Math lesson
Dear ER:
Hermosa Beach City School District’s problems are shared by school districts throughout California [“Hermosa schools mull stark possibilities,” ER Jan. 20, 2011]. Unfortunately we have a $25 billion state deficit along with a litany of underfunded pensions for utilities, public employees and California teachers, plus ongoing price increases for public services, college tuitions, healthcare and gasoline.
Given the dire predictions that the Hermosa Beach School District will be insolvent within two years, and because 50 to 60 percent % of parents do not donate funds to keep non-core programs, it is time for the Hermosa Beach School Board to begin to make the necessary, tough decisions.
Most of the non-core programs were added in the last 10 to 15 years with the understanding that they would be funded by parent donations. Previously to their introduction hundreds of students had graduated Hermosa Valley School without the benefits of these programs and are doing quite well today.
Some non-core items that might be considered for temporary reduction or elimination are: from the elementary school program: first through fifth grade PE teacher, K-third grade Class Size Reduction (20 kids per class), third through fifth grade science teacher. From middle school: enrichment programs totaling $177,000 (this does not include core programs such as science and language arts, etc.), a technology director costing $123,675, and a superintendent for two schools costing $182,790.
Let us hope that in the next several years our economy will improve to the point that we are able to reinstate non-core programs.
Miyo Prassas
Hermosa Beach
Wake up!
Dear ER:
I attended the HBCSD strategic planning committee meeting this past Wednesday night [“Hermosa schools mull stark possibilities,” ER Jan. 20, 2011]. The committee informed us that in two years the Hermosa Beach City School District will be bankrupt.
There were about 70 very concerned citizens in the audience. Where were you? Where is the community of Hermosa Beach? What are you and your neighbors doing to save our schools?
The options are very clear. Either we all come together and support our schools or we merge with another district, at best. If we lose our school district, we risk losing our identity as a city, and we incur unknown risks and costs that come with these mergers and in the end compromise the integrity of our community.
Get out to the next meeting, get involved and help save our schools and our community. Wake up Hermosa!
Jose Bacallao
Hermosa Beach
Guns by the slice
Dear ER:
I thought that South Bay Open Carry was some sort of elaborate Theater of the Absurd, fearlessly exploring the boundaries between the artificial and the real, but given the amount of press they receive, perhaps I was wrong [“Group protests Open Carry pizza dinner,” ER Jan. 27, 2011].
Still, you can see how I got the idea – their mission is to assert their right to self-defense, and they do it in one of the safest areas of southern California. How Dada is that? It’s like asserting your right to free speech by yelling at your TV in the safety of your own home.
If they were serious, wouldn’t they go assert their rights a few miles east of us, or would that be too real for them? Frankly, with protestors dying for their rights in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen, seeing these tough guys eating their (Brooklyn! – no CPK for them!) pizza with their guns tucked under their bellies is a little embarrassing.
David New
Manhattan Beach
Guns II
Dear ER:
Thank you so much for covering the issue of “Open Carry” in Manhattan Beach [“Group protests Open Carry pizza dinner,” ER Jan. 27, 2011].
Excellent journalism is critical for an informed public. Andrea did a great job and I admire her courage for dealing with all the open carry folks, especially because many were trying to intimidate people.
Suzanne Verge
President, Los Angeles Chapter
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
Flophouses
Dear ER:
Billed as flophouses for the rich and famous and peddled worldwide on the web, vacation rentals are classified as hotels in Hermosa and illegal in residential areas, but that doesn’t stop their money-hungry concierges from offering these frat houses for the flip-flopped and flipped out to the highest bidder.
Hotbeds for bedbugs, theses crash pads for hodads with the DTs operate around the clock with the sophistication of a crime ring and have sprung up all over the place like stinkweeds metastasizing into black market enterprises and wreaking havoc in our cul-de-sacs as their “guests” drink themselves stupid, howl at the moon, then wretch into our verandas.
Our sun-baked potentates at City Hall say there is little they can do besides write a cease and desist letter and cross their fingers; besides, who can expect the orderly administration of civic duties when they only work three or four days a week depending on whether there’s a holiday.
Maybe, what’s needed is a grassroots movement to stomp these stinkweeds out.
Dominic Mance
Hermosa Beach
Great man
Dear ER:
What a great story, what a great man [“Tony’s Secret War: The Redondo pier’s godfather and his unheralded heroics in WWII,” ER Jan. 20, 2011].
I cry when I remember Tony, he was an honest, humble, fair, straight boss, and carried himself with pride, treated people the way he would want to be treated. He’d stand up for you if you needed some backup, didn’t forget where he came from. (They don’t make men and women like that anymore, but it’s worth striving for.)
He was worth knowing. He made us love coming to work, made us proud to be part of Tony’s. It’s an honor to say I worked for and with Tony for 30 years. Now that’s he’s gone, it’s not the same. He was loved and will be missed.
Teri Figaro-Nicolette
Web comment
With gratitude
Dear ER:
Incredible Story! Something out of a movie. Thank you Mr. Trutanich for all you did for us. We will never truly understand or grasp what you went through.
Ania Biniecki
Web comment
Lift a glass
Dear ER:
I fought to read this though a stream of tears! It has inspired me to go over to Tony’s tomorrow evening and have a drink in honor of his exemplary service – but I’ll have to call ahead and make certain Billy has enough bar naps just in case another flood comes!
God Bless Tony,
Patrick Tierney
Web comment
For the birds
Dear ER:
Regarding the “Birdman of Manhattan” feeding the pigeons – bless him [“Birdman of Manhattan,” ER Jan. 20, 2011]! Mr. Hallahan is hurting no one, helping many, cleans up completely after his visits and is a true treasure! Thank you, Mr. Hallahan. Too bad there are not more like him in our increasingly insensitive city.
Susan Harris
Manhattan Beach
Birds redux
Dear ER:
There are pigeons in my neighborhood and in the 30 or so years I have lived here, I have never found a pigeon nest anywhere on my property.
William W. Powell
Manhattan Beach
In elegy
Dear ER:
Thank you for your wonderful tribune to John Olguin [“An elegy for the Ancient Mariner,” ER Jan. 27, 2011].
Your reporter Bondo Wyszpolski truly captured how approachable an individualist John was. The expression “there are no bad ideas” makes me think of John’s talent for reasoning as a team member whose generosity was only satisfied when others benefit.
John was vigilant to helping humanity. John was respectful to listening, he was never stingy with an opportunity to give approval.
What Dora and I remember best was how, with enjoyment, John conversed with youngsters. Dora and I would take our three granddaughters to San Pedro’s First Thursday art walk (truly, every great man like John has a creative wife), our granddaughters particularly enjoyed Muriel Olguin’s studio where her lyrical fantasias on large canvasses with spicy colors spread upon the walls like welcome mats; our granddaughters would imagine walking into Muriel’s world. Our granddaughters were just at that age with being fascinated by the mysteries of water; John knowing water gave them his firsthand information. Today, their water sport abilities I attribute to John’s sharing his inexhaustible knowledge of water with them.
John is our mentor, his memory is in good company. Last Thursday night as we drove across the long bridge that connects Long Beach to San Pedro, the only bridge beautified by blue lights, our granddaughters reminded us “this is John’s bridge.”
Chuck n’ Dora
