The parking Grinch
My mother-in-law just got a ticket for apparently not being within her marked spot. She believes she was in it, but that is not the point of this letter. She is staying with us because my father-in-law is in intensive care at Cedars. It’s been a tough month and getting a ticket for possibly having her tire over a marker during the holidays seems a bit of overkill. It was likely because of the large force of meter maids out looking for tickets because of the holiday fireworks in Manhattan Beach. Well done, Hermosa, your tiny hearts would make the Grinch proud.
Michael W. Ayotte
Hermosa Beach
Taking the drive out of Beach Drive
Hermosa’s council appears prepared to give away the city’s important right-of-way easement, Beach Drive. At least two councilmembers, Michael DiVirgilio and Carolyn Petty, apparently also see no problem in having a 45-foot tall, 120-room hotel downtown that’s 50 percent taller than the proposed Clash hotel on Hermosa Avenue.
Hermosa’s council would be foolish, without a people’s vote, to cavalierly give away any more air or other rights over narrow Beach Drive for the purpose of constructing bigger monolith-hotels downtown. Beach Drive is the only remaining open space in Hermosa’s downtown for creating a more interesting village ambiance with “Old-World” pathways to shops.
Howard Longacre
Hermosa Beach
Black gold a silver lining
Like many Hermosa residents and parents of children in our local public school system, I was disappointed that Measure Q failed. But a silver lining appeared when the Hermosa Beach City Council voted to allow voters to consider E&B Natural Resources’ proposal to give millions of dollars to our schools.
The opponents of oil recovery don’t want oil revenues to fund our schools because they believe that it will make it easier for voters to say yes on Measure O, (the March 3, 2015 ballot measure that will ask voters to lift the city’s ban on oil drilling).
We are lucky to have that choice. Most communities don’t have alternatives. If they need more funds for local schools, taxes must be raised. Many fortunate cities like Beverly Hills, Long Beach and Huntington Beach have put oil royalties to good use. We can too.
That’s why I’m glad that the City Council agreed to include the 1 percent royalty on all oil and gas produced for the Education Foundation in the development agreement and that they trust the voters to make the choice.
I’ve made my choice. I choose to take advantage of a fortunate situation and improve our schools for generations to come.
Martha Logan
Hermosa Beach
Shoulda, coulda, woulda
The oil and gas drilling company that is seeking to drill 30 oil wells and four wastewater injection wells into the middle of our Hermosa Beach community is upping the ante in their reckless advertising campaign.
Their latest advertisement has increased the amount of money that they say, “could,” be given to the schools. Given their “one percent to an education foundation” proposal, this new number seems completely false – especially in the face of the financial freefall currently happening to the price of oil.
The next time you see an ad from the oil and gas drilling company, do the math. Their numbers are not based on the independent cost benefit analysis. They hide themselves from responsibility by using words like, “could,” “might,” and, “may.”
Their promises are speculation at best. They are asking us to assume 100 percent of the disruption, risk, and change to our community, while they sit back and collect the potential revenue from this ill-advised project.
Brace yourself for the onslaught of misleading advertisements that the oil and gas drilling company will spread throughout our community.
On March 3, 2015, please join your neighbors in protecting Hermosa Beach by voting No on Measure O.
Mike Collins
Hermosa Beach
Waterfront development’s missing link
Redondo Beach City Council members who support the Redondo waterfront mall tell us that this development will be the opportunity of a lifetime to finally create a place where Redondo citizens can congregate and collectively enjoy the beauty of the harbor. While perhaps well meaning, they just have it wrong.
This cookie cutter solution uses real estate developers to design a geographical and historical landmark that has important meaning to local residents. This approach uses a design process that completely leaves out the people who have close connection with the waterfront: local residents, kayakers, outrigger enthusiasts, boaters, runners, cyclists, walkers, sightseers, fisherman, the young and the old who come to the waterfront for recreation and to enjoy the beauty that the ocean has to offer. Building a cookie cutter waterfront mall at the harbor is an ill suited solution that neither honors this sense of place nor is it economically sustainable.
What will be the result? Deep disconnect from local realities, low participation rates, and significant waste. The solution to creating a place where the residents of Redondo Beach can congregate is not a cookie cutter development but a community engaged plan that involves input from the citizenry.
Sheila W. Lamb
