Tho is love
Dear ER:
Love is what our beach cities is all abou. Vantha Tho was that (“Beloved hair stylist killed in Hermosa,” ER August 4, 2016). I was at her residence to drop off a starfish with flowers and a candle last Sunday and then attended her services. Vantha meant so much to our community. It’s where she belonged.
TJ Parker
Website comment
Battle of Mole B
Dear ER:
In 2007, long before there was a CenterCal Mall, City Staff, boater representatives and the Harbor Commission concluded the best spot in the harbor for a boat ramp was Mole D (by the current boat hoist) (“Between a ramp and a hard place,” ER August 4, 2016). Now that the City wants CenterCal’s mall, they concoct convenient excuses like connectivity to put it on Mole B (by the Harbor Department), the one place that has always come out on the bottom of the list. A Mole B boat launch would impacts multiple recreational harbor uses that have been there for decades. And it is a dangerous location. The city should place the ramp on Mole D or C (by Sam’s Crab Shack) and then build their beloved mall around the boat ramp and Seaside Lagoon. But you can bet that will not be what gets approved. And that is why we need the King Harbor CARE Act — to enforce the balance the city promised with Measure G.
Jim Light
Redondo Beach
Political stormwater
Dear ER:
Manhattan Beach Councilmember David Lesser expresses concern about the stormwater funding because dedicated fund revenues do not equal expenditures, which requires some general fund support (“Council holds off on hotel bed tax study,” ER Aug. 4, 2016). Councilmember Amy Howorth suggests that residents’ concerns about stormwater translate to a vote for higher fees to replace the general fund monies. Both council members are distorting the issue. There is no reason why stormwater funding needs its own funding stream. The general fund can easily accommodate anything needed. What is masked in their analysis is the general fund spending that currently goes to support a bloated City Hall bureaucracy that would continue unrestrained if general fund spending on stormwater is replaced by higher fees. I challenge either councilmember, given both resident support and their own promises for ocean-cleanliness, to identify what stormwater projects are going unfunded in light of the $2.3 million assistant city manager’s home loan, or the numerous new administrative positions created in the last couple years. To isolate the issue on stormwater funding alone because of residents’ emotional attachment to the ocean is demagoguery. The other councilmembers have the right focus.
Gary Osterhout
Manhattan Beach
Fix it, staff
Dear ER:
A couple of simple question to all those in favor of the Waterfront project (“CenterCal unveils Waterfront Redondo Beach scale model,” ER August 4, 2016). Aside from the much needed repairs that are required because of the (unbelievable) mismanagement and lack of attention paid to the harbor by our city, why do we need a waterfront project ? Are we simply throwing up our hands and admitting that our city staff and resources have completely failed us and are woefully incapable of maintaining this area? Have we come to a point where City Staff finally must admit they need an outside company to come in and save their bacon? Why is our city so inept that this area has been allowed to become deteriorated to a point where we now are required to just give it away in hopes the array of problems are fixed before a chunk of parking structure falls or a railing snaps and someone is really hurt ? Who is responsible for this, and have they been held accountable? Again: Why do we need this?
Alex Bannerman
Redondo Beach
