Wyland’s Mayors Challenge
Dear ER:
I want to thank our residents and businesses who took the Wyland Mayors Challenge pledge to conserve water and reduce waste. This award honors everyone in Hermosa Beach who pledged to protect our oceans and the environment for future generations. In the past year Hermosa Beach has taken steps to protect the ocean and our environment, including building two award-winning urban runoff and storm systems that capture and filter polluted water before it reaches the ocean. Both of these projects received awards from the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the American Public Works Association. Hermosa Beach will continue to identify opportunities to promote water conservation. The city has pledged to become carbon neutral and continues to look for opportunities to fulfill that pledge. Thanks to the Wyland Foundation for the honor of being named “California’s Greenest City.”
Hermosa Beach faces a larger challenge of how to save our Hermosa Beach School District. I hope that all residents and businesses in Hermosa Beach will make a pledge to support our school district. The community of Hermosa Beach has taken a pledge to save our environment but now the community must take a pledge to save our schools for the future generations.
Peter Tucker
Mayor, Hermosa Beach
Tucker’s tack on schools
Dear ER:
Mayor Peter Tucker seems to deluding himself again. Now he’s saying that “the community of Hermosa Beach…must take a pledge to save our schools for the future generations.” This is the same man who voted against our City giving $100,000 to the school district a few years back. I guess Tucker doesn’t believe that the “community” is the same as the “city.” It’s time for him to put his money where his mouth is: Support giving at least $100,000 of city funds to the city’s school district.
Fred Huebscher
Hermosa Beach
Navy Seals image
Dear ER:
I took exception to the May 12 “Making it” cartoon. The heroic Navy Seals that took out Bin Laden should not be the butt of any cartoon, of any kind. To infer that the Seals have nothing left to do except collect library fees is insulting. Every day our brave men and women go headlong into danger and many make the ultimate sacrifice. We should thank them with every breath for keeping us safe.
This kind of cartoon is why this paper is good for nothing but lining a bird cage! I don’t know why I even bother to look at it any more. I can assure you that my copy will start going directly into the recycle bin–since I don’t have a bird.
Pam Mock
Redondo Beach
Climate change malarkey
Dear ER:
The “global warming hoax,” now called “climate change,” is a bunch of malarkey. Many (not all) are getting very rich on the whole “green” phenomenon. Just look back into history and you’ll see that the Earth has gone in cycles. It has never been proven that humans have had anything to do with it at all. Go ahead and let the “experts” do all of their studies, while you and I (taxpayers) sign their paychecks.
SB Local
Web comment
More candidates needed
Dear ER:
I don’t understand the media. They give extensive coverage to eight of the thirteen candidates and basically ignore the other five candidates. What kind of democratic process is that? If two Democratic Party candidates go into the runoff, I think the top Republican Party, Peace and Freedom Party and Libertarian Party candidates should sue. What we need are more candidates in the general election, not fewer. This may be the law but it may not hold up in court.
C. T. Weber
Web comment
Manhattan Beach ideal
Dear ER:
Residents of Manhattan Beach — beware! Big Brother, in the guise of “shared services,” intends to dissipate our quality of life. It is a pseudonym for “mergers and acquisitions,” another in a long line of failed attempts to impose a private sector strategy on the public sector. It is also an oxymoron. The goal of business is profit. The goal of government is community building.
Stephen Covey (The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) cites three elements of an “Ideal Community”: 1. One standard: principle-centered goodness. “People seek to live in righteousness, to live by principles…”
2. One heart: vision and direction: “People…place great value on being of one heart—on true obedience, not conformity. They recognize their interdependency.”
3. One mind: purpose, mission, and unity, not uniformity; oneness, not sameness. Its mission statement says, “In this community, we care about each other, and so our approach to problem solving is synergistic, not adversarial.”
We in Manhattan Beach are consistently forging this “Ideal Community.” Our city employees represent a critical element in its achievement. As I have previously noted (ER, May 5): “My profession for over four decades as a consultant and educator centers on those in the public service. I know the indicators of quality customer service in the public sector. In Manhattan Beach, our employees surpass those standards.”
To denigrate this quality through “shared services” is a “disservice” to our community. Do not be beguiled by the “promise” of cost savings by Big Brother. Ideals are immeasurable.
Edward C. Caprielian, Ph.D.
Manhattan Beach
Greenbelt clean-up
Dear ER:
I wanted to say thank you to the volunteers who helped work on the Hermosa Beach Greenbelt on Saturday, May 14. Roughly 50 people from Hermosa and several other South Bay cities removed excess ice plant from trees and bushes, cleared access ways, spread tons of wood chip mulch, and planted a beautiful sycamore tree. They were part of Sharefest’s annual work day. Sharefest (sharefestinc.org) included several other worksites from Vernon to San Pedro. Hundreds of volunteers helped revitalize schools and community projects. We’re grateful to Hermosa Beach Councilman Michael DiVirglio, who not only acted as a liaison with the city of Hermosa Beach but also picked up a shovel and pitched in on Saturday. Hermosa Public Works Superintendent Els Freeman was also a huge help in guiding us and providing us tools and supplies. We are hoping next year we can help in Hermosa again.
Shawn Moonan, project manager
Sharefest Hermosa Beach
Video exposure
Dear ER:
Free press advocates have been outraged recently by bills in Florida, Iowa, and Minnesota legislatures to prohibit possession and display of videos of factory farming. Yet, for the meat, dairy, and egg industries that push for these bills, the prohibition makes perfect sense.
A year ago, undercover investigators exposed E6 Cattle Co. in Castro County, TX, chaining dairy calves in tiny wood crates and bludgeoning their skulls with pickaxes. Last June, Cal-Cruz Hatcheries in Santa Cruz (CA) were found to grind up and suffocate live chicks. In August, Iowa’s Hillandale Farms and Wright County Eggs were forced to recall 550 million eggs for Salmonella contamination. If I was running one of those operations, I certainly wouldn’t want people with cameras anywhere near my facilities.
Filthy conditions and cruel practices are likely to remain legal and commonplace on U.S. factory farms, and their operators will continue to avoid public exposure. Our only option, as consumers, is to stop subsidizing these conditions and practices at the checkout counter by shifting to wholesome, cruelty-free vegetables, fruits and grains, as well as grain- and nut-based meat and dairy substitutes available in every supermarket.
Joel Barslitski
Hermosa Beach
