Leave the lights on
Dear ER:
Insane (“Power outage,” ER September 24, 2015)! We just spent a year with planned and mostly unplanned power outages to fix these equipment problems.
Lyn Coveleski Fisher
Website comment
Put tourists in their place
Dear ER:
I prefer tourists at the new hotels rather than next door, thanks to AirBNB (“Beachfront Boutique Hotel Bonanza,” ER September 24, 2015).
Tom French
Website comment
No bonanza
Dear ER:
“More income is good for everybody,” according to Grand View Inn owner Amish Desai (“Beachfront boutique hotel bonanza,” ER September 24, 2015). Not true. The pursuit of maximum income and selling it as increasing public revenues is misleading. All of these developments will also bring greater public outlays for increased infrastructure and services and exposure to financial risk. How much is our quality of life and waterfront view worth? People already deride “ReCondo Beach” as being ugly due to inappropriate and view-blocking overdevelopment. Shall we continue the trend by following developer-driven leads or work with those leaders who are supporting citizen input-driven plans?
Sara Burns
Website comment
Redondo reversal
Dear ER:
Why are we blaming the long lack of tourism on the hospitality industry’s neglect (“Beachfront boutique hotel bonanza,” ER September 24, 2015)? Redondo Beach has always stood firm against encouraging tourism, sticking instead to its reputation as an oasis for local families. I gather the Redondo city council is changing that policy.
Vienne Felix
Website comment
El Segundo not immune
Dear ER:
It is ironic that editor Mark McDermott addressed the balance of commercial/industrial and residential complexes in El Segundo (“The Surge in El Segundo,” ER September 10, 2015). Buried in the article is the notion that property taxes are insufficient to cover the city’s yearly expenses. Even with the ratio of El Segundo’s residential to commercial/industrial complexes, El Segundo was not immune to the Great Recession. It had to reduce its workforce. It is unfortunate that the news media do not make people aware that the property taxes do not cover all the city expenses.
George Ikeda
Redondo Beach
Plenty to drink
Dear ER:
Barsha wine shop owner Adnen Marouani should embrace the proposed high-end Gelson’s grocery store (“Local stores worry about Gelson’s project,” ER Sept. 24, 2015). My decision to sit down at Barsha, taste a few wines and go home with a bottle or two will absolutely not be impacted by a grocery store down the street. Sure, I can get wine at either store, but neither one will dissuade me from shopping at the other. Marouani’s way of thinking sounds a little selfish to me. There are plenty of residents to shop at both stores.
Lorie Armendariz
Website comment
Corral your bike enthusiasm
Dear ER:
On behalf of the Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau, I would like to thank Hermosa Cyclery, Beach Cities Cycling Club and South Bay Bicycle Coalition for their support of Fiesta Hermosa.
They offer free bike valet service and onsite diagnostic check-ups just south of the Hermosa Beach Pier both fiesta weekends. Demand for the bike valet has become so popular that it is a logistic consideration for almost every event in Hermosa.
What started out in 2010 as an idea by Hermosa Cyclery’s Steve Collins now offers valet parking for nearly 4,000 bikes each fiesta weekend. The valet encourages attendees to leave their cars at home, jump on their bikes and ride to the event, knowing that they can park bikes securely for free, reducing parking congestion and advancing the Hermosa’s carbon neutrality initiatives.
Kimberlee MacMullan
President / CEO
Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau
A wolf in sheep’s clothing
Dear ER:
Trent Larson openly campaigned for Measure O putting the health and safety of Hermosa Beach at great risk.
Now Trent Larson wants to sweep this part of his history under the rug.
What will Trent Larson do when the next company comes to town waving cash and promising the world if only he would sell out our great community….again?
Don’t trust a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Scott Frantz
Hermosa Beach
Well oiled team
Dear ER:
A month from now we will be voting for new leadership on the Hermosa Beach City Council. Two individuals, Ken Hartley and Trent Larsen, are trying hard to get a council seat. These two individuals were big supporters of Measure O and proponents for E&B Oil. Hartley was a paid servant of E&B Oil. Do be fooled. E&B Oil still has a lease for drilling in Hermosa Beach. Pro-oil candidates like Hartley and Larsen have no business leading our cIty. Their support of oil drilling is proof they will sell us out to E&B Oil. Please do not let Hartley and Larsen, the E&B Oil Team, fool you.
Jose Bacallao
Hermosa Beach
Justin’s time
Dear ER:
Hermosa faces over $100 million in unfunded capital projects, piled up on the long watch of the council member seeking reelection. Unless we elect leaders with a plan to pay for these projects, we will lose control over how often the City reaches into our pockets.
I have a plan to cut costs, build revenue, and invest in moving Hermosa forward. Regrettably, that task begins with correcting some bad decisions of prior City Councils. For example, the Council burned through about $5 million in legal fees over roughly a decade before signing a settlement with MacPherson Oil. Despite the defeat of Measure O, it hasn’t slammed the door on oil drilling in Hermosa and and may even have opened the door to a lawsuit by E&B. We should have gotten a better settlement earlier and at lower cost, allowing us to spend some of that $5 million on renovating our police or fire stations, upgrade our parks, and any number of other important projects.
We can manage our legal costs better by doing what prior councils failed to do: Going out to bid for city attorney services. Regular bidding for service contracts is standard practice in public agencies, and maximizes tax dollars. Our city attorney billed the city an average of $240,000 a year over the last six years, but has not competed for the job in about 20 years. He may be the best person for the job, but we won’t know that until we see who else wants the job, how qualified they are and what they will cost.
I ask for your vote for City Council on November 3rd.
Justin Massey
Hermosa Beach
Benign neglect
Dear ER:
Can anyone tell me why so many of the large new homes along The Strand in Manhattan Beach are not being maintained? I walked this area some time ago and there were a lot of beautiful large new homes. Now many of the same homes are falling into disrepair. I’m curious about why this is happening and if the city can do anything about it.
Victoria
Aptos
Hermosa forfeiture proposal
Dear ER:
Hermosa’s city manager insisted on personally managing the investigation into the community-damaging abuse of power by his police chief, despite strong desires by some council members to step in. In doing so, he had the opportunity to rebuild community trust by 1. admitting the series of multi-level management failures that enabled such politically-motivated abuse of power; 2. taking visible disciplinary action to address the misdeeds; and 3. openly defining corrective processes and policies to a prevent recurrence.
Instead, a drawn out, $30,000 investigation was followed only by the city manager’s brief apology letter, posted a full six months after the alleged incident. And that letter apologized only for the inclusion of one specific statement in an associated letter sent to the Chamber of Commerce by the police chief (condemning a chamber board member for alleged actions, and suggesting immediate disciplinary action by the chamber).
Hermosa’s city manager and police chief specifically chose not to apologize for sending that highly inappropriate letter, not to apologize for the accusation itself (which the investigation concluded to be unfounded) and not to apologize for the series of multi-level management failures that set the stage for such significant, lasting damage to both the community and one of its well respected members.
This clear opportunity to rebuild broken trust was also grossly mismanaged, with Hermosa’s city manager and police chief instead earning the city an unfortunate but well-deserved lawsuit. Seems only fair that the certain healthy payout be deducted from their generous compensation.
Gerry O’Connor
Manhattan Beach
Home grown talent
Dear ER:
I would like to give applause to an amazing event, “South Bay’s Got Talent,” which I had the honor of judging this past weekend. It’s organized by Christian Wolf with talent from all over the South Bay, from young to old. What a wonderful opportunity to showcase just what we have here, from stand up comedians to dancers, singers, instrumentalists and even composers.
Judy Garland
Hermosa Beach
