Outrage over outages
Dear ER:
Assembly Bill 66 (State Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi) – requires utility companies to provide annual reports on the frequency and duration of outages and would give the California Public Utilities Commission authority to require remediation of infrastructure deficiencies if repeated outages occur in the same region.
Frequent South Bay outages not only impact residents’ daily activities and home medical care machines like oxygen tanks or dialysis, but police/fire overtime costs, businesses and public safety.
Public Utilities Commission had a ratepayer-funded incentive program to reward utilities for customer service and employee safety, but Edison’s employees were gaming customer-satisfaction surveys to help the company and managers win bonuses and ratepayer–funded incentives. Edison was charged with Fraudulent Activity and fined $30 million and ordered to refund $81 million to customers.
Edison-run San Onofre Nuclear Generation Station disciplined the employees that reported problems at the plant. Of course, these problems were real and the plant has been shut-down.
Edison was also criticized by Former State Assemblyman Ted Lieu for frequent outages and claiming that it was an “act-of-god” or a squirrel ate the electrical lines were ridiculous.
Rancho Palos Verdes had more than 105 power outages between 2000 and 2010 with three fires that destroyed more than 150 acres of nature preserve.
On June 1, 2013, outage in Manhattan Beach left most of downtown, City Hall and 2,500 residents in the dark. The city averages one outage every other month.
An underground power cable exploded June 20, 2013 in the 200 block of Catalina Ave., Redondo Beach, blasting a hole in a sidewalk and dislodging a manhole cover across the street.
Edison admits error in Malibu Canyon fire. Edison to pay $37 million to resolve concerns about three overloaded utility poles that sparked the 2007 fire. Total payment for the destructive fire to be more than $60 million.
The people of Knob Hill versus Southern California Edison – a jury has ordered Edison to pay $4 million to a Redondo Beach resident exposed to stray voltage from an electrical substation.
Southern California Edison was the partner with Manhattan Beach for Utility Undergrounding and doubled the assessment costs on two districts, because they had made an error in measurement. (City Council never questioned this ridiculous increase in assessment costs.)
Why does Manhattan Beach continue a partnership for Utility Undergrounding with a fraudulent, incompetent Southern California Edison?
Robert Bush
Manhattan Beach
Esser’s credentials
Dear ER:
I’m the founder and owner of IMG Outdoors and Hagonoy Sports. Dawn Esser was my business partner in these companies for 11 years and was in charge of our financial operations. I am responding to the false information that Larry Rosolowski states about IMG being a “home-based” business with $300,000 in revenues. At the time Dawn worked at IMG Outdoors, LLC, we averaged $1.0-$1.2 Million/year in sales and $700,000-$1,000,000/year at Hagonoy Sports.
IMG Outdoors, LLC is an import and sales company with customers in the US and worldwide. Hagonoy Sports Int’l., Inc. has 200-400 employees, depending on the season, working at our two main factories. We manufacture soft goods (backpacks, wallets, surfboard bags, surfboard rails, rash guards, etc.) for action sport retail wholesale marketers/brand names such as O’Neill, Volcum, NOTW, to name a few. The goods are custom made to customer’s specs and brand names, therefore we imported the goods into the U.S via ocean freight shipping containers and delivered them direct to our customer’s warehouses via contracted freight forwarding companies and truckers. When Dawn was employed, there were two employees of IMG, myself and Dawn. We both worked out of our houses since the goods were custom made and shipped and delivered direct to customers, so we never held inventory. All sales calls were made direct to customer’s offices, so there was no need to have the overhead of an office. Our biggest competitor is China, therefore cost controls and pricing, which Dawn established, is crucial in maintaining success and profitability.
David Alfonso
La Palma
Diel’s credentials
Dear ER:
Steve Diels’ qualifications are verifiable. He looks good on paper and has the real experience to back it up.
Steve is a true CFO, President and Owner of a local Redondo Beach business for 22 years. He employs 50 people companywide and has contributed tens of millions of dollars to our local economy.
Steve holds an MBA from Pepperdine and is a doctoral candidate.
While serving 8 years as your Councilman, Steve had a unique opportunity to see where necessary changes need to be made. He was able to reduce the salary by 19% and stop the automatic pay increases–we need to do more.
Steve’s platform remains the same since this never-ending election began – to REFORM the position; simplify the role while maintaining a high level of oversight of the City’s dollars, assess the duties and make recommendations to reduce the salary by up to $90,000! These reforms along with others will save the City over $300,000 which can be better spent on Public Safety, Senior Services, Arts, Education and more.
Steve Diels is the only candidate with municipal and civic leadership necessary to bring these needed reforms to our city.
Your ballot has been mailed to you, please mark it Steve Diels, seal and sign the envelope, and drop it in the mail.
Elisabeth Diels
Redondo Beach
Harbor views
Dear ER:
I will be affected in a major way by the proposal being developed by CenterCal for changing the harbor, as all Redondo Beach residents will be. We were told at the beginning of this exercise that we would be listened to, and if we had concerns that they would be addressed. I am dismayed that despite five community meetings (one with no public comments allowed), the major elements we have been shown still lack appreciation that we are a small town with small town joys. Everyone who comes to the harbor expecting to see the ocean will see only the backs of the buildings along what is now Harbor Drive – the view, which is now pedestrian-friendly, will be blocked by the proposed buildings. The so-called “view corridors” are aptly named, since they will remind you of the sterile and undistinguished corridors found in most hotels. As for the area designed for shops and cafes, do we really need another mall? The green areas planned are a disgraceful attempt to disguise an overbuilt area meant for adults to spend money. Families will be discouraged by the “high-end” costs. Where are the areas needed for the lobster fest, ocean sight-seeing boats, gondola rides, paddle boards, peddle watercraft and car shows, and other family friendly events going to be? Where is there a place for children to get their feet wet and pretend to fear the waves? Where is there a place for them to admire tiny crabs and shriek about the “clammy” seaweed? I can only hope that the Council will recognize that he quality of life of its citizens shouldn’t be treated as a commodity to be sold to the highest bidder.
Ann Scarentino
Redondo Beach
Redondo intervenes
Dear ER:
Thank you to the Redondo Beach City Council for voting unanimously 5-0 to participate as in intervenor in the California Energy Commission (CEC) application process opposing the AES power plant from being rebuilt. Thank you also to City Attorney Mike Webb for making it clear that the best strategy for achieving this goal is for the city to adopt a moratorium against construction at the AES site and to change zoning disallowing a plant to be rebuilt. This will force the CEC to do a needs analysis for any power a new plant would provide. Jaleh Firooz of Advanced Energy Solutions described at the council meeting why the AES Redondo Beach is not required to be rebuilt to meet local power capacity requirements for our area. In addition, the power lines that stretch from the ocean inland along 190th are not needed. Both the power plant and power lines can be removed! This would benefit all of us who live, work and play in the South Bay. Our health would not suffer from increased toxic particulates from a new power plant while surrounding real estate values would improve and business traffic in the harbor area would increase, generating additional city revenues. The strongest hand we have in negotiating with AES on the future usage of that site is to have the CEC deny their application to repower. Redondo Beach City Council, please pass the moratorium and rezone the land. Future generations will thank you for your vision and leadership.
Jim Montgomery
Redondo Beach
A suggestion
Dear ER:
The city of Manhattan Beach does not want to reimburse the residents for the “illegal” fees for street cleaning from the original date the fees were charged. The city has agreed to partial reimbursement and says a full reimbursement will not be given and uses “statute of limitations” as way of explaining how our representatives’ moral compass works. It is about principle. It is about what is right versus wrong. It seems all levels of government, federal, state and city have a moral compass that is being affected by a “magnet” of greed. Here is a suggestion: postpone the building of the new city library. I am not sure why the old library is obsolete. Make the residents a priority over city structures. Drop the weak “statute of limitations” excuse. Pay back the residents and then build the new state-of-the-art library later. I am sure the literacy of our residents will not change at all. I am sure the residents could use the money to pay for downtown parking or to put a down payment on their next water bill.
Louie Pastor
Manhattan Beach
HBPD calls
Dear ER:
Do we really need to get multiple phone calls from the Chief of Police instructing us how to spend the 4th of July? If there are fireworks violators or people that disturb the peace, arrest them and let the rest of us enjoy the day. It’s protect and serve, not scold and threaten. Over-reaching?
Nancy Ferson
Hermosa Beach
