Zero base reasoning
Dear ER:
The simple question I asked myself when looking into the move of the Hermosa Beach Farmers Market is, “If we started the market today, where would we put it?” The answer seems clear. Our beautiful Pier Plaza is the centerpiece of town and the obvious choice. We have fallen behind in the quality and energy of our Farmers Market compared to neighboring cities. A move to Pier Plaza will breathe new life into the market, bring locals to the Plaza during the daytime and be a big positive to for Hermosa Beach.
Andrea Jacobsson
Hermosa Beach
Ghost of cyber past
Dear ER:
Hermosa Beach council member Carolyn Petty has taken hubris to a new level. At the September 9 meeting Petty criticized her colleague Nanette Barragan because Barragan remarked at a prior council meeting that she was embarrassed to take business associates to Pier Plaza. Petty said it was “disappointing” that Barragan made this comment and that Petty “was so proud” to take her business associates to the Pier Plaza. That’s not the tune that Petty was singing three years ago.
At the March 22, 2011 council meeting Petty said the following: “I lived by Pier Avenue for nearly 11 years. I moved. I couldn’t stand it anymore. On Sunday mornings it’s covered in garbage….The taxpayers have to pay for everything….I made the decision a year ago when I decided to move that I wanted to stay in this town. I regret that decision, I think it was a mistake….I would have seriously considered moving to Manhattan Beach. I know a family that it’s not even on their radar to buy a house in Hermosa Beach.”
What’s worse? Saying that you’re embarrassed about one part of our city or saying that you regret staying here?
Fred Huebscher
Hermosa Beach
Point of order
Dear ER:
My loyalty to Hermosa Beach and its residents is unwavering. Some have recently questioned my loyalty because of something I said at a council meeting about some of my experiences on Pier Plaza on Friday and Saturday nights between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. I see heavily intoxicated bar patrons, some of whom urinate in our parking lots, vomit on our sidewalks, cause bloody fights that require our firefighters’ attention and resources, trash our streets, exhibit loud and obnoxious behavior,and even harass and disrespect our officers (especially when writing citations for drinking in public).
I expressed my opinion during the council meeting that we have an alcohol problem downtown and that I would be embarrassed to take a business contact to Pier Plaza to experience this behavior. The discussion was in the context of late night conduct on Pier Plaza, not in the context of daytime use. I often take visitors and business contacts there for an early dinner – I can’t wait to try the new restaurant Greenbelt.
Let me be clear, I love Hermosa Beach. Buying my little 1950s beach bungalow here is one of my proudest accomplishments. I not only want to maintain Hermosa Beach’s quality of life in preserving our air, water and beaches but also improve our great city. These were some of the reasons that I ran for city council.
I am proud and thankful to serve as your City Councilmember. Please reach out to me anytime about your concerns and opinions at nbarragan@hermosabch.org or call me at (424) 206-3963.
Nannette Barragan
Hermosa Beach
Drilling down, deeper
Dear ER:
George Schmeltzer’s letter to the editor (“Drilling down into oil safety”, ER September 4, 2014) includes a factual error that can be easily cleared up by referring to official records that are readily available to the public.
Schmeltzer, without identifying his sources, claims that an explosion at a Ross Dress for Less store in Los Angeles 29 years ago, was related to an oil well near Cedars-Sinai hospital. The City of Los Angeles convened a task force that included over 35 experts who concluded that “…available information indicates the more probable source of methane gas was not from an oil well, but decomposing organic matter nearer the surface.”
As the Communications and Community Outreach Lead at E&B Natural Resources in Hermosa Beach, I want our residents to have all the facts. If you see unsupported claims like the one above, we urge you to check the facts.
Amy Roth
Hermosa Beach
Bringing down the roof
Dear Editor:
Hermosa Beach’s commercial downtown has long-needed a four-foot height-reduction measure, from 30-feet to 26-feet, similar to Manhattan Beach’s downtown 26-foot limit.
Developers are squeaking in overly-dense, out-of-scale, poorly-parked, architecturally sterile designs for Hermosa’s downtown, due to its 30-foot height limit. They’re proposing three or more stories for parcels where two-story architectural designs are more appropriate.
This happened with the 96-unit Beach House condo-hotel at 14th Street and The Strand and more recently with the big-box Clash Hotel approval for 15th and Hermosa Avenues. These two unremarkable hotels are being followed by the even more maxed-out and under-parked Mermaid-properties hotel, the Mangurian estate-properties hotel along 11th Street and the Strand, and a likely Sea Sprite properties hotel on the Strand.
Manhattan has one 38-room, two-story hotel (the Shade) in its downtown. Hermosa already has 160 downtown hotel rooms operating or approved. The Mermaid developer is proposing to increase that total to 271.
With the Mangurian and Sea Sprite estate properties developed, the number of room-units could escalate to 480, some 13 times the number in Manhattan’s downtown. They would bring over 1,000 hotel guests and workers, traveling in and out of Hermosa’s downtown 24/7, increasing late-night bars activity, trolling for taxicabs, and creating parking headaches and additional residential impacts.
To preserve the character of Hermosa Beach there needs to be a coherent plan, ensuring an appropriate mix of properly-scaled developments and uses, along with a 26-foot downtown height limit.
Howard Longacre
Hermosa Beach
Advanced warnings ignored
Dear ER:
The Hermosa Beach City School District does not have enough classroom space again this year due to a lack of urgency and good planning by the district, not because of a lack of options. Since 2009 the district has been well aware of an enrollment bubble and the need for additional classrooms.
When the Facility Planning and Advisory Committee (FPAC) held its first meeting 21 months ago many ideas were put forth that could have immediately alleviated the district’s overcrowding, such as instituting a multi-track classroom schedule in which students attend classes in staggered blocks year round. Another idea was to use the 4.7 acre Pier Avenue School, now the Community Center. Pier Avenue School has 14+ classrooms, a gymnasium an auditorium, a pickup and drop off area, parking, tennis courts and access to the baseball field and basketball courts. The district can lease this property from the city. Yet another option was to house transitional kindergarten and kindergarten at a former district school such as South School or North School. The superintendent’s office could have been in the vacant Time Warner building next to Valley School instead of using valuable classroom space at South School.
Despite district administration claims to the contrary, there is no reason why those options should not have been put into action to provide urgently needed classrooms and relieve overcrowding at Valley and View schools this year.
Miyo Prassas
Hermosa Beach
Waterfront bluff
Dear ER:
The AES “Harbor Village” proposal will allow mixed-use and over-development, including 600 residential units in a small area. Those 600 units and commercial development will create thousands more vehicle trips per day in an already congested area. AES has spent millions of dollars planning and fighting for years to rebuild the plant. Why the about face and sudden appearance of this initiative? Because AES knows the odds of this plant ever getting rebuilt are near zero. AES has a losing hand and is bluffing. They say either accept this initiative or get a power plant. This plant will likely not be rebuilt, regardless. AES has applied to rebuild their three area natural gas plants, totaling 3400MW power. The CPUC has authorized contracts for only 1500MW of natural gas generation. With San Onofre shut down, their Huntington Beach and Alamitos plants are nearer to where power is needed. It is likely the CPUC would give contracts for those plants and not Redondo Beach. We can do better, smart development not over-development.
Jim Montgomery
Torrance
