Uncle Irv still kicking
Dear ER:
I laughed out loud reading Pete Whalon’s 1st Place story about getting the most swats at Redondo High in 1967, specifically when he talked about his drafting teacher, Irv Glushenko (“RUHS King of Swats,” ER April 12, 2010).
I started my teaching career at RUHS in 1972. The first day, while sitting in the Industrial Arts break room at snack, I was introduced to “Uncle Irv” (and his temper) when he burst into the room and yelled that he was going to sue everyone in the room for the dirty trick that had been done to him by one of his fellow teachers.
Back in the day, all the IA teachers would pull pranks on one another, and that summer one of Irv’s buddies from Aviation High had found a license plate on a wrecked car in auto shop that read “FAT269” (Irv tended to be overweight). He swapped out Glushenko’s front license plate with that one, and when Irv was pulled over by the Highway Patrol on the Harbor Freeway, the officer noticed the front plate was different than the rear. He was consequently hauled off to the jail in Lennox where he had to try to explain the two different plates. To add insult to injury, he had been teaching scuba diving and was dressed only in his orange wet suit.
There are so many great stories about Irv, that one could write a book. True to form, when a new superintendent was being shown around the RUHS campus on his first day, he walked around the outside of room 65 only to see Irv “blasting a kid’s ass” out in the hallway.
Irv was rough around the edges and could swear a blue streak, but he was a great teacher and had a reputation among his students as being “tough but fair.”
Irv is currently living in Port Townsend, Washington. His “good wheel,” as he calls his non-prosthesis leg, is starting to give him trouble, but he’s still the same old “Uncle Irv.”
Joe Ferrell
Manhattan Beach
Blowback
Dear ER:
I encourage all my fellow Hermosa Beach Taxpayers to visit the payroll page on the Hermosa Beach city’s website. The biggest leeches appear to be the police chief, who at $191,000 per year puts him in line with the outrageous salaries paid in the City of Bell. Following him are police sergeants, most whom took home between $125,000-$150,000. Do cops in LAPD and the Sheriff’s Department make this much? Not surprising our Hermosa Beach teachers are near the bottom of the pay scale. What is most shocking is the Hermosa Police Union is suing us for more. Over the top? Judge for yourself.
JJ homeowner
Web site comment
Reality check
Dear ER:
I especially like how clueless the Hermosa Beach mayor and some of his colleagues comments reflect their perspective of what constitutes a reasonable wage. The $100k plus salaries for a fire fighter’s compensation is totally absurd given the order of number of candidates for this lucrative job. Flipping channels and pancakes doesn’t constitute justification for anything more than private sector compensation. Moreover, the city management has inflated their compensation at a clip that quadrupled that of inflation, while at the same time same time they have presided over the mismanaged pension costs, which when combined with the sorry state of PERS, will inevitably lead to bankrupting the city while they retire with 129 percent of their lavish salaries at age 55.
Robert Benz
Hermosa Beach
From barricade to ballot
Dear ER:
Finally, after fighting for nine years, Redondo residents will have a real say this November on how much development to allow on our waterfront. It took two referendums, an advisory vote, a citizen-led initiative, and a successful lawsuit, but the residents won.
Will you vote for zoning that allows three-story timeshares and 400,000 square feet of new development in King Harbor — on top of the 900,000 that is already there. And creates traffic gridlock, according to the city’s own study? This zoning already motivated one leaseholder to create a vision of a seaside mall in the Ruby’s parking lot, a view councilmember Steve Diels said was “….not worth preserving”?
This was crafted by officials who never thought it would face the voters. Of course, now they say they’re for you voting, but they have fought this every step of the way.
Now the City Council has approved vague ballot language and claims 1964 zoning will be in place if you vote against their zoning. Don’t fall for it. California State law, the Coastal Act and your City Council limits what happens on our waterfront, not Redondo zoning from 1964.
Vote “NO” on Measure G this November, and send the message to Mayor Mike Gin and the City Council that they can do better. We need zoning that better balances growth and revitalization with resident views and quality of life. King Harbor needs revitalizing, but not a seaside mall, timeshares, or another Crowne Plaza. Visit http://www.buildingabetterredondo.org for more information.
Bill Brand
Councilmember
Redondo Beach
Racin’ Cajun
Dear ER:
I watched last night’s premiere of ‘The Great Food Truck Race’ on the Food Network. If his level of enthusiasm is any indication, I would agree that Stephen Domingue is the star of the show (Ragin Cajun hits reality TV,” ER August 12, 2010. Now tighten up the ship Stephen and sell, sell, sell your food. If you’ve ever eaten at Ragin Cajun and know Stephen and his staff then I’m sure you watched last night. If you’ve never been, please check out the show and root Stephen and his crew on. It’s a fun, family-oriented show and it sure beats watching all the doom and gloom on the local news and the cable news networks.
Marcus
Web site comment
