Save the Lakes
Dear ER:
The El Segundo City Council (the “ESSC”) is abolishing The Lakes golf course as we know it and love it. The Lakes is a gift to the community, created largely from a Chevron restrictive grant for outdoor recreation. Most importantly, it’s home to young golfers from Mira Costa, Redondo Beach, Torrance and the like to hone their skills. Anyone who hasn’t played the putting green at The Lakes on a random Sunday afternoon is missing a delightful experience.
The ESSC will replace The Lakes with a mega-sports bar called TopGolf. To learn more about TopGolf, check out its website to see what is coming. Most patrons of TopGolf are not serious golfers. Expect hoards of half-naked, twenty-somethings. Expect big increases in prices. Is this the kind of outdoor entertainment we want to offer our young people?
What is sure is that TopGolf’s operations depend on big alcohol sales. Envision a mega-sports bar on Sepulveda Boulevard with five lanes of traffic going north and five south. What happens when a drunk driver tears out into traffic? Will someone get hurt? Will someone get killed? Can Top Golf tell you that won’t happen? If it’s totally foreseeable, is the ESSC responsible for it? No TopGolf! Please email allcouncilandclerks@elsegundo.org to let the ESSC know you are opposed. Please check out the Save the Lakes page on Facebook and sign up for notifications.
Debra Geist
Manhattan Beach
Bobko’s race
Dear ER:
Hermosa Beach elections are non-partisan and normally issue driven. However, it seems that one candidate, Councilmember Patrick “Kit” Bobko, wants to make it into a partisan race. Two years ago, Bobko ran for the Republican nomination for Congress and emphasized his opposition to President Obama and the Democrats’ stimulus program. Apparently during the course of that campaign, Bobko became acquainted with numerous right-wing Republicans because now he’s raised thousands from some of these folks. Unlike any other Hermosa candidate, Bobko had a fundraiser hosted by conservative Republican icons Congressmen Ed Royce and Dana Rohrabacher of Orange County. Bobko touts the endorsements of conservative Republican LA County Supervisor Mike Antonovich and the LA County Republican Party on his website. Given Bobko’s interest in touting these endorsements as well as his having a fundraiser with these prominent Republican members of Congress, it’s pretty obvious that Bobko is trying to turn this election into a partisan race. What’s most astounding is that in our sample ballot Bobko takes credit for being the “Chairman of the Upper Pier Avenue project” that “made our street the new jewel of the South Bay.” What Bobko fails to point out is that most of the money for that project came from President Obama’s stimulus plan – the same plan Bobko attacked when running for Congress!
Fred Huebscher
Hermosa Beach
Bobko thanks
Dear ER:
I am a Hermosa Beach resident and have been reading the letters and comments regarding the oil project in my town as well as attending a recent meetings. I would like to share a perspective that appears to be missing in the ongoing exchange. It clearly appears that some of my fellow residents have completely missed the fact that the [former] City Council approved (via a legal binding agreement) for the company to seek oil in our town. This legally obligated us to let them proceed. Therefore, to remove the city from its legal obligation, it took the unlikely possibility of prevailing in a trial, or a creative settlement to appease both sides.
My view is that the [current] City Council and specifically Kit Bobko are not getting the credit due for their outstanding accomplishment of getting the city out of a possibly deadly liability.
Additionally, it appears to this resident that the facts are being overlooked. Mr. Bobko and the team have averted what could have been a catastrophe in the damages phase of the trial that was just weeks away – potentially, and in my view most likely, resulting in a bankruptcy.
The settlement agreement provided that Hermosa Beach would have absolutely no out of pocket expenses. This is quite an accomplishment of Mr. Bobko and the team. The city did not pay McPherson a dime. The company currently managing the project, E&B, is paying for the environmental studies, the health studies, the election itself, the relocation of the city yard, and the remediation of the contaminated soil.
It is an excellent settlement agreement considering that the city does not have to pay anything now and pays the costs it owes out of oil revenues if the election result supports the oil project.
I am not a huge fan of all the things our City Council does and actually believe there are some really poor fiscal decisions made on a regular basis. However, in this case it was handled and managed in an excellent manner. Mr. Bobko does not deserve the criticism I have read and heard and in fact deserves our thanks and support. This thanks and appreciation goes for all the City Council, as the vote was unanimous with Mr. Duclos, Mr. Fishman, Mr. Tucker and Mr. Divirgilio all voting in favor of the settlement.
Larry Biggs
Hermosa Beach
Petty on oil
Dear ER:
I understand that Oil is # 1 on most people’s minds in this town and that this is emotionally charged and extremely personal for many people. I do not think there are many people who wish to industrialize our pristine beach community, yet people intuitively know that money does provide benefits. That is the reality of life.
So then this becomes a question of values and priorities – and practicality.
Our City Manager nearly a year ago recognized we were heading towards an incredibly emotionally charged time in our community and did his best to get ahead of it with the Community Dialogue series.
As I have watched events unfold, I now realize that he knew the dangers of an emotionally charged issue and how it could tear apart at the fabric of our community. So his plan was to get ahead of it. I applaud that he had the foresight to do this.
My hope is that rather than allowing Oil to divide us and create a permanent wedge between friends, neighbors and our beloved community, we begin to work together respectfully towards solutions.
I believe the city leaders will do our community more good when they work towards bringing us together, rather than perpetuating and hastening that wedge. If you love this community, as I do, let’s work through these incredibly difficult times together, as a community should. Without the animus – with a positive perspective that if we come together with solutions, we can accomplish so much more.
Carolyn Petty
Hermosa Beach City Council Candidate
Barragan on budgets
Dear ER:
We need to restore fiscal responsibility to Hermosa Beach city government. Our city cannot repave enough streets and fix its aging sewer system, and has cut the number of police officers by over 20 percent in the last 12 years. Yet, at the same time, the City Council has spent hundreds of thousands on consultants, a publicist, a community dialogue and a fancy diagonal crossing signal at Pier and Hermosa Avenues. The city council needs to focus on making sure that our city takes care of the nuts and bolts of city government: protecting our public safety services and making sure that our streets are well maintained and our infrastructure is up to date. If I am elected to the City Council, I pledge to go over the city budget with a fine tooth comb and eliminate frivolous expenditures such as a publicist and community dialogue consultant. What happened to old fashion town hall meetings? It would save us over $100,000 and be run by locals who understand our beach culture instead of pushing, or at least appearing to push, a specific agenda.
Nanette Barragan
Hermosa Beach City Council candidate
Brand on the waterfront
Dear ER:
Everyone agrees, the Redondo Beach waterfront needs revitalizing. But building a large mall is no way to do it.
CenterCal Properties spent 7 months conducting eight public workshops in Redondo Beach, and then proceeded to roll out a design for a 460,000 sq.ft., mall that is everything they promised us it wouldn’t be. A regional mall with movie theatres, two three-story parking structures, another hotel, and lots of retail.
460,000 sq. ft. is 15 percent larger than Plaza El Segundo, with national chain stores like Best Buy, Whole Foods, and a Banana Republic. But wait, CenterCal said they would maintain the local culture with specialty shops like a Lululemon yoga store. I went to Lululemon in El Segundo Plaza recently where they were selling t-shirts for $55. It was a nice t-shirt, but that store is only about 1,000 sq.ft. That leaves another 459,000 sq. ft. to go.
Try to imagine a three-story parking structure, 45 feet high, on the southwest corner of Portofino Way and Harbor Drive, across from the Crowne Plaza in the Ruby’s parking lot. That’s what’s coming if this plan moves forward. If the developers had to erect flags to show what was about to happen, as required in other cities like Rancho Palos Verdes, the public would already be up in arms.
Why is so much development planned? Because the Redondo Beach waterfront needs revitalizing and we never set aside funding over the years to accomplish that when the time came. But continuing the unsuccessful, cookie-cutter, piecemeal overdevelopment that Redondo is famous for is no way to go about it. Especially with a minimum of 38 acres opening up across the street at the AES power plant site.
The AES Corporation has already said they’re willing to free-up 38 acres of their 50 acre site right across the street. The City should be looking beyond shoehorning a mall into 15 acres and instead, begin a collaborative visioning process with the public, AES, and the remaining lease holders on the waterfront, revitalizing at least 53 acres, and maybe more if the power plant is not rebuilt.
The future of the waterfront of Redondo is in play, more so than it has been in 50 years. If we continue on the current path, we will end up with a mall, condos, and another power plant. Write Mayor Aspel and the rest of the City Council and tell them to stop with the current mall plans, regardless of how cool it will be to open up the Seaside Lagoon and other eye-candy the developers are offering-up with no real commitment. Lets do this right.
Bring in AES, bring in the public, bring in a facilitator and land use consultants and let’s look at the whole waterfront and plan properly. Write to the Council, the papers, or come to the City Council meeting on Tuesday, 6 p.m., October 22nd and be a part of our future.
Bill Brand
Redondo Beach City Council Member
What are school board members for?
Dear ER:
When it comes to the school board, financial experience is important, but it is not all-important – or even most important. A school district is not a business, which exists to make a profit. The purpose of a school district is the systematic fashioning of human beings. Those who think this an overstatement need only remember that most young people will spend the bulk of their most formative years in schools. Furthermore, parents expect schools to change their children and change them significantly. If there were no difference, the school would not be doing its job.
Given its role as a creative institution, the school district – and anyone aspiring to lead it – must answer three fundamental questions: What are human beings for? What kind of human shall we make? And how do we make that kind of human? To neglect the first question is akin to making tools without giving thought to their purpose. School board candidates may wish to avoid the first question because its answers are necessarily religious and philosophical (and thus politically compromising), but they unavoidably bring their commitments with them to their roles. Behind every practice there is a theory, and choices on how to spend money are ultimately influenced by board members’ ideas about what kind of student they wish to graduate, which are in turn influenced by ideas about what humans in our society are for.
The candidate who says she has no thoughts on ultimate human purpose is either hiding them or indirectly saying that humans have no purpose. Both responses are cause for concern. Disingenuousness is a bad trait in a public servant; nihilism isn’t exactly inspiring.
The school is the tool with which society changes itself, so I would also want to know how school board members define progress. Given the radical introduction of new technologies into schools, I would want their thoughts on the role of technology in enhancing and debasing human experience. The candidate who says these questions are “too deep” or “intellectual” – and thus not worthy of public discourse – may wish to devote more study to what education is before seeking to lead an educational institution. I would love to hear their thoughts.
Drew Holland
Manhattan Beach
Yes on B
Dear ER:
Hermosa residents have a unique opportunity to move from “Party Town, USA” to a more tranquil , mellow and safe environment. If you’re tired of drunk drivers racing through your street late at night with music blaring; if you’re tired of yahoos walking over your lawn yelling and trashing late at night, you need to vote YES on Measure B. This is one small step in curbing the police problems and disturbances during the late night. Our City Council says this will hurt “business” in the downtown area. How many surf shops or clothing stores stay open after midnight? They should be honest and say it will slow down the BARS. Vote for a quieter, safer place to live and raise your family. Vote YES on B.
Paul Gerhardt
Hermosa Beach
