Hats off to Shellback
Dear ER:
Awesome article explaining the extraordinary cap sales at Shellback (“Mad Hatter,” ER July 24, 2025). I saw one being worn in Tuscany, Italy. It was worn by the best man in a wedding I was attending who’s also a good customer at Shellback. I tell people Shellback owner Bob Beverly sells more caps than drinks these days. Thanks Bob for all you do by selling the caps at a reasonable price and giving back to the community you grew up in.
Duke Noor
Hermosa Beach
Schmeer attempt
Dear ER:
I think this “schmeer” piece will backfire (“Yeastie Boys truck draws ire of downtown,” ER July 24, 2025). I would have never known about this food truck if it weren’t for the article and now I’m intrigued enough to go try them out.
Vanessa K
ERNews comment
Schmeer delight
Dear ER:
I thought of this not as a smear piece but as informational in that we can make our own decisions about the food truck (“Yeastie Boys truck draws ire of downtown,” ER July 24, 2025). But I laughed at the “hire locally” mention. I doubt many employees of downtown Manhattan Beach restaurants are locals. Love to see the Yeastie Boys truck again.
Reggie Kenner
ERNews comment
Schmeer song
Dear ER:
The Beastie Boys have a song about basically this exact situation (“Yeastie Boys truck draws ire of downtown,” ER July 24, 2025).
Got a ticket on the windshield, another on the door
That’s the cost of business, we’ll be back for more
Callin’ up the council, writin’ letters to the press
Your anger is the secret ingredient to our success!
Talkin’ ’bout your storefront, talkin’ ’bout your rent
While your parking spot is where our whole day is spent!
The sheriff chases the Beastie Boys out of town but not before the band steals all the town’s girlies.
Chris in Redondo
ERNews comment
Looking for leadership
Dear ER:
Redondo Beach Mayor Jim Light boasts about winning every district except District 1. There’s a clear reason he didn’t win District 1: he has done nothing to address the illegal truck traffic that disrupts our lives daily on Palos Verdes Boulevard and Prospect Avenue. We’re told again and again that Torrance won’t cooperate with signage. We say, to hell with Torrance. We live in Redondo Beach. Why should the willful inaction of another city stop our own leaders from protecting our health, and safety?
More than 100 trucks a day use our neighborhood streets illegally, polluting our air, shaking our homes, and creating unsafe conditions for pedestrians and drivers alike. Many of these trucks enter Palos Verdes Boulevard and Prospect Avenue from Pacific Coast Highway, which has nothing to do with Torrance. If enforcement focused on those two access points, it would immediately curb over half the illegal traffic.
During his campaign, Mayor Light promised to “Champion our Quality of Life” and to “protect and improve the lives of residents in all districts — North and South.” But now it seems because District 1 didn’t vote for him, we are being punished — forced to breathe diesel fumes, endure 90-plus decibel truck noise and watch our infrastructure and safety erode day after day.
The Mayor also promised to “Expand community policing programs.” Yet when it came time to approve funding for RBPD enforcement to stop illegal truck traffic, those funds were denied.
Mayor Light, Our nerves are shot. You promised leadership. Now it’s time to deliver.
John Perchulyn
Redondo Beach
It’s complicated
Dear ER:
Redondo Beach has responded to District 1 complaints about truck traffic. The City worked with the County Sheriff’s Department to conduct enforcement on several occasions. During those operations speeders were also pulled over and ticketed. The City has tried multilevel solutions with the City of Torrance. It is Torrance’s truck routes that dead end on our no truck traffic streets that cause the bulk of the problem. But we cannot force a solution on Torrance. The Redondo City Manager has discussed a new alternative that seems so far to be more palatable to Torrance’s city staff.
I have only been in office a year and a half. And the Mayor does not even get a vote on the Council in Redondo. We continue to work on the issue. But dealing with another city complicates any solution. We cannot do it on our own.
Jim Light
Mayor
Redondo Beach
Financial leadership
Dear ER:
If Redondo Beach Mayor Jim Light thinks spending $3.5 million more than the projected revenue is considered “great trajectory” he is following in the footsteps of our representatives in Washington, D.C. who pile on more debt every year (“Waterfront Rescue,” Letters to the Editor, ER July 24, 2025). He blames the need to spend almost $20 million this year, regardless of the declining revenues, on city infrastructure that he claims was neglected and in which maintenance was deferred by previous councils. If that is the case, where did the city spend $90 million in the past five years on Capital Improvement Projects (CIPs)?
The real problem is there is no transparency or accountability for the money spent on CIPs. Whenever the Budget and Finance commission, as well as individual taxpayers, asked for explanations, the city manager, finance director and others from the planning department dodged the questions.
For years, our city has enjoyed a stable economy and adequate revenues to balance the budget with minimum reserves. Even during the pandemic, money poured in from the state and federal government to soften the impact of the pandemic. This city has not faced budget-busting calamities such as earthquakes, flooding, fires, riots, or landslides for decades, as other cities in the state have.
This year, dark clouds are already on the horizon. Inflation and unemployment are slowly creeping up, grants from the State and Federal Governments are drying up, and the threats of fires and earthquakes are constantly hanging over our heads. Under these circumstances, it is irresponsible to spend more money than the projected revenues.
I lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana, for six years (2006-2012). During those years, I watched a business-savvy mayor transform city operations using lean principles and data-driven governance. Just three years into the new way of doing city business, Fort Wayne saved or avoided the need to spend nearly $3 million. Today, Fort Wayne remains ranked among this year’s Top 10 best-run cities in America—proof that the strategies adopted 20 years ago still work.
There is very little use of data by our agencies and no awareness of process flow. The complacency and “business as usual” mindset prevail. Nobody seems to utilize the new tech tools to collect and analyze data, and look for ways to make the CIP processes more efficient and cost-effective.
In the city council’s meeting on June 17, Councilmember Paige Kaluderovic from District 3 expressed concern for the deficit and presented several items that could be delayed. But in the end, she voted in favor of the budget, which passed 5-0. The mayor thinks the current Council is not locked in gridlock the way it was a few years ago. If this is the sign of unity, maybe the gridlock is not so bad after all.
Vijay Jeste
Redondo Beach
Short term rental argument falls short
Dear ER:
Bob Pinzler tries to make the case that short term rentals contributed to the housing crisis, using Cape Town, South Africa as an example (“On Local Government,” ER July 24, 2025). The mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, argued that large scale operators who buy houses to be used as short term rentals should be taxed like hotels since they’re acting as hotel operators, not as homeowners. Critics of his new bill say it could harm Cape Town’s reputation as a hub for “Digital Nomad’s.” (Don’t ask. Take my word, nothing good will come from it.)
What Pinzler doesn’t address is why the government should deprive me of renting my house for any period I may desire? He also seems to begrudge the protections afforded by Prop 13 to preserve estates for heirs. He contends it “hinders” the housing market by never being sold, and protecting the next generation from Prop13 tax increases. This is why we have a Constitution.
He states we need more laws to solve the housing crisis, so that those seeking to establish long-term residence in our city can be accommodated. Stay tuned, the saga continues.
Gary Brown
Hermosa Beach
Regarding the truck problem on PV Blvd:
Is there adequate signage to get and keep trucks on PCH? If not, why not?
Why isn’t the RBPD doing enforcement? Why would the Sheriff’s department be involved?
How about adding speed humps and traffic calming directly on the Redondo Beach side of the Torrance truck routes? Why not make it uncomfortable to use?
For example – Sepulveda westbound is a truck route in Torrance. When it turns into Camino Real in Redondo, there’s an itty-bitty TRUCK ROUTE ENDS sign. Then what? There’s no ALL TRUCKS MUST TURN SOUTH onto Prospect sign. There’s no ALL TRUCK TRAFFIC MUST PROCEED TO PCH sign. Doesn’t look like the City has done the work.
There doesn’t appear to be a TRUCK ROUTE ENDS sign when PV Blvd west from Torrance turns into PV Blvd in Redondo. Nor is there an ALL TRUCK TRAFFIC MUST TURN SOUTH onto Prospect to proceed to PCH Truck Route sign. And I see no reason not to create a nightmare for trucks at the transition on Palos Verdes from Torrance to Redondo. Speed bumps, one lane traffic calming, aggressive narrow road turns, etc.
As they say in AA – do the work….
On short term rentals, when people talk about being able to rent their property however they see fit, they miss the point that these are dwellings in RESIDENTIAL zones. Short term rentals are like “pop-up” hotel rooms; a business enterprise. Neighborhoods aren’t zoned for commercial uses. Short term rental users are on vacation and party mode, inviting a revolving door of strangers to the neighborhood or within an apartment complex who aren’t thinking about the peaceful enjoyment of the residents.
It is disappointing that Commissioner Jeste’s post does not reflect an understanding of how Redondo’s City Council works and that he unfairly singles me out for the budget that was recently approved. He’s been a Commissioner longer than I’ve been Mayor. He should know better.
I clearly opined during the budget deliberation that I prefer we avoid discretionary spending in our deficit situation. But the Council votes and I do not. It was a 5-0 vote. I could have vetoed the approval, but the veto cannot withstand a 5-0 majority.
As to the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), I agree the document could be more clear on what has been spent, what is in the current year’s budget, and what is a future funded or unfunded project. But if you dig into it, the data is all public. And all contracts and budget expenditures on each project are approved or disapproved in open sessions of the City Council. I am hopeful that by working with the Public Works Department, the CIP can be improved for next year’s budget deliberations. But again, I am confused why Commissioner Jeste pins this on me. The document has existed in its current form for decades, well before I was Mayor. Again, Commissioner Jeste could have addressed this issue earlier in his term.
I am grateful that we do not have a politically divided Council and the legislative gridlock it created a few years ago. When I got onboard, there were even Commissioner positions that were vacant due to the former gridlock… that is how petty the situation used to be. The current Council does not agree on every issue. But they vote on the issue, not which side champions an issue. The gridlock of the former Councils is gone and that is a good thing for the City and the residents. We are making more progress now than we have in decades. And momentum is building.