South Bay : TORRETTES VICTORIOUS

Whoever said you can’t fight City Hall doesn’t know Dolly Pressler.

The Torrance woman admits she didn’t know much about the City Council’s budget problems when she heard that fees for the city-sponsored drill team, the Torrettes, were about to be increased sharply. But Pressler wasn’t prepared to pay more money for her 12-year-old daughter to attend the drill team class. So she took her case directly to the council, which in the end raised the fees by $42, to $112, not to $175 as first proposed.

“Getting up there and talking really helped. You really can fight City Hall,” Pressler said.

Not everyone can make that claim.

On Tuesday, the council passed a $95-million general fund budget for 1995-96, closing a $4.7-million budget gap by approving a slew of fee increases for city services and agreeing to eliminate 50 positions over the next two years. . . .