Goes with the job
Dear ER:
Recusing oneself for having a strong opinion on the matter (“The ethics of Councilman Bill Brand’s recusal,” ER September 15, 2016)? It’s his job to formulate a strong opinion on the matter, I’m not buying it.
Edmund Purcell
Website comment
Wait ‘til the deposition
Dear ER:
Councilman Bill Brand is on record as opposing development, lawful or not (“The ethics of Councilman Bill Brand’s recusal,” ER September 15, 2016). Should he not have recused himself from the Legado development? I’m sure that issue will be raised at his forthcoming deposition in the Legados lawsuit against the city. But the bigger question is, Should Redondo even consider voting for a mayoral candidate, such as Brand, with such an extreme bias? How on earth can he govern fairly? How would Redondo ever move forward? Can Redondo afford to defend more wasteful lawsuits (AES, Legado, CenterCal, Galleria and others)?
Anthony White
Website comment
Follow the money
Dear ER:
Appointed, interim District 1 Councilwoman Martha Barbee lives in her home on the Esplanade, just a short walk from the Waterfront project area. She should disqualify herself from voting on the project. The prior District 1 Councilman Jeff Ginsburg gave up his seat on the City Council a few months ago because of his financial conflicts with the CenterCal project. But, after he left office, he cleared out his campaign account and gave Mayor Steve Aspel the remaining $860.39 for Aspel’s reelection bid. For the reporting period 1/1/2016 to 6/30/2106, Steve Aspel collected $250 from Redondo Beach Marina, and $1,000 from Frank Scotto, whose towing company was given a towing contract by the City years back.
Money is playing a major role in the CenterCal issue. The Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce Candidate’s PAC, run by Brett Henry (of Trojan Storage) and Steve Goldstein, received campaign contributions of $5,000 from AES (6/24/16). The Chamber PAC also received the following contributions: Brett Henry $1,000 (4/18/16); RB Chamber of Commerce $2,900 (2/23/16) Redondo Beach Waterfront LLC (CenterCal) $5,000 (3/23/16); Kincaids Restaurant gave $1,200 and Portofino Hotel gave $250. Is there any question that Barbee and Aspel should recuse themselves from any discussion of CenterCal and AES ? No. Plain and simple.
Steve Colin ·
Website comment
Finish the job
“Brand believes that his voice will be as prominent as ever now that he’s recused himself, freeing him to author pieces sharing his thoughts on the project: that it destroys views in the harbor, that it doesn’t preserve space and that proposed traffic mitigations will be ineffective” (“The ethics of Councilman Bill Brand’s recusal,” ER September 15, 2016). It is apparent that Bill Brand is now an advocate and not a public servant. It is unfortunate but he should step down as a Council member.
Paul Moses
Website comment
By George, it’s true
Dear ER:
George Orwell called (“Manhattan Beach to install cameras at strategic locations,” ER April 6, 2016). He’s very concerned about Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) cameras. He says all this anecdotalia (“cars side by side – one stolen, one wanted for homicide,” etc.) is “Reader’s Digest”-style propaganda and that usual references to deterrence are non-science based. Science shows less than .05 percent of monitorings result in anomalies, almost always for traffic violation warrants, rarely anything else. Caught criminals are statistically on the order of .000001 percent.
And, well, you know George, he thinks he’s an economist and claims a $400,000 proposed purchase will be twice that, a commonplace in government, with high ongoing charges from the owner-proprietary corporation, then no end of expensive fiddlings. He sez data “deletions” are a matter of capture back to the camera corporation for data mining. “When,” he asked me, “have you ever seen government actually get rid of any data? It’s always re-statused, sold, stored, or re-used”.
Heh! That Orwell, wotta paranoiac! He pointed out that such surveillance isn’t the task of police, unless they’re militarized, but rather of an occupying force, seen in U.S. military in Iraq and elsewhere. It’s not just crowd control but also, he averred ominously, the first step in replacing human police with computer banks, reducing a workforce that costs the government ongoing pensions and bennies.
I informed him that in my 31 years in Manhattan Beach I have had only one brief negative run-in with the Manhattan Beach police. It was with a gent whom I never saw again on the force. All other encounters were positive, calm, polite, and helpful. So, yeah, he’s right, I’d much rather have human beings than soulless machines. Besides, MBPD already has in-car ALPRs. I talked one night with an officer patrolling and had an interesting conversation about them. In that capacity, they’re good things.
So I packed Mr. Orwell back to the Animal Farm, where he belongs, but, oy!, wotta troublemaker, that guy, no? He rooms with my very cool, late cop grandfather who, he tells me, is spitting nails over this, abhors the idea as blasphemous and inhuman. Geez, those two, they were made for each other.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to join the cyborgs, it’s the wave of the future, we’re sooooo much more controllable.
Mark “My Diodes Are Fading” Tucker
Manhattan Beach
Fairest of the fairs
Dear ER:
Thank you to all the Hermosa Beach residents, business owners and visitors for supporting another spectacular Fiesta Hermosa over the Labor Day weekend. The Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau was honored to host the 44th annual Fiesta Hermosa, which is Southern California’s largest arts and crafts festival, with more than 300 vendors, as well as carnival rides and live music.
The event is also the key revenue generator for the nonprofit HBCCVB. It allows us to put the money back into the community, as well as fund our general operations and membership programs. And thank you to the volunteers with the Woman’s Club of Hermosa Beach; Hermosa Beach Sister City Association; Sandpipers Philanthropic Fund; Hermosa Beach Historical Society; and Beach Cities Toy Drive for serving in the Charity Beer and Wine Garden. These five nonprofits receive proceeds from the sales, enabling their individual causes and strengthening our community.
Additional thanks go out to all the participating vendors, musicians and volunteers at the information booth, Fiesta Siesta and the valet bike lot. Also, a special thanks to Michael Bell and his crew with Bell Event Services as well as coordinators Jamie Janssen and Lynne La Fleur for helping create another terrific event that was sponsored by Toyota and Bud Light/AB InBev.
We look forward to bringing the community together for more family-friendly events in a few months with the November Sidewalk Festival, Holiday Open House and Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony and New Year’s Eve Celebration.
Kimberlee MacMullan
HBCCVB President/CEO
Hermosa Beach
New Olympic sport
Dear ER:
I just read your September 8 issue ( I was out of town last week) and one of the letters to the editor literally had me falling out of my chair. So “upscale shopping” is now considered a “recreational activity”? Are you [freakin’] serious?! Have we reached the point where generating and maximizing revenue is always the top priority? The obsessive focus on profits and the bottom line has destroyed our formerly quaint South Bay communities and threatens to tear apart the very fabric of our capitalist democracy. I always thought recreational activities included things like boating, fishing, sailing, and paddling– you know, things you can do in a harbor.
Brian Hittelman
by email
