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Letters
Viva Zapatero
Dear ER:
Your article, "Council considers future of harbor bridge and landfill" (ER 7/20/00)
points out that the International Boardwalk Merchants "...fear that the bridge
could hurt their business by decreasing foot traffic." This is true for the
same reason that a freeway bypassing a small town hurts business by removing
traffic.
The City says that they will protect the merchants. What of the broken promises and discarded commitments made by the City of Redondo Beach in the past?
In 1991, as a major portion of the settlement in the lawsuit to rebuild the pier, the City agreed to beautify the stairs that connected the North Pier with the International Boardwalk. The city promptly removed the stairs from the plans and never completed the access.
In 1993, the city took the octagonal building in a questionably legal condemnation. The cost approached three million dollars and the building has been closed and decaying for almost a decade.
In 1995, the City Council voted to again replace the stairs with money left over from a pier project. This commitment never materialized and the stairs were never built.
In February, 2000, the City Council voted to improve the lights on the Boardwalk with funds left over from beautifying the lighting on the city's leasehold and parking structure. The boardwalk merchants are still waiting for their lights.
The City has not kept their promises in the past. The residents and merchants should not believe the City now!
Stephen P. Shoemaker, Jr.
Redondo Beach
Lease is more
Dear ER:
At last week's RB Council meeting, Marina Master Lessees expressed serious concerns
about extending "The Strand" for pedestrians and bicyclists through their leaseholds,
expansion of Mole B's Moonstone Park, and a pedestrian bridge connecting the
pier and marina. But during the Urban Land Institute meetings and subsequent
public hearings the master lessees were silent.
This is not surprising as the ULI representatives from across the country were "shocked" that the Marina ML's treated their leaseholds like their own private fiefdom, where the public is unwelcome.
What gives? Can public uses of a marina be banned by master lessees?
Greg and Mary Lou Diete
Redondo Beach
Born again
Dear ER:
I was born and raised in Hermosa Beach. During my childhood, I vividly recall
my mom warning me: "Stay away from Pier Ave." She was referring to the motorcycle
gangs, drug addicts, and scary characters that used to hang out there. Today,
the wonderful irony is that I often walk with her and my children to Pier Plaza.
The revitalization of downtown has allowed a safe and fun place for my family
and friends to gather. Recently, we all attended the great Dick Dale concert
on the beach.
I was shocked to read a letter (ER 7/13/00) describing how the concert was ruined by "a bunch of inconsiderate jerks and scumbags" who enjoyed the music by dancing in front of the band (God forbid!). The letter also compared the breaking down of the "basic rules" in American society with the innocent fun of a mother teaching "her daughter how to do the Swim" (at a surf concert, mind you!).
How dare you judge these people and call them demeaning names. Even a freshman psychology student could see through your "upright projections" like a piece of glass. How desperately you long to stand up and dance with them. I am truly saddened by your spiteful complaints and bitterness.
Peggy Gordon
Hermosa Beach
Erection coverage 2000
Dear ER:
Over the past six to eight years, the profile of Hermosa Beach has changed dramatically.
Quaint beach cottages have given way to large lot line-to-lot line homes. The
sale of an existing older property is almost guaranteed to result in a teardown
and the erection of a new large home. Property values have escalated along with
the size of the houses being built.
The downtown has undergone a major facelift during the same time. Out with the old, in with the new. There is almost no weekend during the summer that doesn't have the "Rooney" touch; some special event that brings huge crowds of people to our community.
This all sounds too good to be true! It is. This last 4th of July was the culmination of all the bad aspects of Hermosa Beach becoming the "happening place of the South Bay." The most basic considerate behavior between neighbors disappeared. Parties with live bands, free booze regardless of age and most importantly, no available personal hygiene facilities, played havoc with entire neighborhoods. A party that draws upward of four hundred people clogging The Strand is a public nuisance. A neighbor who throws that kind of party and has no portable facilities to handle the crowd is a public nuisance. A councilperson that blames all of these problems on Redondo Beach and its fireworks is a public embarrassment.
Tom Abramofsky
Hermosa Beach
Quote of the weak
Dear ER:
"Where did we go wrong?" was the statement of Councilman Steve Napolitano at
last week's council meeting in Manhattan Beach in reference to being $1,000,000
over budget on the Marine Avenue Park development. When you are 40% over budget
it sounds like some huge bureaucracy. But here we are in our small city with
five council members looking very ridiculous and without any good excuses to
make residents feel better about such malfeasance. City Manager Geoff Dolan
sounds like a real winner. His new approach is to "high ball" projects, especially
in light that he and his staff recently estimated the cost of a public safety
center at $14 million where it should have been $25 million. His lame excuses
for the Marine Avenue Park estimate error was that they really didn't have a
good project design and they didn't really ever have a detailed analysis on
which to base their original bid of $2.5 million. Councilman Walt Dougher stated
"We've been very focused on getting the fields open in January. That may be
part why this happened." Can you believe this? In private business heads would
be rolling when this type of incompetence is displayed. It appears the Beach
Cities Health District is better at business than our City Council because they
now own the property and we are paying $587,000 annually just to use the area
on which we are spending $3.5 million to develop. Is this the same council that
thinks it can develop the Metlox property? God help us.
Robert Caldwell
Manhattan Beach
Guessing game
Dear ER:
I think its down right pathetic that the city of Manhattan Beach must provide
loan assistance, i.e., corporate welfare, to some of its top wage earners. In
view of several recent lawsuits filed against the police department, one would
think that the city council would be just a bit concerned about saving money
for possible settlements. Exactly where is it written that a police chief must
live in the town that employs him?
Personally, I think the over-paid city manager should have to forfeit both his loan assistance and recent raise to help defray the cost of his latest $1,000,000 mistake. Relying on guesstimates that "sounded about right" is the epitome of incompetence. I can hardly wait to see how far off the mark the city's guesstimates are going to be regarding the Tolkin project at the Metlox site.
It's time for well-paid city officials to put their hands back into their own pockets and not expect welfare to work here.
Dawn Clifton
Manhattan Beach
Wholly holy holey
Dear ER:
It is interesting that the religious, not the atheists, have created a state/church
situation from what was an innocent ritual. It started with religious types
trying to dictate to the Redondo Beach city council, by way of councilman Pinzler,
how the invocation at council meetings should be conducted. Then the government
business meeting became a theological debate. Now it has become a subject for
citywide argument.
So the innocent ritual has been turned into a state/church situation. This we cannot have. Therefore, the now-tainted invocation must be eliminated from the meeting.
Ireland, Serbia, and the Mid-East are all examples of mixing politics and religion.
R.L. Nelson
Redondo Beach
Adverbally....punctuated (!)?
Dear ER:
Mr. Wachtfogel, expectedly, missed the point yet again (sigh, this is like teaching
a spider Esperanto). Ms. Fripp (Letters, ER 7/20/00) was very obviously ironically
pointing to Wachtfogel's perpetually smarmy and rambling waffling on every issue
at hand (except where extreme conservatism is called for), underscoring his
inability to occupy any coherent position but...well, I don't think anyone can
quite discern where he stands except in a fog.
To follow on Ms. Fripp's hilarious jape, is Wachtfogel confident he didn't have a son by the name of Steve Napolitano? Mr. Napolitano possesses the same logophobia...whoops, did I use a polysyllabic word? It means, Mr. W., "fear of words." Thank God someone speaks above a third-grade level.
It would be, in view of the abhorrence for thesauruses in both, a community act of charity to subscribe both these throwbacks to a vocabulary improvement course. On the other hand, there would be a sudden spike in the local incident of brain hemorrhages. I expect the area hospitals to begin preparing for the event.
Glory Canalle
Manhattan Beach
Parker harried a lot
Dear ER:
Our Hermosa Beach City Hall and Library share a common, antiquated mid-1960's,
auto parking lot. It contains about 45 parking stalls plus two handicap spaces.
Our civic center parking lot has not kept up with today's parking needs generated by our community's energetic growth plus recreational uses, i.e. skate-park, theater and social needs. City Hall staff has expanded. Library patrons are numerous.
Why not add some 40 or more parking stalls opposite the civic center, along Valley Drive, and on the Greenbelt? The parking spaces would be limited to between the tall eucalyptus trees.
The full width of the Greenbelt, just south of Pier Avenue, would be retained to preserve its park-like atmosphere, southward for several hundred feet. Only the non-functional present hedge and curbside grass area would be converted to badly needed parking.
Design-wise, the between the trees, opposite to City Hall proposed parking would be similar to the present parking along Valley Drive opposite Clark Stadium and its auditorium.
Believe it or not, in the early 1990s when the Clark Stadium parking area along Valley Drive was first proposed, controversy happened. The sky was falling! Today, the Clark parking area along Valley Drive is heavily used by all, including Friday's Farmers' Market.
John Hales
Hermosa Beach
Wuz up, Hermosa?
Dear ER,
I was astounded to read that Hermosa's mayor called the mayor of Redondo Beach
to request that Redondo end its fireworks display because of the mayhem that
occurred in Hermosa on July 4th. Mayor Reviczky and the rest of the Hermosa
Beach City Council need to accept responsibility for the monster that they have
created in downtown Hermosa.
While Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach grow as balanced communities,
keeping commerce in check with the interests of residents, Hermosa Beach has emerged as the party capital of Southern California. South Bay families like mine are grateful to have cities like Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach to go to for dinner, for a safe walk downtown or for a fireworks display.
As for Hermosa Beach, it has become a perfect town for bachelor parties, fraternity road trips, or if you just feel like being part of a drunken mob on a Friday night. The residents of the city are forced to endure the hassle of drunken 20 year-olds every weekend. On holidays, Hermosa becomes an even greater nightmare for residents. Every other establishment near the Hermosa Pier is a bar and the mayor blames the City of Redondo Beach for the drunken horde. Meanwhile the police chief brags that "there was no one knifed."
I avoid my own town on July 4th because I have learned to expect it to be a drunken zoo. What I am still struggling to understand is the City Council's lack of accountability with what has happened to Hermosa Beach.
Mike Bell
Hermosa Beach
A modern Prometheus
Dear ER,
Hermosa has created a monster, most notable by what occurred July 4.
The City of Hermosa Beach has engaged in an effort to encourage bars and other liquor-related establishments to occupy commercial space at the renovated Pier Plaza. It has also promoted widely publicized commercial events at the beach. As a consequence, the city has become overrun with an unruly group of revelers who are allowed to drink openly and wreak havoc with both persons and property in the area. (Note the increase of theft and assault police reports.) This problem was compounded over the July 4 weekend due to the growing notoriety of the city as a party haven, including the promotion of the Iron Man Contest.
This town is no longer a pleasant residential community, but a magnet for a huge crowd of party animals.
July 4 was most frightening -not in the evening when Redondo's fireworks were scheduled -but during the day when there was no police presence along The Strand or adjacent areas to provide any semblance of public service, control or protection.
The city currently employs only two fewer police officers than the maximum ever (i.e. 46). However, apparently all on-duty officers were assigned to patrol the Pier area and the Iron Man contest. Only one patrol car was observed cruising The Strand during the entire afternoon and evening, and there was no regular foot or bicycle patrol present as there had been in past years.
Certainly the beach is for the enjoyment of the entire public. However, it was my observation that few of the July 4 crowds were taking advantage of the sand and surf or, for that matter, the Redondo fireworks display. It is these things, along with the small-town family environment, that have made living at the beach so desirable.
Eloise Butler
Hermosa Beach
Cost of caring
Dear ER,
I am incensed at the lack of compassion the City of Redondo Beach seems to have.
I am shocked at the fact that they consider the welfare of their pockets before
welfare of their constituents.
I own The Village Cutters in Redondo Beach. One year ago, I applied for a handicapped parking space at Catalina Avenue and Avenida Del Norte in the Riviera Village. I also applied for a passenger loading zone on the north side of Avenida Del Norte. Several of my disabled and elderly clients signed a petition to go before the city. They were hopeful that their problem would be addressed.
I received a letter from the city in September 1999, stating if there were no questions or comments by October 11, 1999, the request would be processed. I called after that date and was told by the engineering department that my request had been misplaced and they would get back to me. They got back to me and said that it would be done. Great! I waited and thought they might do it after Christmas. I was wrong. I called again.
Then, I thought, maybe they were waiting until the Redondo Beach Festival, but I was wrong again, so I called again. I called several times after that, but I received no return calls. I decided to go down to the city in person. This time I was told that my request would now have to go before public works meeting in August because they did not consider the lack of revenue to the city.
My clients are the city! The nearest handicapped spot is across the street at the pharmacy, which is always filled with people picking up prescriptions. I have several clients who cannot walk even that far without exhaustion. I also requested a passenger loading zone. This would help my disabled clients who don't drive. A loading zone would also help the frequent traffic jams caused by double parking.
This week I've noticed that a handicapped parking spot was put in behind my building. They did not have to take out a parking meter to do this, so the city does not loose money. Unfortunately, that is still too far for most disabled people with heart or breathing problems to walk, even with a cane or walker.
Yes, disabled people are issued placards, but if there are no parking spaces available then it does them no good, especially if they have to park down the street when they have trouble walking. All I am asking is that the City of Redondo Beach make life a little easier for those in need of a little more care.
Susan LaMotte
Redondo Beach
Circular drive
Dear ER:
It is Saturday morning and I would like to report how wonderful it is to live
on 8th St. in Hermosa Beach.
For those who have mini-cars that are parked in front of their garages, it will be a great day. For those 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 by 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
Sleep on it
Dear ER:
I think it's despicable that a few Manhattan Beach firefighters are allowed
to dictate the number of personnel needed to serve our city. There is no reason
on earth for the MBFD to be so drastically understaffed. For a city that prides
itself on its public safety, I'd think proper staffing would be a priority.
Obviously we residents are paying top dollar for an inferior product. Do the words "work fatigue" mean anything to anyone? I thought 80-hour work weeks were discouraged in the public safety workplace. I guess not! Because a sainted few have found a lucrative way to supplement their already handsome incomes, we residents shouldn't have to do without refreshed and competent fire protection.
All the stall tactics involved won't make up for the fact that several more personnel are desperately needed in Manhattan Beach. I hope the city council demands it. Until then no one is truly safe. Understaffing isn't acceptable; minimum staffing is both shortsighted and dangerous.
Dawn Clifton
Manhattan Beach