Santa’s clock
Dear ER:
Each Christmas we look forward to the photo of Surfing Santa on the holiday cover of Easy Reader. Our children, our grandchildren, and this year our first great-grandchild enjoyed this annual South Bay tradition.
Dora and Chuck Perez-Meyer
Torrance
Harbor needs a hail Mary
Dear ER:
Take a stroll along Redondo’s aging waterfront. Within minutes it becomes painfully obvious. Vacant parking lots, dilapidated buildings, a few tourists walking around, but not much economic activity. Sure, on weekends, the Pier area is chock full of people, but many come to fish and bring sack lunches, while others frequent snow-cone and T-shirt shops. Yep, a lot of activity, but not much in it for good-ole Redondo. There are a few really successful shops and restaurants, – like R10 Social House, Najas, and The Paddle House. But for 35, prime waterfront acres, it’s not enough. To borrow a football term,“It’s time to throw deep.”
The CenterCal project will transform this malaise into an economic powerhouse. And do so in a way we can all be proud of. Our new, world-class waterfront will soon become “the place to go” for many folks all over the South Bay. New revenue will give Redondo financial options most cities only dream of. Like a $50 million pier parking structure (yes, the current one needs replacing) and the potential for higher police, firefighter and other city employee salaries. The opponent’s tired claim that it is a mall is ludicrous. Yes, they have an agenda, but it’s not in Redondo’s best interests.
Think before you blindly follow these misguided people who obviously failed Economics 101A. Redondo Beach will be the envy of the South Bay if it moves forward with this project, or the laughing stock if it doesn’t.
Thomas A. Gray
Redondo Beach
All souls prayer
Dear ER:
I’m praying for guidance for everyone involved (“Collision kills four leaving Christmas pageant,” ER Dec. 25, 2014).
Lili McLean
Hermosa Beach
Peck’s place
Dear ER:
George Peck leased the Bruces, Manhattan Beach’s first black residents, the beach property for their beach club (“Moving costs a barrier in saving historic Peck house,” Dec. 19, ERNewscom.”) It would be sweet justice if Peck’s historical home could be put on the flat, lower pad in Bruce’s Beach park.
Jane Guthrie
by Facebook
Whose oil is it, anyway
Dear ER:
“I cannot stand by while we assume all the risk and none of the benefit,” Manhattan Beach councilmember Amy Howorth said (MB officials seek more info before possible anti-oil vote, ER Dec. 25, 2014). So if Howarth were to share in the benefits of this project, then she’d support it?
Unless Manhattan Beach is willing to shell out $17.5 million for us here in Hermosa Beach, then I say, mind your own business. I support oil drilling because I care about Hermosa Beach. I am a homeowner and I have a stake in this town. I see the bigger picture and the bigger picture is that we have before us a source of revenue that will benefit the city and the residents for the 30-plus year life of the project. Opposing this project because of the potential of what may never happen is silly.
South Bay Jane
Hermosa Beach
The spin is spun
Dear ER:
E & B Natural Resources and Raymond Dussault can spin this any way they want (“Judge tosses lawsuit against anti-oil argument,” ER Dec. 25, 2014). The facts from the EIR are clear. This project has significant and unavoidable impacts to the environment. Credible science-based groups like Heal the Bay, Surfrider South Bay Chapter and the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) all oppose this project. This project has loads of risk and little financial benefit for the city and the schools. Why would you ever want to risk the health and safety of the South Bay with this type of project?
Jose Bacallao
Hermosa Beach
No sympathy
Dear ER:
Last week many voters in Hermosa Beach received a mailer about Raymond Dussault, who was recently engaged by E&B Natural Resources to front a lawsuit (by becoming the plaintiff) against the city of Hermosa Beach. Recently, Dussault said on Facebook that people who were anti-oil would have been “Nazis or sympathizers in 1938.”
The point of the mailer was not to give more publicity to the buffoonish Dussault, but to point out to Hermosa Beach residents that E&B Natural Resources, which wants to build a multi-billion dollar oil project, is so lacking in judgment that they would have someone like Dussault working for them. The question is how can residents trust a company that would do this to manage such a massive and dangerous project?
Let’s keep our eyes on the prize. E & B Natural Resources will do anything to try to win approval of Measure O.
Fred Huebscher
Hermosa Beach
No free steak
Dear ER:
If you’ve been invited to a free steak dinner by E&B Natural Resources, did you wonder why they needed to entice you with this type of offer? Wouldn’t an invitation to “hear the facts” suffice?
Many would label this type of invitation as a subtle invitation…to an obligation. When you’re offered something of value for free, there’s an expectation of quid-pro-quo.
Buying votes is not a new phenomenon. It’s been going as long as history. This is how money corrupts our decision-making process. In the case of oil in Hermosa Beach, that bought vote can be disastrous. Are you that willing to sell your future and that of your neighbors for a steak dinner? Is that steak dinner really worth risking health, property values, quality of life, noise, and more?
If you have attended these dinners, please consider spending as much time hearing the other point of view — even without a steak dinner.
Seena Sharp
Hermosa Beach
