Bring back the car garage
Dear ER:
I live on a street where the houses were built in the 1940s and 1950s, with a front driveway that leads to a small garage. Many of these houses also have an additional garage with alley access. In spite of this, our street looks like a car lot. I know today people have more cars than they had 60 years ago. However, a sad fact is that most people don’t use their garages for their cars, so they have multiple cars on the street, and consequently park in front of other people’s homes. When I try to get out of my driveway the line-up of cars parked end to end keeps me from seeing if cars are coming. It’s unsafe for both the person pulling out and the person driving by, or riding by on a bike or skateboard. There is also the matter of emergency responders’ limited accessibility. In addition to these safety factors is the blighted-looking nature and oppressive feel of cars stacked up in the street. While the street is public, I think it’s reasonable, courteous and neighborly for everyone to use their garages and aim for just one car in front of your own house. If we each cleared a spot in the garage for a car, it could be a big help. Please consider it, to make it nicer for all.
Lara Duke
Redondo Beach
Bury undergrounding
Dear ER:
Undergrounding again. Didn’t those in charge catch on yet? I’ve lived here 60 years and never really noticed the wires. They do not block out the cool breeze, the sunshine, the beautiful clouds, or the birds flying about. Given a choice, I’d rather see the wires than a McMansion looming up into the sky, so please stop saying, “We’d like to retain the small town feeling of Manhattan Beach.” That was lost long ago.
Jane Porter
Manhattan Beach
Suits add up
Dear ER:
Manhattan Beach city council members have control of the everyday lives of 35,000 residents but have no liability for the stupid decisions they make. It’s O.P.M. (Other People’s Money).
Recent city payouts include 1. Cathy Hanson (former Human Resources Director) fired, settled for $115,000 in 2015. 2. Patricia Schilling, former assistant to City Manager David Carmany) sued for harassment. Settled for $1.5 million in 2016, 3. Nora Goodbody blinded in one eye by a flying golf disc in Manhattan Beach’s Polliwog Park. Awarded $3 million. 4. Six year old boy sustained life-threatening brain injury from golf disc one year after Goodby injury. – November 2013. One year after Noreen Goodbody’s injury. $5 million lawsuit pending. Total lawsuit costs for Manhattan Beach: $9.615 million or $275 for each of the city’s 35,000 residents.
Robert Bush
Manhattan Beach
Row over ROW
Dear ER:
Lawsuit after lawsuit has been CenterCal’s strategy after their disastrous loss to Redondo Beach Measure C on March 7. Ironically as our nation was preparing to celebrate summer and Independence Day, CenterCal filed yet another one. This latest appears to be intended to silence the freedom of speech of their opponents. It’s against Rescue Our Waterfront (ROW) co-founder Martin Holmes, Redondo Beach Mayor Bill Brand, new Council Member Nils Nehrenheim and myself, president of Rescue our Waterfront. It alleges ROW was secretly controlled by candidates during the campaign. Sorry CenterCal, Measure C was a landslide victory due to the hard work of hundreds of volunteers. No candidates directed or controlled ROWs actions or operations. This lawsuit was curiously filed in the names of two Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce and Leadership Redondo members (Chris Voisey and Arnette Travis). It’s highly unlikely they had the ability to create the lawsuit. The law firm referenced in the documents was retained by the No On Measure C campaign PAC (with funding by CenterCal), according to election filings. The lawsuit appears to be another CenterCal attempt to intimidate residents.
California has a special statute regarding Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation or ‘SLAPP.’ It references moneyed companies filing frivolous lawsuits just to silence the opposition. Companies using intimidation don’t really believe they have a chance of winning. The lawsuit is slapped to scare people from speaking out. Rescue Our Waterfront is notifying CenterCal we plan to fight back and not let them silence your voices.
Wayne Craig
Redondo Beach
Three unwise kings
Dear ER:
Hermosa has its own “mafia” in the unholy alliance of council members Jeff Dulcos, Stacey Armato, Fangary, and Justin Massey — so much for the Brown Act. Despite worries about the economy and the desires of residents, they spend and spend and spend. An additional $1 million NOT to have firefighters? Stencil the streets for non-resident bikers? Let’s put on the brakes. They pontificate, roll their eyes to diminish comments by councilwoman Carolyn Petty , and then vote to commission expensive studies, advisory opinions, and reports galore. Forget that approach and listen to us. Forget Massey’s master solar plan, which may be good for his business, but not something on which our little town needs to focus. Stop placing such trust in the building department heads who play both sides against the middle regarding CUP requirements. Leave the green belt alone, enough with the murals, and enough with the city paid travel and conferences. All we want are basic services and protection of businesses and homeowners. Let’s power wash the sidewalks and The Strand, pave the alleys, get the utility companies to remove inactive wires, reclaim city sidewalks… The four person alliance cares about visitors more than homeowners. This council is sympathetic to the real estate agents and those property owners selling short term rentals at other residents’ expense. If those owners cannot cover their mortgages or their vacations, then get a second job and stop asking the rest of us to support them by enduring the crap that goes along with short term rentals. Even 30 days is too much in the residential areas. The council needs to stop these party houses, which are changing our community. Focus on insuring the health and safety of the residents — everything else is superfluous nonsense. If you want to do “extra” things, use private funding. If you have extra money, given the homeowners a break on our city taxes. Stop the self important stances that lead to more and more spending and stick to the basic that the property owners need.
The Williams Family
Hermosa Beach
Cartoons by Pulitzer
Prize’s Matt Wuerker
return to Easy Reader
Easy Reader is proud to welcome back editorial cartoons by Matt Wuerker, a regular Easy Reader contributor in the 1980s. The Palos Verdes native is currently the editorial cartoonist for the Washington D.C.-based website Politico. Wuerker received the Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning in 2010 and editorial cartooning’s highest honor, the Pulitzer Prize, in 2012.
