On the same track
Dear ER
I am glad that the Redondo Beach City Council is working together to support the residents that would be impacted by the Metro Green line running through North Redondo. Metro didn’t evaluate the impact it would have on Pacific Crest Cemetery, especially the crypt that is right next to where the tracks are. The people who have family there deserve to have a peaceful place to visit their loved ones who have passed.
Anneke Blair
Redondo Beach
BBB for BoB
Dear ER:
I have been a Redondo Beach resident for 43 years. Together with my wife, we have two kids who grew up in South Redondo and we have three grandkids. Weekend breakfast burritos between all of us have become a ritual and a family opinion battle as to which joint produces the best breakfast burrito.
In our family there are numerous opinions as to who makes the best BB. My son insists Phanny’s is the best. I think Classic Burger is by far the best, and my son-in-law suggests Cap & Corks holds the pole position.
Others mentioned by neighbors include La Terraza, R10, Mi Burrito….the list goes on.
I strongly believe it is time for The Easy Reader Best of the Beach to include the BBB. You could even empanel South Bay ‘celebs’ to be guest judges.
Jon Bucci
Redondo Beach
Equal treatment
Dear ER:
In two disciplinary cases, the State Bar of California charged Redondo Beach District 4 Councilman Zein Obagi with misappropriation of client funds exceeding one half million dollars and with misrepresentation. Obagi denied the charges. The prosecutor’s evidence against him was substantial and compelling. On December 5, 2023 the State Bar Judge, after a lengthy trial, found against Obagi and issued a 41 page decision outlining the evidence against him and recommended he be prohibited from practicing law for two years and pay fines.
On April 3, 2024, a unanimous California Supreme Court agreed with the trial judge’s decision and issued its Order suspending Obagi from practicing law.
On January 22, 2019, the Redondo City Council voted to direct the City Clerk to send a letter to a member of the general plan advisory committee asking for his resignation because he lied under oath and acted as a shill for a developer who sued Mayor Bill Brand. The 4-0 Council vote relied on no specific charter provision for this precedent setting request. The Clerk sent the letter and the GPAC member resigned.
This same action must be taken against Zein Obagi. But will council members Scott Behrendt, Nils Nehrenheim, Todd Loewenstein and Paige Kaluderovic ask for Obagi’s resignation ? Will Mayor Jim Light, who received Obagi’s vote in his appointment to replace Bill Brand, ask for the same?
The campaign statements on file with the Clerk’s office show that Behrendt has contributed $800 to Obagi; Jim Light contributed $950 to Obagi; Lowenstein gave $300 to Obagi’s recall fight, and Obagi contributed to Loewenstein and Nehrenheim’s campaigns.
Obagi needs to resign and be replaced. Obagi swore he would act with dignity and integrity. The judge found otherwise.
Steve Colin, Esq.
(Former Redondo Beach District 3 Councilman)
Redondo Beach
For whom BCHD tolls
Dear ER:
I was disappointed, but not surprised, to see Beach Cities Health District’s Boardmember Vanessa Poster avoid any meaningful discussion of the facts surrounding BCHD’s new regional focus (“Change happens, embrace it,” ER April 11, 20243). BCHD has actively migrated from the Hospital District’s voter-mandated focus of the “residents who reside” in the District to a new regional focus that provides services to 80% to 95% non-residents of the District. Why should BCHD be allowed to ignore the terms of the condemnation of the land that the District sits on? The land was taken from private owners in order to service the District residents.
Poster is correct in her claims that BCHD has changed. It is no longer serving the voters that founded and funded it. Instead, it plans to use Redondo Beach Public land to service 80% to 95% non-residents of the District. And the view for Redondo Beach residents and taxpayers is even worse. Redondo Beach residents will only receive a meager 3% to 9% of the services of the new planned redevelopment. However, Redondo Beach residents will suffer 100% of the damages from BCHD’s non-resident focus in terms of traffic, noise, pollution, lost public land, and surrounding property devaluation.
Don’t let BCHD fool you into believing that it will deliver more services than costs or damages to Redondo Beach residents. BCHD doesn’t even bother to evaluate the benefits of its programs because it cannot. In a Public Records Act reply, BCHD stated “calculating a dollar community benefit for each program is beyond the scope of the District’s mission, financial resources and abilities.” The District is honest in this regard; the District doesn’t have the “ability” to determine if it provides more value than cost and community damage to neighbors.
BCHD has chosen to make the General Plan issue about BCHD. So be it. The City’s developments (with FAR 1.25) will provide nearly 100% of their services to Redondo Beach residents. There’s no comparison between the non-resident future focus of Poster’s future view and the continued resident-centric focus of the City of Redondo Beach to its residents.
Mark Nelson
Redondo Beach
Surfer Walk of Fame fan
Dear ER:
I was stoked to learn more about Greg Browning (“Both sides now,” ER/Surfer Walk of Fame, ER April 11, 2024). We met at a filming last year of a commercial for an upcoming documentary produced by the South Bay Boardriders Club. Congratulations to Greg on his induction into the Surfer’s Walk of Fame on the Hermosa Beach Pier on Saturday, April 27. It’s an honor to know him and I to continue to pray for him in his future challenges with ALS. The Great Physician is in charge.
Dennis Duke Noor
Hermosa Beach
