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Letters
Freedom vigil
Dear ER:
The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights gave
us freedom and the right to assemble. Beautifully written, 10,000 total words.
On the Hermosa Beach Municipal ballot there is Measure F, which has 10,000 words. In contrast, Measure F is a restrictive, badly written, mishmash. It is hard to tell exactly what Measure F says.
In their last local election, the citizens of Manhattan Beach defeated the exact same initiative measure by a 4 to 1 ratio.
September 11, 2001 was a day of national tragedy. On September 15, 2001 the citizens of Hermosa Beach held a candlelight vigil at the Pier Plaza to pray, grieve and show community unity.
This extemporaneous display of community emotion would not have been possible under Measure F. Somebody would have had to apply for an administrative permit 30 days prior to the event and meet 22 bureaucratic conditions. Any violation of the Measure F could result in a $1,000 fine and 6 months in jail.
Celebration of life is one of the pleasures of freedom. To laugh, cry and grieve as an assembled community is an inherent right under the Constitution. Measure F should not limit this freedom with bureaucratic nonsense. Vote NO on Measure F and keep your right to celebrate.
Al Valdes
Hermosa Beach
F illuminated
I’m sure glad I read last week’s (Oct. 18, 2001) Letters to Easy Reader. Thank you Ms. Buchanan and Mr. Silva for bringing the utmost in clarity and conviction to my final decision concerning Measure F. From your letters, I gather that my vote supports and encourages one of two options: 1. the long-term viability of wonderful small businesses like Ms. Buchanan’s "Splash Bath and Body" (my daughters love her bath bombs), or 2. the warm fuzzies Mr. Silva experienced as he watched some of his fellow-Hermosans (err...they were probably out-of-towners) join the Sunset Concerts band on stage for a few choruses of "My Girl." I don’t think this life-long Hermosa resident will lose any more sleep over this one. I’m voting YES on F.
Dr. Joe Hellerman
Hermosa Beach
Ballot bizarre
Dear ER:
Over the past 20 years, Hermosa Beach has witnessed some bizarre ballot measures.
In 1987, the bare majority of voting Hermosa voters were sold on a purported
measure to buy open space by supporting a measure to drill for oil. Unbeknownst
to many, the passed measure threatened and nearly succeeded in decreasing the
city’s open space. Citing the measure in TV ads, the oil company and its
proponents immediately attempted to place an oil storage facility on South Park.
In 1991, there was a ballot measure to build "beautiful" condominiums
on land that is now Noble Park. Luckily, enough Hermosa voters were able to
see the measure for what it was; nonsense.
We now have a measure, fresh from its defeat in Manhattan Beach, called Prop F. It purports to limit beach commercialization. Its Hermosa bell ringer is the claim that the Mervyn’s Beach Bash has gotten too big. However, the measure goes way beyond the Beach Bash. It annihilates or significantly impacts virtually every other non-profit event in the city. These events include the Little League fundraiser on the Plaza, the Sunset Beach Concerts, the City Picnic (where, ahem, my tug-o-war team crushed Mary Rooney’s lightweights), the Triathlon, the Sand & Strand Race, the Spring Easter Egg Hunt in Valley Park, Aloha Days Surf Contest and Festival, the PTSA Halloween Carnival and others.
If the proponents of the measure wish to have input on next season’s events, they should attend the public meetings like everyone else. These meetings take place at the Parks and Recreation Commission and the City Council. Well before proponent Donley Falkenstein re-printed this measure from Manhattan Beach, there was public discussion about scaling back or even eliminating the Mervyn’s event. This debate should be allowed to go forward. It is part of the town hall process. Our events should not be uniformly eliminated by an over-broad ballot measure, which was apparently written by those who do not wish us to enjoy any of these activities.
Please join my family in voting "no " on Measure F.
Sam Y. Edgerton, III, City Councilman
Hermosa Beach
Solemn duty
Dear ER:
The most important and solemn duty of the city council is to collect the public’s
money from federal, state, county and city sources and budget those funds in
the best interests of the citizens they serve. The present council and council;
candidates not only have a right, they have an obligation to understand the
city budget; not just the General Fund, but the "Total Funds Available"
our $51,547,245.00 city portfolio.This "understanding" is evidently
lacking because not one council person, council candidate or our city treasurer
has taken up my offer to debate one-on-one on public TV. Yet, they all oppose
the repeal of the UUT; they all plan to vote No on H. They all want to keep
collecting 6 percent on each one of our utility bills, while amassing an equivalent
surplus, the "unexpected fund balance," into the ever expanding city
savings account.
Have they spent your money well? After 16 UUT years have your street been repaired, the sewer project completed? Is the Mervyns Beach Bash and the Plaza your cup of community tea?
We will continue as best we can to get YES on H data to the voter via noutilitytax.com, our ongoing website.
Katherine Bergstrom, Co-Chair Committee to Repeal UUT
Hermosa Beach
Beach Buffetts
Dear ER:
I hope that Hermosa voters will consider the following fact before casting their
votes on Measure H--the Utility Users Tax Repeal. Is it fair that hundreds of
affluent retired and working Hermosa Beach residents are exempt from this tax
while hard working citizens who may make $20,000 or $30,000 dollars a year must
pay this tax?
Our city has exempted all residents who are 62 or older from paying this tax. That means if billionaires Warren Buffett and Ted Turner, or multimillionaires Jane Fonda and Sumner Redstone, or former Presidents Gerald Ford and George Bush (all of whom are 62+) lived in Hermosa Beach they would not have to pay our utility users tax. One must ask whether we need a tax that is so blatantly unfair.
If this tax is necessary why not tax people who can afford the tax and exempt people who cannot afford the tax? I don't think anyone would disagree that it is fairer that a retired couple whose income is $100,000 should pay this tax while a waitress who makes $25,000 should not pay this tax. Think about these facts before you cast your ballot on Measure H.
Fred Huebscher
Hermosa Beach
Thinking about H
Dear ER:
I keep hearing about the "overpaid" city employees from the people
who want to repeal the UUT.
Until four years ago, their pay ranked at the bottom in comparison with the other South Bay cities. Now they are in the middle, except for the police who rank 10th out of 13. Hermosa is a great place to live, but is it such a great city to work for that the most competent workers are willing to take less money to work here?
Did you hear that the average city employee salary is higher than the average resident’s? They have taken the average of all the W-2’s in 2000, including overtime, vacation and sick leave buy-outs and compared them to the census per capita income of residents. (Not quite apples to apples.) And in 2000, police, firefighters, and paramedics made up over 50 percent of the workforce.
If the UUT is repealed, the city manager estimates 20-25 percent of the workforce will have to be eliminated. Of course it won’t be the "overpaid" department heads because you have to keep someone in charge of each area. It will be the lower echelon. Unfortunately that is the way life works. Do you really think it is possible to lay off 25 percent of the workforce and not include any of the public safety workers who represent 50 percent of the city workforce?
Repealing the UUT will lower the payroll; it will not lower salaries. In fact, that average employee figure will most likely go up because less people will be working more overtime. Think about it. Vote No on H.
Nick Lombardo
Hermosa Beach
Generation bond
Dear ER:
Met a lady a few days ago who is in her seventies (as am I), who moved into
Manhattan Beach many years ago (as did I), who owns, free and clear, a home
that would sell in the 700s (as might mine) and is living on a fixed income
(as do I). She is concerned about voting for still another bond measure because
of the impact it might have on her finances. I told her and I tell all of you
other old-time-resident, home owning, seniors that the cost will be less than
insignificant and that you ought not be so sensationally selfish.
Let me be specific. Because I owned my home before Prop 13 passed, the taxable assessed value of my home is less than $100,000. My property tax for the year 2000 was less than $1,000. My property tax for our schools was $16. If the police and fire bond measure passes the additional tax cost to me (and many other of my fellow seniors) will come to less than $17 a year. Call city hall to find out what your cost would be.
Let’s be serious. We old folks who live and own in Manhattan Beach have "died" and gone to heaven. For any of us to vote against the upcoming bond measure because it costs too much (?) would not only be foolish (say your prayers next time you need the paramedics and they are a bit delayed because of firehouse problems), but selfish beyond understanding. We would then be saying that we were willing, in years past, to live off the investment of those who came before us, but unwilling to give a bit for the future well being of those who have more recently arrived. Those who have made of our homes "gold mines" for our children, and their children.
Do it. Vote for Manhattan Beach Measure Y, the police and fire bond issue and convince your neighbors and friends to do the same. Might save your life someday.
David Wachtfogel
Manhattan Beach
Dogged voters
Dear ER:
An open letter to the candidates for Hermosa Beach city council:
Many Hermosa Beach homeowners, taxpayers, voters have dogs. If you doubt that, borrow a dog and walk down any street in our city and listen to the bow wows, arf arfs and woof woofs. We are the only large group of taxpayers not getting consideration from the present city council.
Since the current council members have done nothing positive for dog owner taxpayers this may be an opportunity for new candidates to step forward; represent and help us dog owner voters.
Allow us a couple of hours in the evening to walk our dogs in one of our parks, or a dog park, or a dog beach. Go to the beach on July 4, the biggest beach day of the year and yes most beaches are crowded but there are a few empty beaches. Change the repressive and possible unconstitutional dog noise law.
There are plenty of excuses not to cooperate with dog owner taxpayers; the current council is familiar with them. Find ways to work with us, we deserve the cooperation as much as skateboarders and others.
Alan Carter, founding member of the Doggy Party
Hermosa Beach
Super majority
Dear ER:
There is little, if any opposition to the fact that Manhattan Beach's Police
and Fire facilities are in dire need of significant upgrades. Our city council
unanimously agrees that replacement of our existing public safety facilities
is of the absolute highest priority, even when compared to the many important
issues they currently face.
Yet do not be mistaken, the public facilities bond issue on our November 6th ballots (Measure Y) is no ‘slam dunk.' By state mandate, this bond issue requires a two-thirds majority of those who vote in order to pass. If our city's current plan for new Police and Fire facilities is to move forward in the most expedient manner, there will need to be two ‘Yes' votes for every ‘No’ vote.
There are approximately 24,000 registered voters in Manhattan Beach, but our voting history suggests that perhaps only 20 percent will trouble themselves to vote in this election. Rest assured that those who oppose this issue will vote. How about you?
Should this bond issue not pass, there are no guarantees that the city will do anything at all to replace the existing facilities. At best, starting from scratch with respect to defining a new source for the needed funds will involve a public process that will cause a significant delay, and therefore, increased costs. Meanwhile, our police and firefighters will be forced to continue to operate out of substandard facilities for that much longer.
Get out and vote YES on Measure ‘Y.’ Now more than ever.
Gerry O'Connor, Chairman
Residents for Public Safety (A Committee in Support of Measure Y)
Manhattan Beach
Under the surface
Dear ER:
Reporter Mark McDermott did an absolutely excellent job covering the Dive ‘N
Surf Lobster Mobster contest ("Bug Hunters," ER Oct. 4, 2001). I really
appreciated his professionalism, his research with the marine biologist, and
his handling of the questions about the diver who has won the contest the past
several years. I also appreciate the other coverage you’ve given our dive
team, including our work on the coastal clean-up campaign.
Chad Thagard
Dive ‘N Surf Dive Team