It pays to be (carbon) neutral
Experts hired by the city of Hermosa Beach have proved that Hermosa Beach could be the beneficiary of hundreds of millions of dollars by making the investment to be a Carbon Neutral City (a city that harvests as much renewable energy as it uses). Additionally, the experts have reported to the city council that the cost of getting there is discounted by as much as $40 million by making the effort to be one of the first Carbon Neutral Cities in California. And they agreed that Hermosa has a competitive advantage in getting there first.
The experts did not even include the economic benefits related to branding, tourism or the health benefits of reduced heart disease, lung disease and cancer.
These benefits are significant and will bring investment, revenue and a lower cost structure to our city. Please contact our city council members and let them know we need their leadership on this issue now.
Robert Fortunato
Hermosa Beach
Arigato
We would like to thank the Hermosa Beach Police for their assistance and kindness with a difficult situation. An elderly gentleman only speaking Japanese and seeming lost wandered past our house. We called the police and they arrived and with great sensitivity and care helped him find the home from which he had wandered. We were very grateful for their help since my very limited Japanese was not enough to understand him. Our thanks to the officers who were so caring.
Joan M. Arias
Hermosa Beach
Do the math
No one disputes that the Hermosa Beach School District has severe overcrowding. This situation was repeatedly discussed during the recent campaign for Measure Q. If Measure Q passes (or another school bond), it will take at least three years before any new buildings are ready to be used. However, during the campaign no solutions were proposed on how to solve the overcrowding problem in the short term. I know that many districts have switched to year-round schools to alleviate overcrowding. It makes perfect sense since currently the buildings are not used for approximately three months each year. I realize that year-round schools inconvenience parents because of travel plans, summer camps and afterschool care. On the other hand, I am sure parents would prefer that their children are educated in a less crowded atmosphere. And finally, there have been a number of studies showing that year-round schools provide a better education. This is because there are shorter vacation breaks so kids forget less from one semester to another. I hope that our School District will seriously consider this reasonable short-term solution.
Fred Huebscher
Hermosa Beach
Hermosa’s dense planners
Do you want increased building density in Hermosa Beach? That question should have been specifically asked of residents at Hermosa’s General Plan workshop last Thursday by the outside planning consultants. Instead, it only appeared on a posters asking if we should “Allow apartments above some commercial uses.”
It makes me wonder if higher density is already predetermined..
Another poster asked, should we “Create slow speed lanes for bikes?” We could use a table map to show where. So now residents and city interactions over years to minimize bike paths get ignored?
Then as a mind blower, they asked if we wanted “big box” retailer like Walmart in our quaint little seaside town. Why aren’t we using our local planners instead of paying an outside company? Nevertheless, the city needs to mail out a survey of all the questions plus new ones specifically asking our feelings on density increase before any decisions are made so everyone gets a say.
Mark Hopkins
Hermosa Beach
