K for cash, convenience
Dear ER:
Redondo Beach Measure K will allow the former Redondo school site at Knob Hill and Pacific Coast Highway, still owned by the school site to be rezoned and leased to Kensington. They plan to build an assisted living facility to provides care for seniors with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia. This will benefit our seniors, schools, and residents.
It will be more convenient to have an assisted living facility in our city where the residents can visit their family members without the need to travel outside of our city. Currently, Redondo does not have enough senior housing within the city to accommodate our current population. This facility will help alleviate that shortage.
Schools will benefit by receiving more than $600,000 per year in lease revenue, increasing annually. This additional revenue will help Redondo Schools fund additional staffing and programs, without raising taxes.
The residents of Redondo Beach will benefit by the creation of at least 100 local jobs, $450,000 additional economic activity, and more than $40,000 in property tax revenue guaranteed to the city. This plan was supported unanimously by the RBUSD School Board and the Redondo Beach City Council. I encourage everyone to examine all the facts and make an informed decision.
Doug Rodriguez
Redondo Beach Planning Commissioner
Redondo Beach
K for catastrophe
Dear ER
Knob Hill and Pacific Coast Highway is the perfect location for a park. Unfortunately, it is where the Redondo Beach city council and school board want to build a two-story, oversized senior assisted living residence that will take up most of this beautiful, spacious lot, blocking the sun, sky and ocean views. With rents starting at around $5,000 per month it will not be affordable for most local senior citizens. Also, why would anyone, especially senior citizens, want to live on this noisy, busy intersection. Vote NO on Measure K on June 7.
Suzanne McCune
Facebook comment
K for congrats
Dear ER
Congratulations to the Redondo Beach Unified School District for navigating the challenging development environment in Redondo Beach. RBUSD qualified Measure K for the June ballot. Measure K will allow the Knob Hill school property to be developed as an assisted living center for seniors. This low impact land use will earn recurring revenue for the schools benefiting youthful through elderly residents long into the future. I am voting Yes on Redondo Beach Measure K.
Steven Diels
Redondo Beach City Treasurer
Redondo Beach
Park the deck idea
Dear ER:
The elimination of any parking in the Redondo Riviera Village is detrimental to all of the surrounding businesses (“Dining decks gateway to pedestrian-friendly,”). Our customers (Ribbons Boutique) are grateful to find a spot to park and these customers only shop when they can find a space. It is unfair that restaurants and drinking establishments are being offered a business advantage that actually hurts the surrounding establishments. If the parking continues to be compromised ,only the bars and restaurants that are open at night will be able to sustain themselves. The small retail shops will start to fail. In time, without proper parking, we will lose the “Village ” appeal and become another Hermosa Please write to the city to express your opinion on parking deductions in Riviera Village.
Leah Shirejian
Facebook comment
Structural integrity under fire
Dear ER:
You’ve got to love the duplicity (“City Council ponders future of Hermosa Beach fire department,” ER April 28, 2016”). The Firefighters union is complaining about working too much and the cause is mandatory staffing levels being advocated by the same union. A look at the highest paid public employees in Hermosa reveals a large majority are fire fighters.
Given the required staffing levels, some folks could and may be milking the system by tag teaming — one person on his two day, 24 hour duty works a third day at one-and-a-half or double time to cover for a sick leave of another person. The next week the roles are reversed. A large fraction of Hermosa employees earning well over $100,000 are in the fire department.
We all recognize the need for fire fighters. But when you see that there 1,000 to 1 ratio of applicants to firefighter job, the large amount of overtime could be reduced by amending the employment contracts to allow the hiring of new fire fighters or allowing firefighters from other departments to fill in.
Robert Benz
Hermosa Beach
Slow burn
Dear ER:
Shame on the Hermosa city council. Residents have repeatedly stated they don’t want our public safety services contracted out to Los Angeles County, but the council voted 5 to 0 to investigate it anyway (“City Council ponders future of Hermosa Beach Fire Department,” ER April 28, 2016). The Hermosa Beach City Council has no problem prioritizing carbon neutrality and is worried about what kind of cars we will be driving in 20 or 30 years. Hermosa residents are paying taxes now and deserve to have better than basic services. The entire council should be ashamed to show their faces in the community because of their extreme lack of leadership. This is not something that happened overnight.
Ken Hartley
Facebook comment
Waterfront privatization
Dear ER:
CenterCal’s Redondo Beach Waterfront is a risky business venture. CenterCal places all the risk on existing businesses, the city, and the taxpayers. I do not fault CenterCal. They are a capitalist corporation maximizing profitability under the rules of the system. I may not trust them, but I do not fault them. Who sets the rules that CenterCal exploits? The City of Redondo Beach – the officials you elect and the staff they hire. Right now the decisions, terms, and conditions that enable the CenterCal Waterfront development are supported by Mayor Aspel and councilmembers Christian Horvath and Laura Emdee. They are the officials who voted to extend the Exclusive Negotiating Agreement with CenterCal. Councilmember Ginsburg cannot discuss the project due to his conflict of interest. Notice that they do not claim the project is great for Redondo. They don’t sing it praises. Instead they make defeatist claims that we must hand 36 acres of your city-owned land to a notorious developer for 99 years in order to pay for a new parking garage. They claim we must cover the sins of past governments.
Meanwhile the city’s engineering consultant says the garage can be refurbished for $18 million. The city’s finance consultant says we can use existing harbor revenue, not new taxes, for a bond that would rebuild the infrastructure. Government has historically been responsible for infrastructure. But instead of addressing the problem, these leaders would rather abdicate responsibility to CenterCal. CenterCal agrees to pay the bill, but they need to double development for profitability.
Our leaders are trusted to make smart, tough decisions that sometimes hurt in the short term but set us up for success in the long term. Instead, Aspel, Horvath, and Emdee seem to fault sins of past governments as an excuse to commit sins under their own leadership. Stop the downward spiral, explore creative alternatives, and demand an update to our 24 year old city master plan. We can do better. Revitalize not supersize
Martin F. Holmes
Co-Founder, Rescue Our Waterfront
Redondo Beach
Waterfront dirt
Dear ER:
Regarding the proposed (over) development of the Redondo Beach waterfront:
It’s too darn much cement. Tourists like me want to come to Redondo to see something a little
different than the same old stuff seen up and down California. I don’t care
for Hermosa or Manhattan because they are just too dense. Give me some dirt.
Elizabeth Brand
Glen Ellen, California
Expensive drinks
Dear ER:
Which is more important? Saving children from underage drinking or saving water? Hermosa Beach with its Social Host Underage Drinking ordinance should take note of what Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is doing to curb unreasonable use of water. It imposes fines of $1,000 to $40,000 per month.
When someone violates the rules for Underage Drinking, hit them where it hurts, in their pocket book. A fine of $2,500 is very reasonable.The Beach Cities have the highest underage drinking rate in all of L.A. County. Manhattan Beach/Hermosa Beach children get 65 percent of their alcohol at parties. When an intoxicated guest leaves your party and injures someone while driving home, you may be liable.
Personally, I want to thank my uncle for saving me from the problems of drinking. He had served in the U.S. Army and acquired the vices of drinking and smoking. He wanted to help me, so he promised to give me $25 if I didn’t smoke or drink until I was 21 years old. I was 14 years old and 70 years later, I am still smoke and alcohol free. No $25, but I’m still the winner.
Robert Bush
Manhattan Beach
Be reasonable
Dear ER:
California already has one of the highest state income tax rates in the country. Now the Hermosa Beach School district wants to spend $127 million in bond payments to knockdown and rebuild North School and spruce up the other two campuses. The city is talking about adding another $134 million bond to knockdown the civic center, build a new one and move the library onto the front lawn at Pier and Pacific Coast Hwy. Both of these proposals are severely flawed and wasteful of taxpayer money. Let’s be reasonable and stop the reckless spending of our tax dollars on shiny new things. Vote No on Measure S.
Krista Capo
Hermosa Beach
Uncommon consensus
Dear ER:
The former Hermosa Beach mayors whose names appear below don’t always agree on municipal matters, but we do agree that Measure S on the June 7 ballot may be the last, best chance to get ahead of the two looming crises facing the Hermosa Beach School District: first, serious classroom overcrowding, and the district’s capital maintenance requirements.
The Hermosa Beach School District has the lowest school tax rate in LA County, per $100,000 in assessed value (Hermosa Beach $16, Manhattan Beach $67, Redondo Beach $92.) Hermosa also spends less per student than surrounding districts (Hermosa Beach $7,500; Redondo Beach $7,900; and Torrance, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes $8,000.) Still Hermosa schools consistently receive high marks in student performance.
Let’s support our kids, our School District, and our community. Join us in voting Yes on Measure S on June 7.
Julie Oakes, Peter Tucker, Michael Keegan, JR Reviczky, Chuck Sheldon, Jim Rosenberger, George Barks, George Schmeltzer
Former Hermosa Beach Mayors
Too much for too little
Dear ER:
Hermosa Beach Measure S has too many negative impacts to be good for Hermosa. It spends $127 million overbuilding for a capacity of more than 500 students at North School, overloading the already crowded neighborhood. It puts a large retaining wall next to the soccer field at Valley Park. It leaves no money to make capital improvements in the future. The increase in property taxes will force landlords to increase rents. There is a better and less expensive way to improve our schools. Measure S is too much cost for too little benefit. Vote No on Measure S on June 7.
Jackie Tagliaferro
Hermosa Beach
Wait for state
Dear ER:
There is a California Public Education Facilities Bond Initiative proposed for the November 2016 ballot that would allocate $3 billion toward renovating K-12 schools. There are no legal impediments to the Hermosa Beach City School District leasing [the former] Pier Avenue Middle School (PAMS) from the City. The City would have to offer the district a 40 year lease to be eligible for State matching grants. However, the district would not have to occupy Pier Avenue School for 40 years if enrollment declines. HBCSD would not then be responsible for the annual upkeep of an expensive campus if enrollment dropped as they would be with North School.
Pier Avenue Middle School is centrally located, with major street access. There are already several crossing guards working the streets surrounding PAMS and students pass by it daily to attend Valley School. Using State matching funds to renovate Pier Avenue Middle School for the community would benefit both our City, our school district and taxpayers and make our money go further.
The district can choose to rewrite a bond measure that includes renovating all four schools and put it on the November 2016 ballot. Let’s use our hard earned money on a smart, cost-effective plan, not on an expensive $28 million to $33 million rebuild of North School for 300 students.
Please vote No on S. There are better solutions.
Miyo Prassas
Hermosa Beach
State wait? Right
Dear ER:
I am a 63-year Hermosa resident who went through the Hermosa school system, as did my two daughters. I presently have no dog in the race (no grandchild in a Hermosa Beach school), but I am voting in favor of Measure S because I feel a profound debt of gratitude to Hermosa Beach and our school district and, secondly, the facilities issue needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. Nevertheless, I remain puzzled by the school’s lack of financial resources in what has become a very wealthy city. Two new townhouses next door to my little 750 sq. ft. home just sold for $2.2 million. The increase in property values over the last two decades should compute into huge increases in tax revenues.
Where is all this tax money going? Wait. Of course. It is being used to fund the bureaucracy that runs the state lottery — that wonderful program that was supposed to provide so much money for education that we would not need the likes of a Measure S.
Joe Hellerman, Ph.D.
Hermosa Beach
