Blue Heron harbor
Dear ER:
It is a violation of state and federal law to trim or cut trees or shrubs while Night Herons and Great Blue Herons are nesting, but there are regular violations of these laws in the South Bay. Two years ago, palms on the Esplanade were trimmed drastically after the Night Herons had nested. Young herons not yet able to fly fell to the ground and were killed by cars and dogs within a day or two. A few herons returned to the Esplanade last year. More arrived this year. I am concerned that the trimming will begin again soon.
There has also been illegal trimming of palms in Portofino and King Harbor while the Great Blue Herons are nesting. After the first trimming in Portofino this year, one pair of herons relocated to palms closer to the ocean. After a few weeks, these palms and only these palms were trimmed. It is clear then that the herons were being targeted. Last week, in King Harbor, three adjacent palms in which a pair of Great Blue Herons was nesting were cut drastically.
So who trimmed the trees? The City of Redondo Beach? King Harbor? The homeowners on the Esplanade? It would be good to know so they can be advised not to do so again during nesting season.
If the problem is bird poop on cars, then put up signs advising drivers that they may want to use car covers because coastal birds nest here.
Elizabeth Courtenay
Manhattan Beach
11 ways to hit a bicyclist
Dear ER:
The intention for the Harbor Drive Bicycle Path may have been bicycle safety, but it is not that way in reality. Drivers in cars have 11 opportunities to cross the bikers while being blinded/confused with median strip lamp posts, trees, parking meters and foliage as they look for bikers. Runners, walkers, baby buggies, dogs, high school track teams, skate boards and workers use the area, creating multiple hazards. The “Bicycle Light” signs at the four traffic light intersections are too small and hardly noticeable. Fast and careless bikers race along creating more hazards. Police patrol and tickets would help, along with good signage, indicating the area is for “Bicycles Only.” As is, the area is not safe in its new beginning, rather like Manhattan Beach’s 50-year-old bicycle path with its 65 pedestrian crossings and “free for all’ attitude and no police patrol or tickets.
Patty Woods
Drive by view killer
Dear ER:
For the new hotel on Harbor Drive in Redondo Beach, they have created massive walls of cement that totally obstruct the view of the boats and the water from the street. Is this the beginning of the total blockages of the view from the street all along Harbor Drive? How can this be done? It is offensive to all.
Stella Libbi-Auday
Website comment
The ‘further study’ ploy
Dear ER:
I am responding to Jim Prassas’s thoughtful letter calling me a Word Troll (“Sterling trolling, ER Letters July 9, 2015). I have to confess, though, I’m not sure what the sobriquet means. Maybe he means I live under a bridge and steal all the words he could use to construct a rational argument, and leave him only with the words to use in name calling. That is of course his prerogative – I was an elected official, and public comment is one of the perquisites of public service.
I do take issue, though, with his saying I’m spreading lies, since all of what I’ve written about the frivolous lawsuit filed by his tiny group of combative fellow neighbors is accurate, a lawsuit that by Prassas’ own admission cost the district $1.8 million that would have been used to construct additional classrooms, classrooms that both the Prassas’ apparently now concede are sorely needed.
Attentive readers will note that for the past half-decade Miyo Prassas’s advice has been that further study is needed, repeating this mantra while school enrollment swells. Like Nero, she prefers to fiddle while the crisis builds. It is possible that the Prassases actually believe the fable they’re spreading and get reinforcement in that belief from the echo chamber that is the tiny group of their 30 fellow belligerents. I suspect that the 19,000-plus other Hermosans recognize their objections for what they are – an effort to punish the School District for having won its lawsuit, collateral damage to the children of Hermosa be damned.
Greg Breen
Hermosa Beach
Agree to disagree
Dear ER:
Isn’t it great that we have the benefits of a democratic form of government that lets us exercise our First Amendment rights and legally challenge actions by governmental agencies when considered not to be in the best interests of the taxpayers. The lawsuit regarding the building of a gym instead of classrooms at Valley School was filed by the late Roger Creighton with, I recollect, his own money. Creighton had a history of filing many lawsuits against local government for gift of public funds, etc. and he also got sued himself for exercising his own political speech. He won some and lost some. But he always put his money where his mouth was.
By now we all realize that Greg Breen will never, ever, agree with any opinion that Miyo Prassas gives regarding the schools. Let’s consider addressing the current plans, of which the School Board may make us face another bond measure in November, twice in one year, to wear down the electorate into passing their bond. If this were a municipal initiative measure on the same subject, it would not be allowed twice in one year. Cities must wait one year before presenting similar ballot measures. Let’s take some more time and really present a detailed plan about North School. Go above and beyond on the plans, not just the minimum, and you will gain more trust from the electorate. Don’t force another election this November.
Kathleen Midstokke
Former City Clerk and Councilmember
Hermosa Beach
Spill’s silver lining
Dear ER:
On the July 8 meeting of the California Coastal Commission, the commission recognized that the AES power plant property in Redondo Beach is a historical wetland. The presence of this ecological wetland will be considered in all future development of the land.
Why don’t all of the cities in the Santa Monica Bay join together in mitigation with the Refugio Oil Spill/Plains All American Pipeline and ask for enough money to purchase the 50 acres of AES land to create a nature preserve and to provide coastal access?
Betsy Ryan
Hermosa Beach
