Dial HB
Dear ER:
Thank you to the City of Hermosa Beach for providing the Dial-a-Text service for our seniors. This service is a blessing and is administered very well. Please even consider expending the areas to which the services apply. My elderly father would welcome not having to wait quite so long for pick-up and he would love the occasional ride to downtown Los Angeles, to the casinos, or to a sporting event. But all and all, Hermosa is doing a wonderful thing for the growing number of seniors.
Patricia Lord
Hermosa Beach
Performance anxiety
Dear ER:
On April 22, 2025, our City Council met to consider the performance of the City Manager, Suja Lowenthal. During the compulsory public comment session, a group of city insiders and paid city staff made a choreographed attempt to appeal to council that Lowenthal is “irreplaceable.” We have heard from residents and business owners who feel very differently. This is the other side of the story:
The City Manager has developed a culture more suitable to a large city like Long Beach, where she came from. Heavy on bureaucracy and staff. Inflexible, unavailable and unapproachable.
- Staff costs have risen substantially since she arrived in 2018 and are forecast to rise by almost $3 million in this year alone. The City Manager’s department now costs us $2.7 million a year, up from $1.6M when she arrived.
- The City has become business unfriendly. Sales tax revenues continue to decline as our businesses struggle. Businesses are afraid to speak out for fear of retaliation by the city. The number of vacancies on Pier Avenue is growing.
- The City Manager allowed our General Plan Housing Element to be delivered late to Sacramento. This put all of us at risk of “Builders Remedy,” which would allow developers to ignore the established standards for height limits in our town. Rather than accept responsibility, she blamed the residents.
- Infrastructure projects are delivered years late and millions of dollars over budget. The Clark Community Building remains closed after seven years, and will now cost $3.6 million to refurbish. Its original budget was $135,000. The Park Restrooms cost $2.4 million, but were budgeted at $600,000. They also took 7 years.
- Basic requirements like street paving and sewers are years behind where they should be, with maintenance deferred.
- On top of the staff costs, the City Manager has brought in a stream of highly paid consultants at a huge cost. Big City Mentality. We need to work better, simpler, cheaper, quicker, smarter.
- This City Manager has plans for a $150 million new City Hall. Not to improve and repair what we already have. This benefits City staff, but taxpayers will be paying the bill for years to come.
- The homeless problem in Hermosa Beach has not been tackled as effectively as it has been by our neighbors, despite the huge amount of tax dollars in grants toward the problem.
- The parking permit program has been botched, at the expense of residents and businesses in the affected zone. More rules, less consideration for residents.
If you believe the city has been moving in the wrong direction, now is your time to speak up. If the only people speaking up are her supporters, she will be locked in – essentially untouchable – for years.
Robert C. Aronoff
Hermosa Beach
BCHD number crunching
Dear ER:
I am one of more than 2,500 active members of the Center of Health & Fitness (“CHF”), one of more than 40 programs provided by Beach Cities Health District (“BCHD”). I support the updated Health Living Campus Plan, including the relocation of CHF to the 510 Prospect Avenue building, establishing the proposed Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (“PACE”) in the 510 building, and proceeding with a Request for Proposals (“RFP”) for new medical facilities and possible affordable housing (especially for seniors) in cooperation with the City of Redondo Beach.
I am a CPA and served as the finance director of a neighboring city for 20 years. I have read the recent Comprehensive Annual Financial Statements for BCHD, which include budgetary statements and the audited financial statements issued by independent CPAs. I will strive to correct or provide context to a few assertions included with the Comments to the article that were posted the next day by Mark Nelson, the founder of STOPBCHD (“Beach Cities Health District to seek proposals for old Redondo hospital,” ER May 1, 2025).
- BCHD does not have a contingent “taxpayer liability” in the amount of $175 Million as a result of receiving the $6 Million allcove grant. With the grant, BCHD will be able to house and continue to operate allcove, providing mental and physical health services, education and employment assistance, peer and family support, and substance use prevention programs for young people ages 12-25 into the future. Other mental health programs could also satisfy the terms of the $6 Million grant.
- $14 Million was not “burnt” by BCHD … to buy consultants. BCHD has an approved Environmental Impact Report (“EIR”) that supports the vision included in the updated Health Living Campus Plan (HLC). The EIR process required an assessment of project impacts on the surrounding community in accordance with California and local laws. The EIR process generally takes several years with a significant cost, including the expert work of consultants and attorneys. The investment in the HLC has also allowed the BCHD to receive funding for allcove on the campus and move forward with the proposed PACE program.
- Nelson asserts BCHD “has squandered about $60 Million in reserves …”. BCHD currently has a Balance Sheet with $74 million in Assets and a Net Position (equity) of $55 million, per their FY24-25 Audited Financial Statements. Nelson asks, “Where are the 60-years of property taxes that we’ve paid?” Our property taxes provide BCHD with about 33% of the operating funds to fulfill health care, physical fitness, social services and mental health services to our community. Most of the 40-plus programs are free or offered for a lower than market prices for BCHD residents.
- Nelson states: “We have $2.4 Million in BCHD executives [salaries]”. BCHD regularly performs a Compensation study, which shows salaries at BCHD are comparable or even below market when compared with other health care organizations in California providing similar health services to their communities. My view of the salaries of the CEO and CFO of similar (non-hospital) health districts, using the Transparent California website validated that the CEO and CFO salaries for BCHD are comparable. Their salaries are also comparable with the salaries of other management executives working in other South Bay governmental agencies.
- Nelson states, “BCHD’s core function is not commercial real estate, yet that is basically what they have been proposing for 15 years.” BCHD has been proposing and still is proposing the use of a Public-Private Partnership (a “P3”) to help finance the proposed revisions to its HLC. P3s have been successfully used to finance the Long Beach Civic Center, the Long Beach Court building and other capital projects by governmental agencies.
The proposed medical facilities and possible affordable housing for seniors will go through a transparent review process by the City of Redondo Beach, possibly leading to approval. Like the other 96 other California health districts, BCHD continues to adapt to the changing wellness needs of our community, including an aging community, which is living longer.
Dennis McLean, CPA
Redondo Beach
Message from the electorate
Dear ER:
Redondo residents have had several opportunities to “STOPBCHD” in past elections. In November 2022, BCHD Board Member Dr. Michelle Bholat was re-elected to a third term with 45% of the vote, Dr. Noel Chun won his fifth term with 42%, while the “STOPBCHD” challenger Michael Kelly Martin received 12%. In May 2023, Paige Kaluderovic, a complete unknown in Redondo, won her City Council seat race with 52% of the votes. Did Paige’s “heartily endorsed” and much more experienced opponents lose because they appeared sympathetic to the “STOPBCHD” cause? It certainly didn’t seem to help. When the time came to appoint a Redondo Beach mayor, a vocal “STOPBCHD” candidate was completely overlooked while somebody willing to cooperate with BCHD, Jim Light, was appointed. This year, Redondo had several options for “STOPBCHD” candidates for mayor and city council, and none of them were elected. Redondo is a democracy. If residents want to truly “STOPBCHD” they most certainly will, but it seems to me they don’t.
Marie Puterbaugh
Redondo Beach
