.com/careers. Target also offers education benefits, including tuition and GED reimbursement.

More locations coming

Target has 100 small-format stores nationwide, including local locations in such communities as Mission Hills, Westwood, Koreatown, Burbank, La Canada Flintridge, Long Beach, Irvine, Orange and Anaheim. Two more Southland stores are set to open next year, including one at 415 La Brea Ave. in Los Angeles and another at 420 Broadway in Santa Monica.

The company opened 10 small-format stores in 2018 and plans to open about 30 more a year for the next few years. The stores average 40,000 square feet, although some range as low as 13,000 square feet.

The compact stores offer men’s and women’s apparel and accessories, home decor, groceries, health and beauty items and tech accessories — but in a downsized format.

“We tailor them to the local communities,” a company spokeswoman explained. “As an example, a new store on a college campus might have more grab-and-go snacks and easy to eat meals — and maybe more dorm-sized bed sheets, which are longer.”

The company’s first small-format location opened in 2012.

In a 2017 conference call with investors, CEO Brian Cornell said the retail chain is “elevating every aspect” of how it serves its guests. That includes revamping existing stores, introducing more small-format locations and pursuing an aggressive digital strategy.

Cornell said the downsized stores also serve as “hyper-local” distribution centers that fulfill digital orders faster.

Convenience and lower prices

Burt P. Flickinger III, managing director for the retail consulting firm Strategic Resource Group, said Target’s strategy makes sense.

“They are trying to locate their stores strategically along bus lines for commuter mass transit as well as being accessible to consumers with cars,” he said.

Flicker said the retailer has become more price competitive.

“Over the last three years, Target has lowered its prices about a dime on the dollar,” he said. At the beginning of the decade, our pricing survey showed they were about 15 cents on the dollar higher than Costco, Walmart, WinCo and Food 4 Less. But now they’re priced within a nickel of those stores.”

In-house drivers

Target’s in-house fleet of truck drivers gives the company a leg-up against Amazon, Flickinger added.

“Amazon uses third-party logistics companies and the federal government is starting to enforce a rule that allows truck drivers to drive for only 11 hours a day,” he said. “That is going to create an acute shortage of over-the-road drivers, so Amazon will be facing a massive delivery crisis. Target will be able to use its own logistics and delivery network while Amazon is out there with searchlights looking for drivers.”

Target operates a total of 1,855 stores nationwide, including its big-box locations and small-format stores.

In Lawndale, California, Rudolph Park host a myriad of paths of which feature a range of interactive spaces and landscape elements interspersed on the way. Not long ago, however, the 1.5-acre lot contributed little to the city and the state’s South Bay area, which was deemed “park poor” due to its lack of pedestrian access to such park. Two non-profit organizations From Lot to Spot (FLTS) and The Trust for Public Land (TPL) worked with Laguna Beach, CA and Pasadena, CA-based landscape architecture firm EPTDESIGN to rejuvenation Rudolph Park. Upon its re-opening, Lawndale Mayor Robert Pullen-Miles described it as “the crown jewel of the city.” The Architect’s Newspaper spoke to the firm to discuss their approach and reasoning behind their design decisions.

The Architect’s Newspaper: What informed the development of the “intellectual” and unstructured play experiences created for children’s areas? Why was this focused on?

EPTDESIGN: The park’s program was developed through community workshops led by FLTS and TPL. Program elements included green space, an amphitheater, a climbing wall, natural play, a restroom, a walking loop, fitness equipment, play for all ages, a picnic area, and a gently rolling lawn. EPTDESIGN developed a concept narrative to tie the program elements together. A narrative based on the site’s natural history grew from the public’s stated desire to have a “natural” space, and as a way to distinguish the park from others in the general area…that centered on a singularly themed play structure.

(Courtesy EPTDESIGN)

Could you explain the thought process behind the various topographical elements that feature throughout?

Lawndale sits where the coastal dunes once met the inland prairie, a land characterized by [a] unique topography of dunes and vernal pools. The park seeks to reintroduce the neighborhood to the dunes and prairie that once formed their landscape and to the ecosystems of the hills that frame the region. The park is divided into three zones: The Dunes, Prairie, and Hills. As a result, this playful topographic design allows the visitor to traverse high and low spots. [It] also highlights the site’s low-impact stormwater strategy. To enter the site, one crosses over a vegetated swale and infiltration basin where all stormwater is collected.

(Courtesy EPTDESIGN)

With regards to the climbing wall, how does the form and arrangement link to the overall scheme? What material is this and how was the wall constructed?

The concept narrative espoused playful topography as a way to tie the design to the site’s natural history, but the grading was also a very useful design tool to promote safety. The climbing wall and restroom were both grant-funding-contingent program elements that posed site security challenges. Both are large vertical elements that could obstruct sightlines from the street. Through the use of creative grading, the restroom was built into a constructed hillside. The climbing wall was oriented perpendicular to the street, sharing the same earthwork as the restroom structure, thus eliminating hiding spots. Behind and above the restroom and climbing wall, the finish grade slopes away gently, allowing unobstructed sightlines to the back of the park while creating a universally accessible route from the lowest spot in the park up to the highest.

(Courtesy EPTDESIGN)

The 50-foot-long climbing wall is an innovative feature, and an expression of horizontal strata, which involved extensive collaboration between the landscape architect, civil and structural engineers, architect, artist, and contractors. The climbing face is built from precast concrete modules that are anchored to a structural retaining wall. To keep cost down, there are only four different modules. Through the use of 3D modeling, the modules were laid out to create a varied and unexpected yet climbable texture while…avoiding the tacked-on look of off-the-shelf climbing wall handholds and integrating artwork.

(Courtesy EPTDESIGN)

I would also ask the same thing about the tiles. Are they featured throughout the park or just those pictured?

The tile work was done by artist Frank Bauer. EPTDESIGN worked with Bauer on the subject matter and locations. There are multiple pieces, and they are displayed in each of the three zones. Within the Dunes zone, ceramics were placed in a water runnel, and feature three-dimensional pieces for kids to discover. In the Prairie, tile work can be found in the entry plaza. And in the Hills zone, ceramic flower mosaics were placed in the climbing wall niches. All are intended to be “touched” and not just for visual display.

(Courtesy EPTDESIGN)