Letters February 25, 2010

Litter writing campaign
Dear ER:
It is ironic that the Hermosa Beach City Council voted four to one to litter the streets with “do not litter” signs to be put on the lamp posts throughout the city for a few dollars. The visual pollution this causes will far exceed any clean up benefits that the signs will accomplish. Councilman Jeff Duclos should be commended for voting against this action and trying to convince his fellow council members to do the same. Can this decision be reversed?
Mordy Benjamin
Hermosa Beach

Felonious monk
Dear ER:
What is happening lately with the integrity of police officers? The people that we teach our children to look up to now seem to let us down more and more. I know, everyone says a few bad apples don’t make the whole department bad. We should be holding our police officers to the same standards or higher than we hold the everyday citizens to.
Last year a Torrance police sergeant was allegedly involved in a hit and run and said his judgment was impaired because of alcohol. Then we had the Redondo Beach police officer allegedly embezzled over $70,000 from his own police officer’s association.
Now we have a hit and run in Manhattan Beach involving an alleged off-duty Manhattan Beach police officer and possibly multiple other Manhattan Beach police involved in the cover up. I believe that the hit and run with injuries is a felony and the cover up is obstruction of justice, which is also a felony.
The problem that I have with all of these incidents is that according to the Law of the land we are supposed to have equal justice under the Law.
We as citizens in Manhattan Beach need to hold this whole mess up to the light and quit hiding the facts from the public. Any other citizen that was involved in a hit and run and the abandoned car was found, the police would go the home of the owner and arrest them. The next day their names would be in the newspaper. Why are these four treated any differently?
Name withheld by request
Manhattan Beach

Pictures, please
Dear ER:
As one of the many small business owners (Gum Tree Shop and Café, Pier Avenue) we are already being greatly affected by the street landscaping project. My husband Will and I are here everyday and, when we have customers, we are constantly being asked the same question: What is happening outside? We talk about the project in a positive manner every single day, all day. We have given our staff all the info we have about the project so that they can answer questions.
But people need visuals of what the project will be when completed. I have seen the renderings and they are beautiful. I know that people would love to see them too, and it will generate excitement for the locals to know what they have to look forward to in their new downtown.
I would like the city to produce a flyer that the local businesses could show to everyone who comes in their shops.
I would also liked a poster of the renderings and an explanation of the project to post in windows around downtown, ads in local newspapers and a big banner at Valley Drive and Pier Avenue, as is done for Fiesta Hermosa.
We opened in the midst of the recession just over a year ago, and the last couple of weeks have been the worst since opening. Other business owners are coming in to talk and commiserate with us, everyone down here is feeling it. I am getting calls daily from customers who are asking if they should bother coming down because they think there is no parking. Meanwhile I am staring at blocks full of empty parking spaces all day long.
Lori Ford
Hermosa Beach

Familiar ring, familiar sting
Dear ER:
Talk about falling off the bus and hittin’ your head. Hey James ‘B’…tell me, just where did I criticize ‘intellectuals’ or ‘artists?’ (“Familiar ring,” ER Letters Feb. 18, 2010). Your inflated sense of self-righteousness has clearly caused you to miss my point entirely, so permit me to school you. My beef is not with artists or intellectuals (I’m saving that diatribe for another day). It’s with “carpetbaggers from points east (who come) this way…trying to change our simple paradise into the same shit-holes they fled.”
And, yes, I’m ‘familiar’ with your ‘shit-holes’…been to ‘em. That’s precisely why I appreciate this place just the way it is. An, why’d you stop? You forgot to include Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin to the list of “despots” unlikely to find your ‘art’ or ‘intellect’ significant enough to warrant persecution…which is the real rub, ain’t it?
So you’ve read Camus, have you (or pulled a quote off the internet)? You should read Ray Devore: “A supercilious sense of victimization does not an artist or an intellectual make.”
Ray Devore
Manhattan Beach

Private practice makes perfect
Dear ER:
I am writing on behalf of Crystal Cove management in response to the Harbor Lights column “Private Beach,” written by Harry Munns (ER, Dec. 24, 2009).
The area in question is a private beach, as designated by property lines agreed to by the City of Redondo Beach, the State and Federal Government and is signposted appropriately. There is public access to the public beach immediately adjacent to this private beach. In no way is any member of the public hampered or barred from their public beach access rights.
Munns’ article makes a claim that is incorrect. Munns states, “No one in Redondo pays much attention to this warning in front of the popular breakwater surfing beach.” On the contrary, we find the majority of beach users are law abiding citizens who follow the signage direction and enter via the public access rather than trespassing across a designated private beach. Yes, a few individuals may choose to trespass and ignore the signage. When the management company is aware that trespass occurs the police are notified and respond appropriately. The management company is enforcing the deeded leasehold rights of a designated private beach and will continue to do so with vigilance.
In addition, we take issue with the quote from Sgt. Peter Grimm of Redondo Beach, “I’m fairly confident you won’t be arrested walking across that lot.” We have documented evidence that the police have been called numerous times regarding trespass and that they have confronted violators and conducted field interviews. Trespassers are subject to arrest and fines for violation the law. Sgt. Grimm’s job is to enforce the law rather than making “fairly confident” statements that could be misinterpreted by the general public.
Martin Ginsburg
Crystal Cove
Redondo Beach

Measure J report gets an ‘A’
Dear ER:
In November 2002, Hermosa Beach voters approved Bond Measure J that authorized the Hermosa Beach City School District (the District) to issue $13.6 million in general revenue bonds and to qualify for another $2.0 million of State funds. Thus, the District initially had $15.6 million for its school and classroom improvements and new construction.
As required by State law, the District appointed an independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee (COC) to inform the public concerning bond revenues to assure the funds are used for bond-approved items and not for teacher salaries, administrative costs, or operating expenses. Also, litigation expenses cannot be paid from bond funds.
The final Citizens’ Oversight Committee consisted of the following seven members: Sam Abrams, Chair – Senior Citizen Rep., Gary Wayland, Vice Chair – Business Orgn. Rep., Lisa Arnett – School Facilities Advisory Committee, Jim Caldwell – Taxpayer Orgn. Rep., Jim Hausle – Parent Rep., Kelly Kinnon – Member-at-Large, and Cindy Smet – Parent Teacher Orgn. Rep. The late Eleanor Lynn was also an original member.
The COC issued its Final Report on September 30, 2009, stating that the District was compliant with the requirements of California law – none of the bond funds had been used for prohibited purposes. The final independent auditors’ report (dated 6/30/09 – and all previous reports) indicated that the District was compliant with State requirements. A total of $15.8 million was expended from Bond funds.
Funding from all sources — the Bond issue, State-matching funds, bond sales premium, and interest from bond sales proceeds — totaled $18.8 million. The final expenditures for all work were $19.5 million. The District funded the difference, $0.7 million, from special reserves, developer fees, and other sources.
The District, Board, and Staff was very cooperative with the COC, sharing all construction planning data, all cost data (contract values), and all payment information. The District was, also, very helpful in providing administrative support to the COC.
Sam Abrams, Chair
Bond Measure J
Citizens’ Oversight Committee

Rob parking to pay parachutes?
Dear ER:
Manhattan Beach is a great community. Its weakness is a continual failure to find excellence in its City Council and School Board Trustees. Jeopardize good teachers, use the children for an excuse, give unjustified raises, transfer large amounts of money from a failing city to a mismanaged school district, and give undeserved $195,000 golden parachutes… Parking fees were raised by 66 percent to bring in $550,000 to cover a $55,000 deficit. Why there is a deficit is criminal. Where is the estimated $1.375 million ($1.25/hour rate) going?
How long before the “free Xmas parking” tradition is eliminated to increase revenues? And who calculates the lost or destroyed local business taxes?
Please publish the unfunded, unsustainable Manhattan Beach future liabilities, such as pensions and retirement benefits. The public secures these entitlements while there is absolutely no parity between the public and private sector pension/retirement.
Donald A. Sellek
Manhattan Beach

Beach of contract
Dear ER:
I received an overwhelming number of positive responses about my solutions regarding Macpherson Oil vs. The City of Hermosa Beach. (Letters, ER Feb. 4, 2010). On the other hand, there were a couple critical responses that were very emotionally charged like the letter from Daniel Matson (ER Feb. 11, 2010). The unhinged personal attacks are really more of a reflection of the person making them and distracts from the subject matter at hand.
Matson and other critics missed my points entirely. My letter was not about “oil or oil drilling.” It was about a breach of “contract” and a possible solution to a decade old case. The subject matter of the contract be it oil, solar power or anything else, and how the breached occurred, really doesn’t matter. If Macpherson had a “valid contract” that was broken, then the company needs fair compensation, unless I (and so far the courts) are missing something entirely.
A contract is a binding legal agreement that is enforceable in a court of law or by binding arbitration. That is, a contract is an exchange of promises with a specific remedy for breach.
For a perspective, I would review the Pennzoil vs. Texaco judgment about a “handshake” agreement that rendered an $11.1 billion judgment:
In 1984 after Getty Oil was sold to Pennzoil in a handshake deal. Texaco made a higher offer, and the company was sold to Texaco. Pennzoil filed a lawsuit alleging tortious interference with this oral contract, which the court upheld and awarded $11.1 billion in damages.
Ironically, I am defending an oil company though I work with alternative energy, organics and sustainability, so my objectivity shouldn’t be questioned. Recently, I helped install the new solar powered, self-contained LED lighting system for Redondo Beach’s bike path; I helped establish the green business program for the City of Santa Monica; and I am currently working with the City of Torrance on a similar eco plan; so obviously I am not a shill for the oil company. However, the vilification of a family owned business is not responsible, in my opinion.
Matson mentions that he is tired of subsidizing the oil companies, big banks etc. and I concur. However this case has nothing to do with subsidizing. In fact, if Macpherson had a successful, eco-safe oil operation, the citizens of Hermosa Beach would be getting paid (in the form of tax revenues), which is the exact opposite of what Matson’s states.
Mark Machuszek
Editor’s note: Allowing the Macpherson Oil company to drill for oil is not a viable option for the city of Hermosa to avert the lawsuit. The courts have upheld Prop. E, making oil drilling in the city against the law.

Flower police
Dear ER:
I just finished reading the new water and landscape ordinances posted in your paper for Hermosa Beach. Four pages long of you “can’t” do this and you “must” do this. Government has now reached into our homes and businesses with massive regulations and costs even in this troubling economic environment. Telling us what kind of flowers we can plant is nonsense. And if you violate the law, a lien can be placed on your property according to Chapter 1.10 of the municipal code. This new ordinance is the most restrictive law ever passed by any city in the area. One newly elected councilman was even quoted saying, “Let’s get this done fast so we can be first.” This feel good proposal by politicians has not been thoroughly discussed with the community. We do not need to get this done fast so we can be first. We need public involvement and common sense. I’m not looking forward to the flower police looking over my fence any time soon.
Name withheld so I can keep my pansies