Petty’s platform
Dear ER:
As the election cycle draws to a close, I want to thank everyone who has supported me, and all of you who have been so appreciative, interested and welcoming as I have knocked on your doors. For those of you who have not met me, please know that if elected my objectives are: 1) Ensure unbiased information is provided to everyone and maintain our sense of community as we evaluate next year’s vote on oil; 2) Sound financial management that maintains high safety standards while addressing infrastructure deficiencies by shifting resources back to investment in our streets and sewers; 3) Be more proactive in attracting new businesses to our town, address current vacancies, and support our current businesses.
I am the only candidate with a finance background and have 25 years experience in executive positions at Fortune 500 companies and smaller, start up organizations. This is a critical skill set that has been missing from city leadership for some time. I am also the only candidate with children enrolled in our school district. This is an important perspective that should be represented within the city because schools are a cornerstone of our vibrant community. I am the only candidate who lives east of PCH, representing another important perspective as our city looks to develop the PCH-Aviation corridor.
Election day is fast approaching and in local elections your vote has a tremendous influence – candidates have won on a margin of 7 votes. I respectfully ask for your vote November 5th.
Carolyn Petty
Hermosa Beach
City Council Candidate
Hermosa renaissance
Dear ER:
I feel incredibly fortunate for the experience of running for an elected office in Hermosa Beach (School Board) this fall. As a community member and homeowner, I am now “wide awake” to the big picture and see nothing less than extraordinary opportunities before us. The way forward, however, can either be a “one off” victory on an issue or a campaign, or rather a new renaissance in the story of an amazing and truly unique “little beach city.” What do we aspire to become? Caution: Don’t think small! We need to think up, out, and forward in Hermosa Beach, all while cherishing our history and our values. Let’s build upon our significant strengths and create a future that will “blow our minds” (in a good way) when compared to accomplishing incremental, siloed improvements. What do I mean? Simply, we can come together in community to create an unparalleled mosaic of future possibilities. Just one of those possibilities lies inside our commitment to becoming a carbon neutral, sustainable, and healthy environment – one that future generations of Hermosans can thrive in. It’s relevant, and it inspires us! Moreover, it has the potential to weave together many things that we all care about; a vibrant economic engine that supports the best schools anywhere, a smart and savvy growth agenda, responsibility to our environment, and a proactive approach to global energy shifts. We can serve all of these interests with a singular, powerful vision. Let’s lead the way, Hermosa! Who’s in?
Mary Campbell
Hermosa Beach
School board candidate
A fresh perspective
Dear ER:
I’m Kathleen Paralusz and I respectfully ask for your vote for Manhattan Beach School Board.
Since moving here in 1999 I’ve demonstrated a passion for public service and proven leadership in numerous organizations supporting our schools, students and community. I’ve been honored to serve twice on the Measure BB Bond Oversight Committee, helping ensure the District’s $54M construction project is on time/on budget. I’m a Board Member of Mayor’s Youth Council and Soroptimist International Manhattan Beach. For almost six years I’ve also served as a Planning Commissioner, using my collaborative approach, well-reasoned decision-making and strong leadership skills to serve our entire community.
As a senior contracts attorney, I’ll bring a unique, critical expertise to the Board. Each Board agenda contains legal challenges including the review/approval of numerous contracts, Board policies based on the Education Code and other legal issues. My expertise will complement this Board, making its decision-making process even stronger.
As the parent of a four-year-old I also have a long-term stake in the District. I’ll bring a fresh perspective and a commitment to ensuring we provide students the tools they need to maximize their potential not just five, but ten, fifteen years from now. I’ll continue to focus on expanding academic enrichment in our District while maintaining fiscal responsibility and retaining our outstanding teachers/staff.
There’s no greater responsibility or honor than working to ensure the excellence of our children’s education. Please give me the opportunity to do so with your vote November 5th.
For more information, visit www.kathleenparalusz4schoolboard.com.
Kathleen Paralusz
Manhattan Beach
School board candidate
Achievable solutions
Dear ER:
It’s been a great pleasure running for the Hermosa School Board; knocking on hundreds of doors, meeting my neighbors and learning about both our current situation and Hermosa history. People told me about their experiences from when California was a national leader in education and school funding did not bounce from crisis to crisis.
Many conversations turn to the new state funding system, called LCFF, which solidifies our underdog status as much of the tax money we send to Sacramento is diverted to other districts. In Hermosa, problems come from Sacramento; solutions come from us. We have good schools only because the average family contributes $1000 per year, enabling us to maintain a higher staffing level and lower class sizes. Donations also come from many who don’t have kids in school but believe that a strong school system is fundamental to a community’s success.
Since we have to focus on local solutions, what is achievable?
We can address overcrowding at Valley and View by building at the North School site. We can create a large afterschool program that enriches curriculum and makes money. Over time, we can add foreign languages in all grades. We can make Hermosa the most desirable address in the South Bay through a focused parcel tax that funds only music, languages, and science/technology. Our good schools can become great schools if we work together for the benefit of the entire community.
Thank you for your consideration.
Jim Caldwell
Hermosa Beach
School board candidate
Blueprint for Hermosa
Dear ER:
My family moved to Hermosa Beach because we fell in love with the beautiful beach, awesome people, and strong community spirit.
I am running for City Council to maintain the small beach town lifestyle we love and enjoy.
My 25 years of professional experience as a construction and environmental engineer and lawyer provides me with experience that will benefit our community as it approaches the oil drilling resolution.
Personally I oppose oil drilling in Hermosa Beach, but will comply with Hermosa’s obligations pursuant to the settlement agreement. I have experience with all aspects of construction and environmental work that Hermosa will be dealing with in the next few years, including preparation of Environmental Impact Reports (EIR).
The proposed oil drilling raises significant concerns relating to environmental impacts. In addition, installing an 87-foot drilling rig, and a 150-foot crane, raises serious safety issues, and possible impacts to property values.
Over the past few weeks, we had a methane release from wells in Hawthorne that closed the 105 freeway and prompted evacuations, a 60 oil drilling rig collapse in Huntington Beach that prompted evacuations, and an explosion of a truck carrying 8,000 gallons of crude oil that closed down the 710 freeway and prompted evacuations. These are significant risks that may impact Hermosa if we decide to allow the proposed oil drilling to proceed.
I also have reservations about security in the downtown area, especially for families like mine on weekend nights. I support installing security cameras to improve public safety.
Hermosa needs a more business friendly environment to sustain existing merchants and attract new businesses. We need fuller cooperation with prospective tenants, developers and purchasers of property to assist with new and upgraded facilities. We should be proactive in attempting to attract family friendly businesses to Hermosa.
We need to continue upgrading our street and sewer system infrastructure. The proposed PCH Aviation improvements are needed to put Hermosa’s brand on PCH to invite visitors and tourists to Hermosa. I have significant experience managing hundreds of construction projects, managing annual budgets of over $10 million. I have experience with all aspects of construction activities, including infrastructure upgrades and improvements.
Our City Council should increase coordination with the School District to protect the quality education our children need, attract the great new families our community needs, and protect property values.
We live in a great community and have much work ahead to keep it that way. I hope to earn your vote on November 5th, and the privilege of working on your behalf.
Hany Fangary
Hermosa Beach
City Council candidate
Nanette’s thanks
Dear ER:
In the past three months, I have walked many of our Hermosa streets to meet as many residents as possible. Many of you welcomed me into your homes, shared your concerns, ideas and suggestions. Others have offered your support, volunteered your time and trusted me by donating your hard earned dollars. Thank you.
It’s been a truly rewarding experience for me and I’ve learned so much about our city and our community. I would be honored to have your vote and the opportunity to be the first woman in ten years to serve on the Hermosa Beach City Council. If elected next Tuesday, I will make our residents my top priority. I will continue to lead on the oil and gas drilling project by asking the tough questions and investigating the facts. I pledge to fight to protect our health, safety and environment. I also want to eliminate wasteful spending at City Hall, improve our city’s streets and infrastructure, and preserve Hermosa’s small beach town vibe. I would like to learn your views on the issues facing our city. Please contact me at (424) 206-3963 or barraganforcitycouncil@gmail.com. And please visit my websitewww.nanettebarragan.com. And most importantly, remember to vote next Tuesday, November 5. If you need to find your polling place, please visit www.lavote.net
Nanette Barragan
Hermosa Beach
City Council candidate
No kingmaker, no drool
Dear ER:
I am responding to Greg Breen’s convoluted letter in last week’s ER. I am honored that Mr. Breen thinks of me as a “political kingmaker” because it’s news to me. If that were true, the Hermosa Beach City Council would listen to me — something they certainly do not. He also claims that candidates are “drooling at the prospect of” my backing; what city does Mr. Breen live in because I have never had any candidate in Hermosa “drool” for my support? Breen also says that I focus on winning “with the same intensity as Lance Armstrong.” Mr. Breen seems to think that I engage in illegal methods in order for my candidates to win an election. If he has proof, I hope he’ll publish it in this newspaper because I’ll donate $10,000 to the Hermosa Beach Education Foundation if he can prove that I’ve ever engaged in illegal activity during a campaign.
Breen also criticizes candidates for taking a stand on the proposed oil and gas drilling project in Hermosa; he seems to think this is an unimportant issue because each councilmember is “one vote out of four thousand.” This project is arguably the most important issue to face our city in decades and potentially may impact the city for decades to come. Doesn’t it seem logical that one would want city council candidates to take a position on such an important issue? Finally, Mr. Breen implies that it is wrong that there are a “proliferation of ‘Keep Hermosa Hermosa’ banners around town, with no vote on oil drilling for another year or so.” Does he think that residents don’t have a right to speak out on this issue? It obviously didn’t occur to Mr. Breen that these residents are so concerned about oil drilling that they are willing to hang a banner in front of their homes until the vote occurs whenever that may be. I for one am proud to have a “Keep Hermosa Hermosa” banner in front of my home!
Fred Huebscher
Hermosa Beach
Regarding Breen
Dear ER:
Greg Breen must be asleep on issues important to Hermosa Beach. His pompous and condescending attitude toward his fellow residents serves no useful purpose. I have attended numerous community meetings regarding oil drilling, community dialogues, EIR scoping and oil related council meetings over the last 12 months. Greg was home laying on his couch. Is he trying to discourage community participation? Who will he attack next? He says the council does more than address oil issues and their votes. Oil drilling and its fallout will consume 50% of the city council’s time over the next four years. Councilmembers will receive 75% of their constituent contact about oil related issues. Breen wants to dumb down the oil issue for some reason, which he is keeping to himself. Accusing me of cheating in elections was unfounded and is meant to disparage any candidate I support. Mr. Breen has endorsed Kit Bobko. We know that Mr. Bobko supports the efforts of oil companies. Breen states that the Keep Hermosa Hermosa banners are up now to influence November 5th’s election. Maybe he has been sleeping through the full page ads, web ads, printed mail, small group meetings and dozens of presentations of E & B Oil Drilling meant to influence the upcoming oil drilling election. Residents will continue to exercise their rights to express their views even if Breen tries to belittle their efforts.
Michael Keegan
Hermosa Beach
Bobko and the bars
Dear ER:
Hermosa’s lower-downtown bars and their poster-boy council-incumbent, Kit Bobko, are panicking to maintain control in Hermosa Beach. Theirs, along with massive additional outside-the-city contributions in excess of $100-thousand are being expended to distort the people’s ‘Measure-B’ initiative and save Bobko from being kicked off Council.
The downtown bars’ aggressive spending on mailings, banners and print ads has distorted the people’s Measure-B while never once acknowledging that the measure is about midnight to 2-AM excessive late-night drinking activity in the lower-downtown, and the crime and degradation that activity brings to neighborhoods, and its true total costs to the city.
Bobko’s 3rd-term record-spending has filled voter-mailboxes with glossy, smiley-faced, flag-waving, puff-pieces taking credit for everything Bobko contributed little, or mostly obstructed, during his two self-exalting terms on Council. Worst, is Bobko’s taking of credit for Pier Avenue’s upgrade that was in the works well before Bobko was made chair of UPAC meetings. Dozens of others and the taxpayers deserve the real credit for that upgrade, not Bobko.
Bobko even implied in mailings that Hermosa police and fire officers endorsed him when nothing is further from the truth.
Hermosans, reclaim your beautiful city. Don’t let downtown-bars and outside-the-city big-money for Bobko steal your election. Vote Nov-5 for genuine community involvement and caring for members to your new Council, J.R. Reviczky for Treasurer, and YES on B.
Howard Longacre
Hermosa Beach
Bobko defended
Dear ER:
Re-Elect Kit Bobko. He is doing an excellent job as our representative on the Hermosa Beach City Council. All of the council members are under appreciated. A number of our citizens have way too much time on their hands; negative personal attacks are not helpful. Please, criticize policies and not people for doing what they were elected to do.
Bobko is well qualified. We need fiscally conservative representatives to manage our fair city. We need the ongoing experience Bobko can provide. Please vote on November 4th.
Richard & Lana Van Aggelen
Hermosa Beach
No on B
Dear ER :
With everything going on in our country and the recent government shutdown, isn’t it amazing that the only thing both political parties do agree on is that they both oppose Measure B in Hermosa Beach? Why is it opposed by both the Los Angeles County Republican and Democratic Party’s? Because they know Measure B is a radical and unreasonable attempt to regulate local business that will cause the City to lose revenue.
In addition, why do all of the current Hermosa Beach City Council members oppose Measure B? Because they have read the recent report where the City estimates that by the time Measure B is fully implemented it will cost the City’s General fund over $1 million dollars. The General Fund helps pay for Police, Fire, Parks and Public Works.
Why does the Chamber of Commerce oppose Measure B? Because it unfairly punishes local businesses, many of which will be forced to lay off employees or worse, close their doors forever. Hermosa Beach depends on business and sales tax revenue to keep the City running. The City estimates that business revenue will decrease by $5.5 million dollars, which will hit the City’s revenues from loss of sales tax.
Why do a host of other local businesses, not even in the food and beverage industry oppose Measure B? Because Measure B is a radical attempt to over regulate local businesses and if it passes, many of the local businesses that have been here in Hermosa Beach for generations will be affected. The businesses near Pier Plaza depend on each other to stay open. On Tuesday, Please Vote No on Measure B. Its Bad for Business and Bad for Hermosa Beach.
David Lowe
Hermosa Beach
Yes on B
Dear ER:
Our downtown is broken and we need to re-boot it, to make way for the better-behaved visitors we would like to have come here and spend their vacation money in our hotels – think 10% bed tax! – retail stores, restaurants, and – yes – in our bars. Heavy enforcement – the mantra of our sitting council and most candidates – is not the solution because we cannot increase enforcement without further diverting our small police force from the protection of the rest of the town. I believe that Measure “B” is the answer. Measure “B” asks downtown businesses to make a small adjustment in their business hours – reducing the late night hours that are the most destructive to the community, gradually over five years so that they have time to adjust.
Our downtown – including the bars – will be more prosperous than ever. It will again be a place that Hermosans can bring their families and friends for dinner and entertainment, and tourists will love staying here. After all, what other city offers shops, restaurants and lodging places ten feet from the sand.
If you love Hermosa Beach as I do, vote Yes on Measure “B,” for Hermosa’s future. That’s why former Councilmember Kathleen Midstokke, Planning Commissioner Ron Pizer and the over 2000 residents who signed the Quiet Nights petition support Measure “B.”
For the latest information about Measure “B” visit www.QuietNights.org.
Jim Lissner
Hermosa Beach
Quiet, please
Dear ER:
I have a family, and yes I drink too, so bars are not my issue. My issues are : Last night I saw someone urinating on my neighbor’s house, one night someone came in my backyard and stole my property, some nights I wake, to echo’s of loud drunks leaving the bars, one night a stranger opened my gate, entered my property and when my wife called the Police they drove by but never stopped.
I never see a police car patrolling my neighborhood anymore. Why, because they are all hanging out on pier plaza. 20 years ago Manhattan Beach was the party town. Things changed there and you don’t see home prices suffering.
The opponents of B talk about lost revenue to the city, but homeowner property tax revenue are 5 times more than sales taxes brought in by all business yet the property owners receive only a fraction of the Public safety services especially at night. These nighttime Police, Fire and Paramedic services come at a significant financial cost to the city that I doubt is even covered by the tax revenue generated by the downtown bars.
Don’t believe what the bar owners are saying, closing the bars at 1AM instead of 2 AM is not going to put anyone out of business except perhaps for the drunks and troublemakers. What it will do is reduce Public Safety costs, noise, late night crime and will put the police back into our neighborhoods where they belong.
Sandy Swain
Hermosa Beach
Spill, baby, spill
Dear ER:
Over the next 12 months much will be said about the danger of drilling for oil and gas in Hermosa Beach, but I wonder if any more needs to be said beyond the following. In an article in November’s Our South Bay Magazine, former Arco employee and now E&B’s Public Communications coordinator, Tiffany Rau, seems to sum it up when she’s quoted as saying, “You would not trust an oil company who did not have a number of spills reported, because that means they’re not reporting.”
In other words, in a scary twist on Sarah Palin’s “Drill, Baby, Drill,” E&B’s Tiffany Rau is now firmly in the camp of Spill, Baby, Spill. Oh yes, but be sure to report it!
George Schmeltzer
Hermosa Beach
Thoughts on B
Dear ER:
If we are to make it as a law of the land, it should be set up with guidelines and boundaries to be seen and heard. This should also be passed with an understanding that it could benefit our community and promote a more peaceful environment. Change doesn’t hurt the people if it is for the good of all involved. The actions of all effect many, and everyone should be held accountable for their actions. If we set new regulations to stop selling alcohol at a certain time at night, it would also help to monitor alcohol being sold to minors. It would cut down on the number of people roaming the streets after a certain hour, and that would include minors. And as we see the instructions in the Crime Report, “If you see something suspicious, or something not right” that would be of help to our law enforcement officers, share it with them to help the good of our community. These types of activities would be easier to monitor with the earlier hour restriction for alcohol sales. Measure B would help the entire community. Many, Many Blessings To Your Community and Best Of Luck To All On November 5, 2013 !!!!
Shirley Henderson
Hermosa Beach
The Golden Age
Dear ER:
I enjoyed reading the article “The Golden Age” (October 17) about aerospace in the South Bay. It was especially interesting to me since I was part of it almost from the beginning. For the record, TRW was originally called Space Technology Laboratories (STL), and it was the best company to work for. When they changed the name to TRW, we were not very pleased about it. I remember one of the engineers saying that he wouldn’t have even gone to work for a company called TRW.
I look forward to reading the rest of the series.
Shirley (Dornoff) Eshbaugh
Manhattan Beach
