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Letters
Legal education cost kids
Dear ER:
I salute ER's John Tawa on the article on the Manhattan Beach school district budget ("School district ponders cuts," ER May 18,2000). Deputy Superintendent Scott Smith of the Manhattan Beach school district continues to bore us with his 20/20 hindsight. Of course, we would like to see a "pie back to balanced". This, however, requires foresight on the part of the district and appears to be something of which there is no excess. Does he not realize how foolish our district looks after hiring unneeded teachers at a cost of $500,000? Could we have used this $500,000.00 more wisely by funding some of the special education programs within our district for which the district pays so highly to the non-public schools? Special education costs, monies actually spent on educating our special needs students within our district, are completely disproportionate to the number of special needs children in our district. They are, in fact, negligible. Our costs are high due to litigation because MBUSD lacks not only the ability, but also the desire to work collaboratively with the families of special needs students, as they do with the GATE families. These are services to which these students are legally entitled. When families have no other redress, due to lack of acknowledgement and cooperation on the part of the district, but to hire an attorney to fight for what is legally theirs to begin with, I have no comment other than these are costs the district is choosing to incur.
I am the parent of a special needs child in the MBUSD. As early as first grade, my child was denied services to which any student is legally entitled. Our family chose to go outside the district and we are fortunate to have the resources with which to do this. My reasons for responding to Scott Smith's statements are to bring to light the severity of the lack of attention to this very important part of education and the significance of MBUSD coming out in the ER to tell us about how the expenditures have outgrown the pie. This is by choice, and only by choice can it be changed.
Suzanne Humphrey
Manhattan Beach
A park for outsiders
Dear ER:
It appears that the proponents of Proposition 2000A want to rezone the Metlox site so we won't have outsiders come in and create traffic, etc. Guess what folks, people are going to come to Manhattan Beach. Perhaps it might have something to do with the second word in our name, Beach. So the question is, who do you want to come?
Build a cute passive park and who will come? Ask Santa Monica where, there are lots of passive parks near the beach. Ask Hermosa Beach about their park across from the beach on the old Biltmore site. Ask any land use planner and they will tell you that the more passive the park, the more problems. The more active the park, such as Dorsey Field or Marine Avenue park the fewer the problems. The Metlox site is not big enough for an active park. Okay, so let's not build a park.
Let's build a parking lot. Great idea, especially in the summer. We can have more people come to the beach. Okay, let's not build a parking lot.
Let's build more government offices. Great idea. We all want to increase the size and cost of government so we can pay more taxes. Okay, let's not build public offices.
I have an idea. Let's build a small, attractive commercial project that has lots of open space and provides services that we don't already have downtown. Unfortunately if proposition 2000A passes, we can't. Please join me in voting NO on June 6th.
Jim Browser
Manhattan Beach
Dear ER:
For various reasons, my wife and I have attended numerous City Council meetings this past year. I have found the council members to be polite, attentive and fair in listening to the public on all issues, many of which are highly controversial. For the past four to five months, we have been dismayed by the lack, of respect shown to council members and city employees by three specific individuals -- to remain nameless -- who show up each meeting and personally abuse and attack our elected officials and staff on almost every issue discussed. Two of these "nameless" renegades now appear in the June 6 ballot information booklet as leaders of the proponents trying to rezone the Metlox property to public use. After hearing them attack our city leaders week after week with so much unsubstantiated innuendo and verbal assault, it's no wonder that we are hearing so much misinformation coming from their mouths about Proposition 2000A.
If you want to know the real facts on the effect this ballot initiative will have on the city and its residents if it passes, contact Residents Against Rezoning at 546-4611 or visit their web site at www.rar.web.com. Once you read and understand the issues, I am confident you will join us in voting "NO" on Proposition 2000A.
Jim Hunter
Manhattan Beach
Shops for tourists
Dear ER:
The "Metlox Mess" boils down to do we really want or need to attract either residents or non-residents to a downtown shopping center? How many residents will change their shopping habits and abandon the numerous malls? Except for the post office, the library and city hall, where is there any increased attraction or convenience for residents?
Will the many Manhattan residents living east of the "sand area" leave the nearby malls with their free, ample parking, lower prices and wider choice of goods?
Parks and open areas will continue to be used by the residents and enjoyed, but more shops, restaurants and bars are attractions for the tourists. Do we want a "Bottom Line" sacred city?
Peter Hodson
Manhattan Beach
Dear ER:
Ballot initiative 2000A is about Downtown Manhattan Beach's future. I wanted to share my vision of what that the future might look like. I have worked downtown for the last 15 years. Downtown is more vibrant than it has ever been. Everywhere I turn I bump into people I know from our community. I see people smiling, talking, and enjoying themselves in our town's center. We are blessed with best of two worlds, a small casual beach town with an urban feel -- a unique ambiance found nowhere else in Southern California. This experience can be further enhanced with the low impact commercial uses proposed by the Downtown Manhattan Beach Business and Professional Association.
1) Underground the parking for any development of Metlox. This allows for maximizing the architectural beauty of the development.
2) A small high quality inn is the lowest traffic generator of any of the proposed uses. An inn also brings visitors from all over the world, enhancing all of our cultural experiences.
3) Additional office space generates weekday vitality while leaving parking for night time and weekend visitors.
4) Small boutique retail on Manhattan Beach Blvd provides additional shopping experiences without being a regional draw.
5) A large town square with landscaping and fountains creates a place for everyone in Manhattan Beach to meet and enhance their daily life.
I believe this is the right vision for our Downtown, not a parking lot and a small nature park for dogs and cats to relieve themselves. Please join me in voting NO on 2000A.
David Levin
Manhattan Beach
Lightning bug
Dear ER:
My fridge was dark late Saturday morning-no electricity again. Who do I call to switch to a different power company? I'm getting pretty good at figuring out how long the power outages last by comparing my plug-in and battery-powered clocks. Quick. What's 1:18 p.m. minus 10:25am?
This last time was actually kind of fun. I started wondering whether ice cream tastes worse if it melts a little and then re-freezes. This made for pretty good neighborhood conversation, with people weighing in on both sides. In the end, we figured different flavors might be affected differently. This was after a few beers.
In a fantasy number I run in my head, I imagine these intermittent outages to be the result of the rapid dismantling of the Redondo power station. Man, that thing has got to go. Who maintains a power station right next to a beach resort? When I do that in SimCity, the people all freak out and stop paying taxes, and then Godzilla smashes the whole town. Can we get some local gadfly action on this?
Kevin Knight
Hermosa Beach