Cohn bygone
Dear ER:
Two years ago, David Cohn successfully ran a hurtful and vicious campaign for Treasurer of the City of Hermosa Beach against John Workman. Cohn’s campaign was filled with lies and false statements designed to tarnish the image of the city. John had served as Treasurer in the City of Hermosa Beach faithfully for many years and was devastated by the personal attacks from Cohn. Tragically, John Workman died of a heart attack just three days following his loss of the election. Many believe John’s untimely death was a direct result of the slanderous attracts made by David Cohn during the campaign.
Over the past 18 months as the city’s Treasurer, we saw David Cohn as an impotent politician, always full of himself and making grandstander self-serving statements acting as Treasurer. His lack of transparency in the handling of the city’s financial matters was rampant. The true nature of Mr. Cohn character became clear to everyone when the scandals about his Craigslist relationship with erotic masseuse became public.
Mayor Bobko and Mayor Pro Tem Divirgilio questioned Cohn’s commitment to transparency during the Cohn’s poor handling of the city’s bank accounts and his also questioned his ability to serve as Treasurer while under investigation in the extortion case involving the erotic masseuse. Their concerns were well founded.
Thank God we have people on the council like Divirgilio and Bobko looking after the city’s affairs. Thank God David Cohn is now gone from office and can no longer tarnish the image of the City of Hermosa Beach any longer.
Peter Hiller
Hermosa Beach
Massage therapy
Dear ER:
I’m shocked that David Cohn is resigning after only 18 months on the job (“City Treasurer leaves office”, ER 5/9/13). If the job was stressing him out, he could have just gotten a massage.
R. Lapin
Hermosa Beach
Manhattan money
Dear ER:
The latest outrage, the City of Manhattan Beach is getting ready to go on a spending binge. They have accumulated so much tax money they now want to spend it all on 44 new vehicles and go on a hiring spree.
Doesn’t it occur to these politicians that perhaps our taxes are too high and that maybe they could look at ways of lowering our taxes instead?
Why not select the oldest vehicles for replacement and replace 20 percent of the highest mileage ones only? Do this over a number of years. Lower the parking meter fees which will increase business income. Lower our property taxes. They want to get the employee count back to what they had in 2008 levels. In case they forget, this was when the City employee count was very bloated. If they hire 17 new full time employees, next year the “retirement funding” will be too low and they will need to raise our taxes again to support this increase.
The school district is looking for more money from the City for the use of school properties for public use, pool, Polliwog Park etc. Will the politicians come back to the property owners and ask for another tax increase to pay for this new cost? The least these politicians could do would be to wait until after it is decided what this increased cost to the City will be before they talk about spending our surplus funds.
Don Archibald
Manhattan Beach
Trash talk
Dear ER:
Hermosa residents should have received a flyer from Athens Services for the new refuse options for the city’s new Pay As You Throw system (PAYT) – which means the more non-recyclable trash you throw out, the more you pay, encouraging/rewarding waste reduction and recycling (which is free).
As your friend who cares about all things trash, and helped develop guidelines for the new trash contact while on the Green Task Force (you can blame or thank me for the new PAYT system), I wanted to let you know there is another option which is not on the card or on Athens’ website (it should be added to the website soon according to city staff).
For residents who do not fill a 32 gal cart each week, there is 20 gal cart available for $5.69/month (about $1 less than the 32 gal). To order the 20 gal cart, simply write it in on the card (as I was instructed to do by city staff) or wait for it to show on the website. You do not have to be a senior to sign up for this service.
Another oversight by Athens was that “Plastics” was not listed on the card under acceptable Recyclables. They are accepted just as before.
If you have further questions, contact Athens (888) 336-6100 or Pam Townsend at the City of HB (ptownsend@hermosabch.org)… Or you can ask your trashy friend.
Lisa Ryder
Hermosa Beach
Consolidate this
Dear ER:
I commend our farsighted and thoughtful Hermosa Beach City Council for changing the trash service. My wife and I have, between the two of us, more than 75 years of living in Hermosa, and it’s good to know that, regardless of how much residents are inconvenienced, Hermosa businesses owners have friends on the city council; daily concierge trash pickup for promenade businesses more than outweighs the excellent, flexible, and personal service residents have been getting for years now from Consolidated. And choosing the one service that is not union out of the three that applied is smart; Athens workers have few bothersome workplace protections and the company is able to keep wages low and worker turnover and profits high.
Paraphrasing the thinking of the fifties: “What’s good for promenade business is good for Hermosa.”
Jim Parkman
Hermosa beach
Bicycle scofflaws
Dear ER:
I have a great revenue source for Hermosa Beach: police should start giving tickets to people who ride through the flashing red lights near Pier Avenue. My husband and I walk on the strand every weekend and we estimate that only one in a hundred people walk their bikes when the lights are flashing. We’ve seen close calls as riders whizz by little kids and around small dogs. Come on, Hermosa, give out $80 tickets like the police do on the Redondo Pier, Hermosa could be so much richer and, as a side benefit, accidents might be prevented
Jan O’Neill
Redondo Beach
Political correctives
Dear ER:
“Everyone, stop for a moment and take a step back and think about the bigger picture and let’s talk about it and think about it and try to hash it out. I think it just cuts the surface of really what’s wrong with politics.” – Dianne Prado [“The Runoff”, ER 5/9/13]
Perhaps the first step Ms. Prado can take to improve what is “wrong with politics” is to say: “I am sorry.”
Perhaps Ms. Prado can say, “If I had a chance to do it over, I would have created a “paper trail” of the accusations, and I would have talked in person to Mr. Aspel and Mr. Ginsberg to get their side of the story before going public with strong accusations against them.”
I offer my opinions with respect to Ms. Prado for having the courage to speak out in public. It’s not too late.
David Mallen
Web comment
Scam victim’s advice
Dear ER:
Just wanted to make South Bay residents aware of the use of “independant contractors” placing ads in local papers and mailings to solicit new customers for TWC. I recently ordered a triple bundle from them in response to an ad, calling the number in said ad. The sales person promised me quite a deal, charged a $50 dollar ”activation” fee to my credit card and then gave me the number to call to schedule installation. The installation schedulers are in the Phillipines (isn’t everyone these days?) and they mentioned that the price quoted me by the sales person wouldn’t get me all the channels he promised. After several calls back and forth between me and him, me and them and me and him again I decided to cancel the whole thing. When I asked Time Warner to refund my “activation” fee they said they had no record of it and asked for proof. I sent them my bank statement, noticing then that the company that had charged my card had a different name. Of course they don’t answer the phone now and my bank hasn’t been able to reverse the charge either.
My advice: ignore ads you see in print media, in the mail, in the penny saver, etc. To go further, don’t give your business to a company that uses these shady types to bring them customers.
Ken Brown
Redondo Beach
Dylan Fest
Dear ER:
After digesting Alyssa Morin’s thorough story (“Forever Young,” ER 4/25), my husband Chuck and I desired to trade in our hard earned tokens to become among those fellow souls enrolled for the magical Bob Dylan Fest afternoon.
Nevertheless, though ever so slight, a faint cloud dampened the now senior enthusiasm from our youth. We recalled Bob Dylan concerts from our pictures when we were in our thirties; and further visualized our fellow ‘folkniks’ crowded in with us they were also in their thirties. The last time Chuck and I looked thirty was 43 years ago. But for Chuck and myself Dylan is a Psalmist for our generation, and Psalms evoke truth and truth follows from generation-to-generation thus making us all one in age.
What a cornucopia afternoon of joyous emotions as Chuck and I listened to both the old and the young converse in Dylan’ees. Dylan’s songs are styled for the Dylan commonwealth sovereign to esoteric translation. With newly generated enthusiasm we look forward to next year getting on our bicycles and rejoicing the annual Dylan Fest ‘2014.
Thank you ever so much, Andy Hill and Renee Safier
Dora Perez-Meyer
Torrance
