Redondo Finishes 2nd in Challenge

In a 30-day battle of Southern California cities, Redondo Beach ranked as the No. 2. "greenest city" in the Wyland Foundation's first Southern California Mayor's Challenge for Conservation.

Fellow beach city Hermosa Beach won the challenge.

The challenge in honor of Earth Month, and ranked regional cities based on the percentage of residents who pledged online to practice water-saving and energy-saving habits.

"The whole point of the Mayor's Challenge was to create a healthy competition between cities for conservation," said Wyland, renowned environmental artist and Wyland Foundation founder and president.

"Throughout the month, mayors of some of the largest and smallest cities in Southern California went head-to-head to creatively energize their residents to reduce their impact on the environment," he said in a statement Tuesday.

The .

"Hermosa's secret to winning was the city's ability to stay motivated throughout the month and fend off challenges from dozens of other cities, like Long Beach, Torrance and Redondo Beach," Wyland said. "Even though Hermosa was one of the smallest cities participating, it racked up more pledges than cities many times its size."

The top 10 cities that had the highest percentage of pledges in the challenge are:

1. Hermosa Beach
2. Redondo Beach
3. Villa Park
4. Gardena
5. Long Beach
6. Signal Hill
7. Monrovia
8. Torrance
9. Huntington Beach
10. Mission Viejo

Agoura Hills and Vernon, which ranked No. 1 in the contest for several days, were disqualified for insufficient data.

By winning the challenge, Hermosa Beach residents who participated are now eligible to win various prizes, which include tickets to a special Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim game, Disneyland or the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.