Hermosa booze ballot
Dear ER:
In recent years the Hermosa Beach City Council has been very busy. They have held lots of special meetings, have created numerous committees, but somehow they have missed the most important stuff.
In 2012 the Council made a formal “finding” that the nightlife in Hermosa’s downtown “has brought with it significant negative impacts.” In response they enacted a “No Intensification” law offering incentives such as an upgrade to full liquor to businesses willing to give up late night hours, but otherwise left the status quo, with the potential for the cap on the number of outlets to “be amended by the City Council from time to time.”
Their finding, combined with the 25 percent cut in public safety personnel over the last several years, argues that we should do more than leave the downtown as it is. So, I have filed a ballot initiative, to reduce the late night hours of the businesses downtown to midnight four days a week and 1 a.m. on the weekends. Signature gathering will begin soon. More information is available at www.quietnights.org.
Jim Lissner
Hermosa Beach
Wasting our time
Dear ER:
Hermosa Beach’s curmudgeon-in-chief, Jim Lissner, is back at it again with another ballot measure. Before you sign his petition, please remember Mr. Lissner’s previous attempt to legislate away local business (via Measure Q’s excessive business tax) was so hopelessly poorly drafted that even he abandoned it and recommended voting against it. Please stop wasting our time and city resources.
Christopher Reed
Hermosa Beach
Peaceful coexistence
Dear ER:
What Dave Anderson wrote regarding trees being cut down so that we can read the newspaper is misleading (“Newspapers are dead,” ER Feb. 21). Trees are grown and harvested for print. The industry plants more trees than it consumes. Some people will always choose to believe that the printing industry cuts down old-growth forests, which is equally untrue.
The whole process is a lot more green than many think. Getting your news via the web most definitely has a footprint. The digital revolution is upon us, and people change devices like they change socks. These things are not biodegradable; paper is. Paper is recycled, and what is not, is biodegradable. Kindles, iPads and printers are not. They will never break down in our landfills. It is said that electronic waste already makes up more than two-thirds of the heavy metals and 40 percent of the lead found in our landfills. What propels the information to get to the device you are reading from? Server farms. Are these green? Nope. It takes a lot of power and water to run these massive projects.
I’m an avid reader of newspapers and magazines, and also get news online. But I truly enjoy print. I do not like reading articles online if I don’t have to.
Some of the mainstream newspaper dailies that cover large swaths of land are having a difficult time competing against the internet. Papers and magazines that are more niche specific, and dailies that cover a single city or a small grouping of cities, such as the Daily Breeze, are fairing better with readership of their printed papers. They are community focused and do a better job covering your local topics that are important to you and your kids.
There has been a seismic shift in the way the masses obtain news. The younger crowd has chosen to get more of their news online than the older crowd. But I think that print and digital will continue to complement each other and that they will peacefully coexist for years.
Ryan McDonald
Hermosa Beach
Fewer Redondo players
Dear ER:
I arrived home from work tonight to hear a phone message from the RBUSD Superintendant telling me that “now is the time to give to the Redondo Ed Foundation.” Really? I also received an email from my kid’s principal saying that the “school that takes in the most donations to the Ed Foundation will give a two-week homework pass to the students.” Really?? How is this acceptable? Homeowners in RB are currently paying on over $260 million worth of municipal school bonds voted in during the last 11 years (two bonds in the last four years). My property tax bill has gone up nearly $1100 per year as a direct result of the new taxes. How much more can we give?
I also opened up the local paper to read how our new RB high school basketball coach has “miraculously” turned the team around in one year. I guess nobody noticed the sudden influx of new 6’7” players, who showed up on campus this year. Clearly, we are now bringing kids in from outside the city, which normally, I would find okay.
One high school teacher was recently heard saying “that future Redondo kids can forget about trying to make the basketball team, because this coach will be bringing in his own players.” Do the kids we import for sports have parents paying on the bonds? Do they donate to the Ed Foundation? I’m just curious. Will there be fewer and fewer Redondo kids that get to play on the fields and gyms that their parents paid for?
Maybe it’s easy for Superintendant Keller to keep “going to the well” because he doesn’t really have to worry about the property tax assessments in Redondo Beach either; he actually takes his monthly living allowance (that we pay him) and spends it to live in another city!
Suzie Andergran
Redondo Beach
Going green costs Hermosa
Dear ER:
The City Council has once again decided that they know what’s best for the citizens of Hermosa Beach. On Feb. 26, I attended a public hearing regarding the new “pay as you throw” trash service that the Council decided would be better than the current contract with Consolidated Disposal Service. Mind you, that Consolidated has offered outstanding service to this city for as long as I can remember and I have lived here for over 30 years. They will pick up all the trash and recyclables you put out each week for a flat rate of $11.57 per month. I very often have more recyclables than will fit in my container. When I put out stacks of cardboard and other recyclables, the recycle truck picks them up, no matter how much. When I clean and landscape my yard I often put out numerous 32 gallon bags of clippings and debris. They have never refused to pick up anything I put out, no matter how much or how large.
The City Council is touting that the new 7-year, $17 million dollar contract with Athens Services will cost each resident only $6.69 a month for one 35gal. trash and unlimited-recycle containers. If you want a green waste container that will cost you an extra $3.70 per month. The catch is, that all your trash must fit in that 35 gal. container. If you have additional trash you must pay an extra $4.00 a month for another container and the cost continues to rise the more or larger containers you need. I have friends in other cities that have this kind of service. All your trash and recyclables must be inside their containers. Anything not in a container will be left at the curb. Now how long do you think it will take for your costs to rise? The contract also allows Athens to raise your rates up to 5% each year. Just think about the increases in your water and cable bills, over the years. Remember, we have been paying Consolidated a fixed rate of $11.57 a month and they have not increased their rates in over 10 years!
When I attended the public hearing the citizens against the new service outnumbered those in favor at least 3 to 1. The Council politely listened to the complaints but indicated that the majority of the city’s residents were in favor of the new service and therefore they would go forward with it. I know our city is trying to go green but I see just the opposite effect. If residents have more trash or green waste than will fit in their container they can call Athens up to 6 times a year and make arrangements to have it picked up. After that they must pay a fee, which I have heard is $35 each time they call. This encourages residents to allow trash and waste to pile up on their property to save on added fees.
Right now, we can put out unlimited trash and recyclables and Consolidated will pick them and dispose of them properly for only $11.57 a month, no questions asked. The proposed new system is full of fees, phone calls and red tape. Why do our leaders think they need to make things more expensive, complicated and restrictive for the average citizen, all in the name of going green. Hopefully, this contract can be rescinded. I can’t believe that the majority of our citizens would be in favor of this change.
Keith Hart
Hermosa Beach
Breaking what works
Dear ER:
In your recent “about town” feature (ER ) the point was made that few residents protested the proposed trash contract. There are probably several reasons for that, one of which was the very misleading notice that was sent out weeks ago stating that with Athens our cost for trash collection will be lower. Actually that will only be true for residents putting out one container per week; put out two and you will pay about the same as currently; put out three of more and you will pay more than currently. I put out one container most weeks. However, seldom do I have the same number of containers every week in a given month. On occasion, I do yard-work and have 2 or 3 large bags of clippings or leaves. How will my rate be set? Who monitors the number of containers put out each week? Does the trash-truck driver have a complete list and check-off the number of containers each resident puts out each week, and then an office worker run a tally each month in order to send out bills. Not likely to happen, but if it does, each resident will also have to have a verifiable accounting of their own to be certain they are billed correctly each and every month. Who in God’s name wants to pay that much attention to trash pick-up? Are these the details to be worked out in the workshops after the contract is awarded? Some city officials must have been promised some pretty nice perks for them to eagerly burden residents with this sort of nonsense. Reminds me a sign found in some garages: “If it ain’t broke, fix it till it is.”
Roger Harrell
Hermosa Beach
Cheer for Children
Dear ER:
Thank you to all of our wonderful supporters.
Another holiday season has passed by and we are now back into our daily lives. Know that your generosity is remembered everyday in the toys the children play with, the clothes that mom dresses them with, perhaps a bike or skateboard that gets them places.
The monetary donations will enable us to help families all year. Your generosity wasn’t just for one day but ongoing!
Donna Dawick
Kathryn Hansen
