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Letters
Metaphorically speaking
Dear ER:
To have the Hermosa Beach City Council blame their July 4th drunk and disorderly
problems on the Redondo Beach fireworks is like Jeffrey Dahmer blaming his refrigerator.
Jim Harrigan
Redondo Beach
Pinzler's list
Dear ER:
What a disgusting display of arrogance, vulgarity, and petulance. After a week
during which he insulted me via e-mail, telling me I have a "pitted mind" and
have earned his "derision" because I dared to question his term limit ballot
plan and the issue of a council pay raise, Redondo Councilman Bob Pinzler went
over the edge at the council meeting.
Pinzler had proposed a council policy regarding invocations that would require clergy to be admonished to make the invocations secular and non-denominational.
He specifically wanted to rule out any reference to Jesus Christ and wanted the prayer to be submitted to the council prior to the meeting. Those who didn't follow the rules would be put on a "not to be invited back" list. What you might call "Pinzler's List." After his plan was roundly criticized by every speaker and every member of the council Pinzler made some vague reference to personal persecution and tried to make a connection between the defeat of his proposal and the Holocaust. That left everybody shaking their heads and caused Councilman Gerard Bisignano to say that he was "flabbergasted" by Pinzler's audacity.
Later in the meeting, during the discussion of his term limit proposal Pinzler accused everyone in the chamber of "Rampant Hypocrisy," causing fellow councilman persons to object to the characterization. Pinzler then narrowed his focus and accused the city attorney, the city treasurer, and the city clerk of being rampant hypocrites and only "supposedly qualified" to hold their offices.
He then went on to say that those three were operating under the principal of what Pinzler calls, "IGMFU." He explained that it meant "I got mine, and I'll let you fill in the F.U. later." His direct reference to a common vulgarity may or may not be appropriate in a locker room, but it was absolutely disgraceful in a public meeting of city officials.
Realizing that his measure was sure to be defeated after two councilmen spoke against it, Pinzler, in a snit, withdrew it from consideration, disallowing any public or council comment.
Bob Pinzler at the least owes the city and its employees an apology. An argument could be made that he should be censured. He once accused City Attorney Jerry Goddard of being "The Poster Boy for Appointed City Attorneys." I suggest that Councilman Pinzler is the poster boy for term limits.
Steve Switzer
Redondo Beach
I think
Dear ER:
Octavia Fripp (?), you found me out! I am in the phone book, call any time.
By the way, your thesaurus must be near worn out.
David Wachtfogel
Manhattan Beach
Editor's note: Fripp wrote a letter questioning Wachtfogel's existence.
Life on the edge of life
Dear ER:
We would also like to thank Dick Dale and the City of Hermosa Beach for the
concert.
Mr. Dale told the crowd, in so many words, that he wasn't a product of any musical school, that he just loved to play. We didn't see any scumbags, communists or anarchists or anything like they showed on the TV after the Lakers won.....but that could have been because we were chasing our autistic son and because someone in our family kept saying, "There's another pelican flying overhead. Quick take a picture of its belly." Our autistic son loved Dick Dale's music so much he grinned ear to ear the whole time. We enjoyed watching him grin as much as we enjoyed watching Mr. Dale play.
We did see some sights. It was nice to see an elderly couple dancing like they had just fallen in love and Dick Dale was playing their song. While we were sitting on the sand, some children with Down's syndrome walked by. Moments later they ran by, one trying to catch the other and it appeared the other may have been on the same mission that our autistic son had been on moments ago...attempting to jump in the surf fully clothed. It was all part of the joie de jour.
Anyway, we left before dark in case there would be the drunken brawls we've heard tell there sometimes are. There seems to be a network of raw nerves stretching across the LA basin from the mountains to the sea like a giant spider web. Nobody knows who's job it is anymore to clear the webs. What we do know is that if you want to see the old couples kiss and the children's joy, you have to risk seeing the jaded, broken and lost people too. The alternative is more isolation, more cobwebs, cabin fever and raw nerves.
There were some people who seemed drunk and had that dehydrated look that comes from a career of substance abuse. We did not see them hurting anyone but themselves but it is likely many of them did act out when we didn't happen to be looking. Alcoholics usually end up in trouble.
In conclusion, I have to side with Redondo Beach's Mayor Hill instead of Hermosa Beach's Mayor Reviczky. I saw the headline: "HB asks RB to end its Fireworks Show." The fireworks in Torrance's Wilson Park probably also have nothing to do with Hermosa's problems or solutions either. We can't cancel everything, clear the beach and send everyone back to the TV. We can't, to steal from Richard Pryor, "Cancel Christmas".
We have to find a way to deal with our problems.
Granted, there are some people out there who seem more weird than most, who seem to have gotten more than one share of peculiar. I'd love to stay and chat some more it, but I think I just saw a hummingbird enter the back yard and I gotta go get my husband to take a photo of its belly...(I just want to see where they put their feet when they fly).
J.E. Siu
Harbor City
Benz 'a mine
Dear ER:
Long live the lively and youthful spirit of Hermosa Beach. Bob Benz, you and
your colorful life as a city councilman made for interesting reading over the
years. Let it be known you will be missed by this retired senior and long time
resident of Redondo Beach.
Thurman Cross
Redondo Beach
Rockets red glare
Dear ER:
The holiday has gone, charges and counter charges are flying. What was the cause
for the drunken, near riot situation on Hermosa's Pier Ave? Our Hermosa officials
shrewdly analyzed the possible causes and decided that it was the fireworks
display in Redondo Beach that did it.
Redondo came back with the family excuse that we in Hermosa had created this drunken liquor bazaar on Pier Ave. and now want to point the finger at them. The nerve of those people.
There was criticism of law enforcement for not controlling the situation by bringing in additional help from neighboring towns. The reason given was that officers from other places might "lose restraint" in keeping order in areas where they don't regularly work. Well yes, I guess so.
However, I've seen cars from other cities. Redondo, Manhattan and even Torrance here as reinforcements in the past. Anyway, we shouldn't have had trouble with drunk drivers.
Some time ago there was comment about Hermosa not having sobriety check points. Councilman Revitzky said they were not needed here. "People know better than to drink and drive in Hermosa."
G. Perry
Hermosa Beach
Circular drive
Dear ER:
It is Saturday morning and I would like to report how wonderful it is to live
on 8th St.
For those who have mini cars that parked in front of their garages it will be a great day. For you who have a car an inch longer, your morning will be a bit different. The city's dedicated meter maid was hard at work this morning giving tickets to those on the city's so-called property line -- called sidewalks.
Plus, you will be happy to know not only does she give tickets, but she takes down posters of lost birds, cats and dogs. I consider myself lucky. I have posted a lost animal and my sign was seen before the attack of a city employee. My pet was returned within 24 hours.
My conclusion is simple. I feel the city welcomes growth so the parking ticket revenue will continue to grow so they can train city employee's to take down lost pet posters and ruin a resident's day.
Pat Preiss
Hermosa Beach