Candidate pushes on
Dear ER:
Thank you, Redondo Beach District 3 voters for your support and encouragement throughout this election (“Horvath wins recount; Nafissi to sue,” ER June 4, 20154). Your overwhelming generosity and kindness has left me speechless. To the dozens of volunteers who joined me every single weekend, made calls, hosted meet and greets and last but not least believed in me every step of the way—Thank you. To the nearly 175 residents who financially supported my campaign, whether it was $5 or $100, I am deeply humbled by each donation. To my husband, my children and my family, I love you so much for understanding the importance of this work.
I have reviewed all the materials for this election and uncovered numerous inconsistencies that gave me great cause for concern, such as the Redondo Beach City Clerk mailing ballots to Texas, the Philippines, San Pedro, non-Redondo Beach P.O. boxes and elsewhere and refusal to count ballots postmarked on or before the May 12th election date, to name a few. Nothing about our democratic process is more important than the accuracy, integrity and completeness of our elections.
I owe it to you, and we owe it to each other, to see this through until we achieve satisfaction that our City elections process is fixed where flawed, the City is held accountable if negligent, and perpetrators of wrongdoing, if proven, suffer the legal consequences of their behavior.
I am with you, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for standing with me, and with our fellow residents.
Candace Allen Nafissi, MPA
Redondo Beach City Council candidate for District 3
Redondo Beach
Hard to believe
Dear ER:
I thought your readers should be aware that someone is writing really stupid letters to the editor and signing Miyo Prassas’s name to them. (OK, maybe I’m being too sarcastic here, but I have a hard time believing that anyone takes her letters seriously).”
Greg Breen
Hermosa Beach
Grasping for straw clues
Dear ER:
On Tuesday May 26, my crew and I were entered in a sailboat regatta out of Redondo Beach Yacht Club. The regatta was held a two to three miles offshore.My boat Priorities is a 30 foot racing sloop built in 1983. We were sailing to weather in 12 – 15 knots of breeze with a moderate swell of three feet. We attached our spinnaker bag to the leeward side of the boat as we approached the windward racing mark. The latitude and longitude from our GPS system at this point of the course was: 330 49’ 49.9” N. We were taking some waves over our leeward side of the boat but nothing out of the ordinary.
As we rounded the weather mark we set our spinnaker and immediately noticed that there were large globs of oil on the spinnaker. At this point I had no idea how the oil got there. The crew surveyed the situation and noticed a large glob of crude oil on the spinnaker bag. Obviously, it floated on to the bag as we were healed over while going to weather. Also, when we lowered the headsail down on the deck, as we rounded the mark crude oil got on my new Dacron headsail. When we arrived back at the dock after the race other sailors competing commented seeing large globs of oil on the course with some of them holding a considerable amount of straw.
I am assuming the straw is used as a method of containing the spread of the liquid crude. Finding straw in some of these globs of oil supports the theory that the source of the oil had to be from efforts to contain from Refugio oil spill. I have heard of no local efforts to contain an oil spill in our local waters. As everyone knows this oil invaded our local beaches by the middle of the day on Wednesday. Being a chemist, I believe an analysis of the crude on my sail could easily verify the source of this crude. I have taken samples of the oil off my sails and have offered them to the All American Pipeline Company.
Robert C. Cole
Rancho Palos Verdes
Birdman banned
Dear ER:
The January 20, 2011 issue had a delightful article, “Birdman of Manhattan,” by Julia Murphy, with photos by Taso Papadakis, describing my daily visits to the Manhattan Beach Pier to feed the pier pigeons, a practice I began May 31, 2000 after witnessing the birds’ starving. Today, with their health restored through regular feedings and waterings, they are facing a perilous future, because I have been ordered to stop feeding them.
On June 5, a Manhattan Beach code-enforcement officer politely told me to quit, saying the city had received a complaint and that the feedings created a health hazard. She gave me a paper stating that “Feeding, or causing to be fed, any wild birds… where such feeding creates any unsanitary condition…” as illegal.
Respecting the order, I have stopped, so the birds now must feed themselves or die, causing a genuine health hazard. Why the city has tolerated my feeding them for 15 years, only to cite a complaint and health concerns now, is bewildering, and ultimately abusive of the birds.
If your readers want to know why the pier feedings have stopped, this letter has the answer. If they want to know what to do, they can ask Manhattan Beach officials to restore my 15-minute daily visits. And if they live near the pier, they can put some feed and water in their yards for disoriented, hungry, thirsty birds made so by the city.
Richard Hallahan
Redondo Beach
50 acres to go
Dear ER:
Right now there are 50 acres of the most pristine coastal land in California with an unknown future. The possibilities include a new power plant, a battery manufacturing plant, a condo project or a nature conservatory.
Which one would you like?
I want a nature preserve on the entire 50 acres. How we use the 50 acres will define who we are and our culture. We can’t allow ourselves to be backed up against the wall and accept condos. In the 1970s, there was a saying, “Save Redondo, Nuke a Condo”. Herondo is now a single lane road each way.
How could we even consider more condos?
Both the City of Hermosa Beach and the City of Redondo Beach have passed a resolution opposing a new Power Plant. Exposure to particulate emissions causes twice as many deaths per year in California than Breast Cancer. They also increase the risk of everything from asthma to heart attacks.
A new powerplant will generate 1.5 million tons of greenhouse gases per year. Thats more than 10 times what the entire city of Hermosa Beach generates per year.According to AES’ application, particulate emissions may rise from 3.3 to 49.7 tons per year and exceed the State standard for concentration in our air.
A Power Plant is in direct contradiction to the general plan of the city of Hermosa Beach.Although this land is across the street from Hermosa Beach, air pollution, cancer/asthma risks know no city boundaries. I have been told the land value is approximately $200 million. This is not out of reach.
We need to focus on finding Government Grants, Land Conservancy Donations and things of that nature, not raise taxes. Condos will actually cause a loss of income to the city as they will devalue the existing property, as will a battery plant or a power plant.
The decisions we make at this moment with will determine the quality of our children’s health, the health of the Santa Monica Bay, tourism, our economy, culture, property values and coastal access.
Betsy Ryan
Hermosa Beach
Billions down the toilet
Dear ER:
For years, some folks saw this day coming but the Democrats in Sacramento offered little or no solutions. Many of us suggested and begged for reservoirs or water desalinators to be built. Carlsbad is building one and Santa Barbara area has one. Had this project been started eight to 10 years ago, we wouldn’t be having the crisis we are experiencing today.
Also, lest I forget , the dumping of billions, yes billions of gallons of good, fresh water by Sacramento, to save a three- inch fish that may not even be a native and could be dealt with without such a monumental waste of water. Stop the insane train, stop voting for the same people who have run this state very badly for the last 40 years and build the reservoirs.
Gary Mlynek
Redondo Beach
Dear Editor:
Under cover of sessions closed to the public, the Manhattan Beach City Council agreed to a termination dispute Settlement Agreement with its at-will Director of Human Resources, Cathy Hanson. The cost to our taxpayers approximated $100,000 in payments to Ms. Hanson and, my estimates of an additional $40,000 if paid while on administrative leave and $30,000 for staff and legal fees. Information to the public was limited to a terse three-sentence statement by the city attorney.
As one of multiple dozens of at-will city employees, mostly managers, the MBCC could have terminated Ms. Hanson without cause. The council has deliberately obfuscated whether it fired her or asked for her resignation. Nevertheless, Ms. Hanson engaged an attorney to litigate a settlement. In this instance, the council accommodated rather than trial in Superior Court. Why? The agreement provides no answers, nor does it explain why it failed to retrieve a city-owned computer Ms. Hanson kept in her possession during the three-month litigation.
There are legal exemptions to discharge of at-will employees due to negligence, mismanagement, or criminal acts by the employer. The MBCC has not responded to my request for a public hearing allowing the public to determine to what extent these exemptions led to the surrendering to Ms. Hanson’s demands.
As a blinded Al Pacino stated in the morally uplifting movie, “Scent of a Woman,” “I’m in the dark here.” To be morally responsible, the MBCC must lead us from the dark of the Hanson shadows. (For the Settlement Agreement and information on at-will exemptions, contact me at eccphd@aol.com.)
Sincerely,
Edward C. Caprielian, Ph.D.
