Go Hermosa
Dear ER:
The question of keeping the Hermosa Beach Fire Department versus “Go County” is not so simple to answer. Hermosa Beach taxpayers have to ask, “Is public safety a priority?” Most importantly, once you “Go County,” there are no “Go Backs.” Good or bad, you are County forever, increased yearly billing and all. There are claims there is “no difference but the patch on the sleeve.” Don’t misunderstand: there are big implications with the “Go County” option. The HBFD’s primary volume service is medical assistance. The HBFD, when properly staffed, provides paramedics and ambulances employed and owned by the city. The County uses private ambulance services for ambulance transport, which increases response times to the hospital. They will try and cloud this part of the comparison. The County will not provide the same medical assistance service as a fully staffed HBFD provides. And the County will charge more money for this inferior service.
Hermosa Beach Fire Pete Chief Bonano made some suspicious “opinionated” claims about response times. He is only a temporary chief and it is highly suspect that he is wading in on this issue. He’ll go back to his retirement pension in the next couple months.
HBFD firefighters solidly support “Go County” because they are under the belief they will easily transfer over to the County. If they are absorbed by the County they get to double dip their retirements, get higher pay and overtime and get more station choices, just to name a few direct benefits for them. Working for the County is widely viewed by firefighters as the most desired department to work for. If a HBFD firefighter wants to work for the County, they should go get a job there. Don’t try and fold up our local fire department for their convenience.
Hermosa Beach loves to compare itself with Manhattan Beach. Would Manhattan Beach residents tolerate a “Go County” move? Hermosa Beach needs to make public safety a priority like Manhattan Beach.
Worried Local
(Name withheld by request)
Don’t fire fire department
Dear ER:
I believe Hermosa Beach should keep its own fire department. All the city council has to do is reset their priorities and appropriate funds to fully staff the department. The department that has been praised by many as a first class department for over 50 years. The city council and city manager can reach out to our neighboring cities to expand sharing of services and contracting for more administrative services. The real issue before the city council is economics, not an increased level of services with contracting out to LA County fire department. The additional services are already being provided through our mutual and automatic aid agreements with our neighboring cities. LA County is not adding additional boots on the ground. They still need the mutual and automatic aid that Hermosa currently uses with neighboring cities. This proposal has been presented as more resources, economies of scale, and additional training. I believe economies of scale can be inverse with agencies that are too large. To keep local control, community service and the community feel, it is best accomplished by partnering with our neighbors. Keeping it local also helps us to control better the future costs to the city. The city council needs to appoint an unbiased third party that has no vested interest to review and evaluate the complex final contract proposal by LA County to the City of Hermosa Beach.
George Barks
Retired City Councilman and Mayor
Hermosa Beach
Slam dunk votes
Dear ER:
As president of Manhattan Beach Youth Basketball (MBYB), I fully support Manhattan Beach school bonds Measures C and EE. As a parent and a coach, there is nothing more satisfying than seeing children run up and down the basketball court with smiles on their faces. Being a recreation league with over 2,000 players, MBYB gives all kids access to enjoy basketball. We rely heavily on the partnership with MBUSD to use their gyms. Unfortunately, some of the gyms have become unsafe, with buckling floors and leaks when it rains. Measure EE will provide safer and up-to-date facilities for not only Mira Costa athletics but also community organizations like MBYB. Vote “yes” on Measures C and EE to keep the smiling faces for generations to come (SupportMBSchools.com).
Kit McCalla
Manhattan Beach
Slam dunk dunces
Dear ER:
While I greatly Hermosa Beach councilmembers Hany Fangary’s and Justin Massey’s service to our community, I cannot support either anymore. I was at the Hermosa Beach Youth basketball hearing last night. I asked a simple question of the council members: Are you okay with a city recreation league (not club) making tens of thousands of dollars off its citizens and children when it’s supposed to be a non-profit with a volunteer board. All the coaches are volunteers. Hermosa Beach Little League, AYSO, Manhattan Beach Youth Basketball and pretty much any other local sports league has dozens if not hundreds of volunteers who take no money. They do it for the love of the kids the sport. Yet the current HBYB board of three admitted to taking stipends — two at $18,000 per year, and another at $36,000 per year. So in my math that’s $72,000 year going into their pockets. How do I get one of those jobs??
Yet after listening to both sides and the Parks and Rec’s sub committee recommendation that we continue with HBYB, provided no stipends and adding more board members, Fangary and Massey disagreed. Fangary said, “I don’t care one way or the other about the stipend.” Thankfully, after council members Stacey Armato, Carolyn Petty and Jeff Duclos brought this issue back up to be re-addressed Fangary still waffled. The motion that it be 100 percent was opposed by Massey.
I just can’t fathom how you Fangary and Massey are okay with a city sanctioned sports league, using our facilities, pocketing tens of thousands of dollars, when it could and should be given back to our city.
Dick Taw
Hermosa Beach
ROWin’ on
Dear ER:
On Thursday, September 29, Rescue Our Waterfront submitted nearly 7,000 signatures to the Redondo Beach City Clerk. We passed our goal of 6,500 signatures and crushed the minimum qualifying number of 4,511 signatures. Some signatures will be thrown out for a variety of reasons — wrong city, wrong address, illegible writing, or sloppy signatures — but we are well about the 15 percent to 20 percent that generally are disqualified. Over 100 residents dedicated thousands of hours, pounding the streets and collecting signatures. Thousands of residents were not even aware of the Waterfront Project. The sheer volume of signatures is a clear indication that the community is waking up to over-development and fighting to take our community back.
This success would not have been possible without the tireless dedication of Lynda Wyckoff who organized our signature gathering efforts. On October 18 the City Council will hear an appeal of the Harbor Commission decision to approve the project. In the next few months public awareness campaigns will ramp up to help educate voters about our concerns with the project. The signature results were a small victory along this arduous path. And again, thank you.
Martin Holmes
Rescue Our Waterfront
Redondo Beach
Zoning out
Dear ER:
I have one request of Rescue Our Waterfront (ROW): show us your plan. They tote plenty of maps of what is currently in the harbor and what will be under the restrictions of Measure G. But when I ask for a simple zoning plan of what is allowable under the ROW initiative, ROW and it’s supporters will not answer. Now I endure ROW’s personal attacks and online bullying because I request the one thing they don’t want the public to know; that nothing is allowable under ROW’s initiative. ROW has solicited a vote of the public. I believe they have the obligation to illustrate exactly what they are selling.
Paul Moses
Redondo Beach
Wave of the future
Dear ER:
I am so excited about how much progress we’ve made on The Waterfront in the last year since I’ve left the city council. Much of it is due to the feedback provided by the Redondo Beach community members. From November through January, there was the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) comment period, where residents offered hundreds of comments on the proposed project. And in the last few months two substantial changes were made to the project to reflect community input: the inclusion of the sport fishing pier and the separation of one of the parking structures into two smaller structures. And finally last month The Waterfront (with modifications) was approved by a majority of the Redondo Beach Harbor Commissioners. I have been waiting for this project to be completed for over 12 years. During the past 40 years, Redondo Beach has never had enough money to revitalize the waterfront area on its own. Everything has had to be done in pieces, mostly in an attempt to counter the effects brought on by numerous disasters.
Finally, in 2012, after beginning the process with a community vote (Measure G) on what the limits of any future waterfront development project would be, the City Council came up with an alternative to raising taxes on residents with a public-private partnership. It’s the perfect balance because, since The Waterfront was first chosen, community members have been able to work with CenterCal to create a beautiful waterfront project that our entire community will enjoy for generations to come. Further, it will all be accomplished with very limited cost to our taxpayers, which is a significant key to its success.
Recent studies of our waterfront infrastructure have found that we may need upwards of $100 million in repairs and replacements, with $50 million alone on rebuilding the parking structures.
With the Waterfront Revitalization, there will be an investment of more than $100 million by the developer, to upgrade the public infrastructure (a very expensive Bond issue we won’t need to face). And that is just one fourth of the $400 million in overall investment.
They are two separate studies with the exact same conclusion: The Waterfront will be an economic success. Our children and grandchildren deserve an investment in their waterfront that will still be around when they are grown up, without the burden of long term debt. Let’s show how much community support The Waterfront so we can be proud that we left them a “Legacy of Successful Planning and Partnerships” rather than the disastrous piecemeal pay as you go methods. That hasn’t worked in the last 40 years and won’t do any better in the future.
Pat Aust
Redondo Beach
Drunk (for) history
Dear ER:
On behalf of the board of directors of the Hermosa Beach Historical Society, I wish to thank the Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau and Bud Light/AB InBev for their generous contributions to our museum through the Charity Beer & Wine Garden at the Fiesta Hermosa. Thanks in part to contributions from the Fiesta event, we have been able to serve Hermosa Beach by caring for the city’s material history, offering educational tours to kindergartners and fourth graders and hosting monthly events related to this city’s rich history. We have also been fortunate to partner with other local organizations for a variety of annual special events that have helped bring the community together and celebrate the culture that is Hermosa Beach. Beyond the financial benefits, staffing the Charity Beer & Wine Garden is a great “get-to-know-you” event and a wonderful way to spread the word about the many non-profits here in Hermosa Beach while cultivating a spirit of camaraderie among the organizations involved.
Norman Rosen
President, Hermosa Beach Historical Society
