Letters 12-31-09
Coals to Newcastle
Dear ER
Here’s a Sand Dune Park solution (“Sand Dune neighbors plead for rest”). Build a sand dune at the north end of El Porto. Two dozers could do it very quickly. It might not be as tall as Sand Dune Park, but it would be a good work-out:
- There is plenty of parking in the lot
- It’s Far enough away from houses that noise shouldn’t be a problem
- It could be a PR bonanza for Manhattan Beach. Media everywhere would carry the story and photos
- It could drive some business downtown
- It would be a great workout spot, that’s why people have flocked to the Sand Dune for years
Ed Kushins
Hermosa Beach
Salt in the story
Dear ER:
My experience with mar’sel was not so great (High on the hill,” ER/Beach 12/17/2009). In fact, it was one of the worst meals I’ve ever had. I knew something was wrong when the kid at the front desk gave us directions on how to actually find the restaurant. My wife and I had quite an “over the hill and across the dale” adventure including two elevator rides and a march around the pool and up some steps. A simple “follow the path from the entrance” would have gotten us there in minutes. It was windy and raining that night and by the time we got to the restaurant we were soaked.
The reviewer is right, the recipes are overly complicated. However I would also like to add over salted as well. My main course was salted to the point that it was nearly inedible.
I would like to balance my criticism by saying that the appetizers were wonderful and the service was the best I have ever had in a local restaurant.
Mar’sel, though will have to do more if it wants a second visit from me. Start by tossing the salt shaker in the trash.
Don Diller
Torrance
Toy Drive keeps on going
Dear ER:
On behalf of my entire Beach Cities Toy Drive Committee, I would like to thank everyone who donated a toy, wrote a check or wrapped toys until they dropped at our 17th Annual Beach Cities Toy drive event, which culminated in the collection of approximately 4,000 toys for underprivileged children in Los Angeles. We collect these toys from charitable folks in the Beach Cities who drop them off at the Hermosa and Manhattan Beach fire stations. From there, they are transferred to a huge sea container, which is finally emptied for the wrapping party where the toys are transferred at our annual gala event. It is a day and a place where people stroll in, get abducted, are ordered to wrap, eat and be merry all at the same time. How we get away with it every year is a miracle. All of the toys, save a small number, are wrapped distributed to recognized charities such as the 1736 House, Richstone Family Center, UCLA Child Crisis Center, LA County Toy Loan Program and the Good Shepard Center for Women. About 100 people came to the Community Center Gym in Hermosa this year, wrapped toys, got to see old friends and left exhausted with warm souls and deserving of our praise. But I am also told, as am a witness, that people come to wrap in part for the incredible food that is donated every year by Sharkeez, The Mermaid, Sangria, Patrick Malloy’s, Mediterraneo, Pancho’s, Cantina Real and other local restaurants. As far as wrappers and cash givers to buy toys went, we were especially grateful to be aided once again by the Women’s Club of Hermosa and the junior Kiwanians, otherwise known as the Builder’s Club. Doctor Warren Barr won the annual oldest Beach Cities Toy Drive Tee shirt contest by sporting a classic 1994 shirt designed by the late Dallas Yost of Screenprint. We are still looking for even rarer Yost 1993 model (only 50 were made that first year in 1992).
Last, a special thanks goes out to Hermosa Cyclery which, for another straight year, donated 30 brand new bicycles. Now that’s insane, but incredibly nice. It is truly heart warming to know that some kid in LA that would otherwise do without was given one of those new bikes for Christmas.
See you at the Joslyn Center in Manhattan Beach with a toy next year.
Sam Y. Edgerton, III
Hermosa Beach
Suit support
Dear ER:
Redondo Planning Commissioner Ray Benning calls for Redondo Councilman Bill Brand to represent, not sue the City of Redondo Beach Suit (ER letters, Dec. 24, 2009). He implies the votes for Measure DD do not represent the majority of Redondo. Benning ignores how ballots work. But, putting that aside, Measure DD received more votes in each district than the councilman representing that district by a margin of two to one, and in the worse case, by a margin of five to one. Measure DD received twice as many votes across the city as Mayor Gin. Measure DD received more votes than any vote in Redondo history. What other evidence does Benning require?
So when Bill Brand gives the city the option to put the addition of 400,000 square feet of additional development capacity in our harbor to a vote of the people or face a lawsuit, he is representing Redondo. He is also representing the law that is our city charter.
Would Benning have Brand stand by and accept an illegal action by our city? Does he really believe that residents do not want to vote on the massive harbor upzoning?
I support Bill Brand, and if our city ignores its charter, I support a lawsuit. In fact, I’ve already sent my donation to www.buildingabetter redondo.org. Also I wish to thank Brand for being an unusual councilman — one who actually does what he says he’ll do once in office.
Florence Swiger
Redondo Beach
A free ride
Dear ER:
Over the holiday season there are many parties, and in the next month many football games with celebratory get togethers that usually include alcohol. The Lev Foundation was started in memory of a young man who died in an alcohol related accident. They provide a limited number of $10 vouchers for those who will be out drinking and should not drive home. Those interested can Google: www.LEVfoundation.org/rides, for info and/or voucher apps. You can also help out by making sure others don’t drink to excess, or DUI.
Willy Leventhal
Manhattan Beach
Year of the vegan
Dear ER:
A novelty only 30 years ago, meat-free diets are rapidly becoming the fashion for people who care about their family’s and their planet’s health. Here are recent indicators:
According to U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of animals killed for food in the U.S. this year is expected to drop by six percent from 2008.
Jonathan Foer’s “Eating Animals” and two other vegan books have made the bestseller list.
Meat industry expose “Food, Inc.” is being considered for an Oscar nomination.
Cargill, ConAgra, and other animal butchering empires, have launched a number of vegan food products.
In March, the respected National Cancer Institute reported that people who ate the most red meat were “most likely to die from cancer, heart disease and other causes.”
In July, the conservative American Dietetic Association has affirmed that “vegetarian and vegan diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases.”
In the November World Watch magazine, two World Bank scientists have claimed that meat production may account for more than half of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.
The dawn of the New Year is a great time to explore the new dietary fashion and all the delicious, healthful vegan foods in our supermarkets.
Jack Matler
Hermosa Beach
Zaba daba
Dear ER:
I enjoyed the story on Jerry Solomon (“Open wide and say, ‘Mmmmmm!’”). However, I’d like to point out an error: the spelling of that Italian dessert you raved about is “zabaglione.” My mother (Italian family name Geronimo) used to make it when I was a kid.
Jim Halloran
Redondo Beach
First things first
Dear ER:
Redondo Beach Planning Commissioner Ray Benning’s numbers were not correct (ER letters, Dec. 24, 2009). Measure DD passed because 58 percent of the participating voters cast “Yes votes”. (17,412 Yes votes versus 12,241 No votes). When trying to compare the 58 percent of participating voters to the number of registered voters, he is using “fuzzy” math, basically comparing apples to oranges.
Councilman Bill Brand is the only one on the City Council looking out for the residents and small businesses of Redondo Beach and the Harbor Area (his district). If the redevelopment of the pier, boardwalk, and harbor area is of such a widespread public concern, then the City Council should have no problem allowing the public to vote for the rezoning they are trying to give to Decron Properties in the harbor area. What the City Council doesn’t want is to let this out into a public debate because what they are trying to do is basically re-do the Heart of the City under a different name. I have no problem with re-development and revitalization of the harbor area. What I do have a problem with is the thought that the city will manage that harbor area better than they have managed the existing Pier, Boardwalk, and Harbor area commercial areas. Let’s fix those areas first by utilizing the existing business store fronts before letting a big corporation puts in new buildings (and new problems) in the parking lot on Harbor Drive.
Small business owner
Redondo Beach
Going away gift
Dear ER:
Manhattan Beach residents received an unexpected gift for Christmas: City Manager Geoff Dolan was suddenly stripped from his job by “mutual agreement” with the city council (“City manager resigns after 15 years, ER Dec. 17, 2009). During his 15 year watch, we’ve gotten a useless, money-consuming Metlox mall; a ridiculously expensive — while absolutely unnecessary — undergrounding project (that forced old folks out of town); rotten water and sewer pipes (that’ll cost us a fortune in the coming years); a blooming AVP sex show for beer drinkers; “green” baloney (a la Al Gore) all over the City Hall, and finally, inflated salaries for local government employees while the country is in a deep recession and has a record high unemployment.
During the same tenure, Dolan’s own salary elevated from $100,000 to the level we pay to the second VIP in the country (although, thinking of the current VP, I’m not sure who deserves it less: hapless Dolan or the embarrassing chatterbox in close proximity to the White House).
The above gift was, in my view, undeserved by the residents: “We, the people”, unmistakably elect spineless invertebrates to the city council who obediently followed for many years the lead of the incompetent manager and endorsed, often unanimously, all his “achievements.”
Yury Gurvich
Manhattan Beach