Walk street style
Dear ER:
I agree that the Manhattan Beach walk streets should not be lined with these huge, overwhelming size houses. They look horrible and destroy the look of our beautiful walk streets.
Joanne Ciancarelli
Manhattan Beach
FAR enough
Dear ER:
We have the same problems in Coronado, with no end to the super sized homes built to the maximum FAR (floor area ratio) (“Remember the walk streets,” ER Letters December 8, 2016). Why don’t people realize enjoying life at the beach is not about indoor space but about lovely front and back yards for enjoying the weather year round.
Kitty Rosania
Coronado
Redondo’s north pole
Dear ER:
Thanks you, Redondo City Council for finally addressing Artesia Blvd. (Redondo Beach Council sets framework for Artesia renewal,” ER December 8, 2016). Yes, one of the top priorities is a grocery store — a nice reputable grocery store. Also, please please please address the multiple foot massage parlors popping up on Artesia and over North and South Redondo.
Anna Perne
Redondo Beach
One city
Dear ER:
If the city council wants to make Redondo Beach, as a whole, a wonderful place to live then they need to address all the issues and not just focus on South Redondo (“Redondo Beach Council sets framework for Artesia renewal,” ER December 8, 2016). If they let North Redondo die it will certainly affect South Redondo and the city as a whole! Excited they are talking about this.
Daisy May
Web comment
Waterfront surprise
Dear ER:
I was surprised to learn the proposed Redondo Beach Waterfront mall project is now in two parts, with the second or south portion that is the most important being “optional.” What happens if CenterCal doesn’t complete it after the north mall? Spoiler alert — they walk away and pay nothing. When you insert the term optional in a contract with a company that’s run by a lawyer what do you think that means? Simply put they won’t honor those provisions since they don’t have to. So to our city council, what were you thinking? Stop this train wreck and do what the vast majority of Redondo citizens want for the harbor. Revitalize, not supersize. We need a harbor not another mall that can be built anywhere.
Tom Lehrer
Redondo Beach
Surprised, now vote
Dear ER:
If the CenterCal agreement is approved by the city council, it’ll be the ruination of our waterfront, leaving the City financially responsible to fix what really needs revitalizing. Under this proposed lease, CenterCal is only obligated to build a view-blocking, 4-story parking structure, a 700-seat movie theatre, market hall, retail and restaurants covering part of Seaside Lagoon, opening it up to the harbor. All components of a mall. Surprised? Not to those paying attention to facts. This horrific, nightmare lease is brought to you by CenterCal, courtesy of Mayor Steve Aspel with help from the city staff, three council members, the chamber, and pro-overdevelopment special interest groups. We have a spectacular opportunity to fix it ourselves on the March 7, 2017 ballot. Vote Yes on the King Harbor CARE Act, Bill Brand for Mayor, Todd Loewenstein and Nils Nehrenheim for City Council.
Lezlie Campeggi
Redondo Beach
Them and us balance
Dear ER:
When I moved to Redondo, there were six two-on-a-lots on our street.Now, there are only three single homes left. I am guilty of being one of the early adopters of “more density” and “revitalization,” but now I see the downside. Kids grow up and they start driving. At one point, among me and my three neighbors (two lots), we had 13 cars – about 7 more than could be reasonably parked off the street, thanks to the building code. This expansion of households does not support more police, fire, or public works services. It has not resulted in funds to upgrade the 50-plus year old City Hall, police station, fire stations, pier parking lot, parks, and other facilities. Our streets have had black paint (slurry seal) applied every few years but the potholes and deterioration are now evident. Mayor Steve Aspel and councilmembers Laura Emdee, Christian Horvath, and Laura Barbee seem determined to continue the legacy of past administrations, administrations that can never be held responsible for their failures after they leave office.
Keep in mind that building codes are developed only to prevent you from doing something that is a physical hazard. They never tell you what is best. We need visitors and tourists to keep our city vibrant, but this must be balanced with the fact that we are a community. We need a council that knows how to identify and maintain this balance for us, the residents.
Mel Samples
Redondo Beach
Poison pill
Dear ER:
For 13 months, CenterCal owner Fred Bruning was heard saying the harbor mall project is “largely compliant” with Measure G. As an attorney, he realized this was the only true and factual thing to say. When it began to backfire in the media, he started saying it was “compliant,” despite all documentation to the contrary. Sadly, Bruning has figured a way to outdo himself and now hold Redondo hostage with a terrible, 99 year lease contract. This poorly negotiated, one sided mess, allows for key portions to now be optional. Here is a short list of optional items: Parking structure replacement, pedestrian bridge, reconnection of Torrance and Harbor boulevards, rerouting bike path, completion of California Coastal Trail, boutique hotel (and that TOT gravy train). The city has to pay for the following: pier maintenance/refurbishment (both piers), boat ramp, and the Basin 3 bulkhead. Items that are shared by both include the Pacific Avenue parking structure. The most blatant poison pill is that if CenterCal should find something they don’t like during construction, the city pays for it. It took our city council over three years to negotiate a deal this bad. What happened to the “falling” parking structure is falling. Picking up the cost of all these items could cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars.
Nicholas Lippa
Redondo Beach
Remember the downtown
Dear ER:
Redondo Beach is wonderfully fortunate to have volunteers working against the moneyed overdevelopment forces destroying our quality of life. Leaders including Jim Light, Bill Brand, Todd Loewenstein, Nils Nehrenheim, Candace Nafissi, Martin Holmes, and the Rescue Our Waterfront, South Bay Parkland Conservancy, Building a Better Redondo teams, together with countless others, sacrifice thousands of hours of time, effort and money for no personal gain, solely to preserve the Redondo we all love. Big-money developers spend unlimited cash lobbying politicians, officials and special interest groups like the Chamber of Commerce, gaming the system for the opportunity to build massive malls and thousands of condos along our coastline. It’s millions in profit for developers, but the community is left with traffic gridlock, strained city services, congestion, unsafe streets, overcrowded schools, ruined neighborhoods, and concrete canyons obstructing our coastline. This heartbreaking transformation of our sweet little beach town into an urban metropolis of density, traffic jams, noise, and pollution is not new – remember that Redondo Beach once had a downtown. Anyone can see the disturbing contrast between Redondo’s coastline of big buildings compared to our neighboring beach cities. Progress, revitalization and beautification does not equal building bigger and denser developments on our coastline.
Robert Gaddis
Redondo Beach
