Man to see missed
Dear ER:
I met Kevin Sousa in 2012 at the start of the Keep Hermosa Hermosa campaign to stop oil drilling in Hermosa Beach (“Just the man to see,” ER June 8, 2023.) I often wished I had met him earlier. His passing is a great loss for Hermosa Beach, but his legacy as a musician and a community activist will live for a long, long time. Besides being smart, talented, creative, and gregarious, Kevin could move seamlessly from a heated steering committee meeting to the surf, and from the surf to the stage. Not as easy as it may sound. But I will remember him most for his commitment to Keep Hermosa Hermosa, and for the trademarked bear hugs he offered anyone in need of consoling when things weren’t going well. I count myself very fortunate to have received a few of them myself. He was one of the good guys.
George Schmeltzer
Hermosa Beach
Tower of Babel
Dear ER:
I watched public speaker after speaker comment on the 27th Street cell tower during the June 13 Hermosa Beach City Council meeting. Not one of the four council members responded to any of the speakers’ comments. City Leadership seemed to be taking a defensive posture by not looking into this matter further. There were obvious notification, process and permit problems, but there are solutions. Concentrating a large, 12 antenna array in one neighborhood versus what they did on 22nd Street with a single small pole mounted array suggests a second look at 27th street is called for. There is no evidence the planning commission considered smaller, distributed antenna arrays, a failure of the Planning Commissions to perform its duty. Smaller, more distributed arrays just make more sense until health and safety risks are fully understood, and that’s 10 years off. In the meantime, the 27th street cell tower building should be dismantled and replaced by a more distributed small antenna approach, like was recently done on 22nd Street. The data presented by resident Winn that the cell tower work was done without valid permits was very disturbing. The arguments by resident Prius against having a large array on the same horizontal plane as bedrooms and rooftop decks was also very compelling. Yet the council had nothing to say.
Anthony Higgins
Hermosa Beach
Taken for ride
Dear ER:
The Beach Cities Health District bike path contractor bids arrived on June 15 (“On Local Government: Proposed Bike Path,” ER June 8, 2023). They range from $1 million to $1.8 million on top of BCHD’s $400,000-plus in overhead, and consultant fees for the project already. That means BCHD’s 400-foot bike path project will cost between $290 and $450 per inch. Yes, that’s per inch. So if BCHD were allowed to do all 200-miles of the South Bay bike path, it would range from $3.7B to $5.7B. Yes, that’s billions of dollars. Surely, even the BCHD Board realizes that’s a lot of money. Maybe not?
Mark Nelson
Redondo Beach
Reading lesson
Dear ER:
I hope this e-bike class will educate the students about Hermosa Beach Municipal Code (“Hermosa Valley will require student e-bike courses,” ER June 15, 2023). The code states: No electric or motorized bicycle, moped, electric scooter, electric skateboard, or motorized vehicle of any kind, other than those used for the purpose of protecting life or property shall be ridden, pedaled, walked, carried onto or otherwise enter any portion of The Strand walkway, Pier Plaza, or beach at any time when the motorized — or electric-propelled power is in use. A violation of this section shall be an infraction.
Robert Aronoff
Hermosa Beach
Stupid equation
Dear ER:
This cannot happen soon enough (“Hermosa Valley will require student e-bike courses,” ER June 15, 2023). Matching the innocent stupidity of a teenager with a motorized bicycle should be a felony.
LeRoy Lauer
ERNews comment
Bell ringer
Dear ER:
Mike Bell is a legend (“HB Fiesta Wizard is vanishing,” ER June 15, 2023). Our band, The Brobots, have nothing but respect for him and his crew. I hope he enjoys his retirement. Looking forward to future events in Hermosa with Chamber President Jessica Accamando at the helm!
Mike “Sully” Sullivan
ERNews comment
Bell weather
Dear ER:
Congrats to Mike Bell on his stellar contributions to all communities he has provided his talented services to (“HB Fiesta Wizard is vanishing,” ER June 15, 2023). Although his family time is a gift, and pleasure well earned, I will miss the thoughtful touches and epic events Bell brought, and I will forever cherish the special memories of the Hermosa Fiestas.
Ruby Mase
ERNews comment
No such sound
Dear ER:
There are no “environmentally sound” fireworks (“Redondo Fourth of July fireworks in doubt,” ER June 15, 2023). To say so is to ignore the damage the horrible pollutants and noise does to animals, and people. The toxicity fireworks produce in our air lasts long after the show is over. It is past time for the Redondo Beach City Council to become environmentally conscious and look at the range of alternatives. It is long past time for all of us to put on our grown-up pants, and ditch the big boom. The damage it does is simply not worth the 30 minutes of boom and wow.
Maggie Tephany Healy
Redondo Beach
Podium fireworks
Dear ER:
This is concerning on so many levels, not the least of which is we apparently have a City Council who can’t show up in person in the sufficient numbers to vote on a time sensitive subject (Redondo Fourth of July fireworks in doubt,” ER June 15, 2023). The fact that Councilmember Nils Neihreimer is associated with the fireworks contractor, and yet can’t make sure the proper permits are filed should raise a red flag.
Cee-Cee Morgan Murphy
Redondo Beach
Rainmaker
Dear ER:
What a difference one person can make (“MBX founder Wayland keeps low profile,” ER June 8,2023).
Warren Wilhelm
ERNews comment
Traffic 101
Dear ER:
The intersection at Pacific Coast Highway and Pier Avenue has been completely mucked up by changes to the traffic signal timing, which have created near gridlock from Pier to Artesia Blvd to the North and to 190th Street to the South (“On Local Government: Can cameras slow traffic?” ER June 8, 2023). These changes were initiated in 2014 by some overpriced study that delivered exactly the answer the city wanted (to make driving a car a miserable experience), and then pushed by the City of Hermosa Beach onto CalTrans, which put up no resistance to the absolute stupidity of the proposal. Any traffic engineer with half a brain knew it would create more congestion without any benefit. It took eight years to push the changes through CalTrans and to make anyone who opposed it just give up. The traffic light was re-configured to work as a 5 way signal at a 3 way intersection, with a new crosswalk on the North side that in the 30+ years that I have lived here was never needed. That alone was a terrible idea from a traffic flow perspective but to make matters even worse, the right turn from Pier East to PCH southbound was not allowed even when the signal allowed cars to turn left from Northbound PCH to Westbound Pier Ave. This utter lunacy has created a traffic backup on Pier all the way down to Valley and also created a ticket trap for those who turn right on the red right turn signal when cars are turning left from PCH to Pier. Oh and if you think it is a simple fix — of course not because the right turn light is wired in parallel with the left turn light from Pier to PCH! How do I know all of this? Because I have spoken to CalTrans and Hermosa Public Works. They are both responsible for the misery that has been inflicted on everyone driving through Hermosa Beach. Of course the totally unnecessary 5-way traffic light at 16th adds to the gridlock and like all the lights on PCH between Artesia and 190th Street are perfectly mistimed to cause traffic to stop at each and every light. This is why we have heavy traffic on Prospect Ave Northbound in the morning and Southbound in the afternoon. Cars heading South on PCH divert to Prospect to get around the gridlock on PCH through Hermosa Beach — increasing traffic through two school zones and running all of the Stop signs in between. This type of traffic management contributes to massive amounts of unnecessary additional CO2 emissions.
Bob Adkins
ERNews comment
Leash ‘em
Dear ER:
Redondo Beach has been battling to keep the dogs on leash at Czuleger Park. Friday at 5:30, we counted eleven dogs running off leash. There are at least two dog runs in Redondo. Irresponsible dog owners are taking advantage of our beautiful park.
Jan O’Neill
Redondo Beach
Lacrosse training
Dear ER:
Having grown up while watching Jim Brown display his talents I am amazed to find his connection to lacrosse (“All Ball Sports, a great runner passes,” ER June 8, 2023). The explosion of lacrosse interest of the last few years in the South Bay has been impressive. It would be fascinating to know how many other famous athletes were a part of the sport that has recently been taken seriously by our local schools and sport clubs.
Stewart Fournier
Manhattan Beach
Better with age
Dear ER:
I have been going to Captain Kidds since the day John and his dad opened it. (“Captain Kidds: True to tradition,” ER June 8, 2023). It’s absolutely true that in recent years the place has much improved in appearance, food and service quality. So much so that over the past six months, we have been there at least three times. Favorites are the fish ‘n chips, any fish sandwich Hawaiian style, and their wonderful cole slaw. We’ll be back soon.
Dennis Duke Noor
Manhattan Beach
Reverse direction
Dear ER:
I remember photographer Amy Joseph chastising me for telling people about hiking in the Dunes Preserve (TRAVEL: Exploring Pismo Beach Dunes with Car & Camera,” ERNews June 8, 2023). Now she seems to be telling everyone about the dunes. Many locals wish they had a safe beach to walk and play on instead of dealing with big, expensive environmentally destructive toys. Hopefully the Coastal Commission will help us achieve this goal, which many have worked for decades.
Oceano Beach Community Association
ERNews comment
Money politics
Dear ER:
Commercial special interests, such as private equity firms and real estate developers, are using personal lawsuits against our elected city officials and civic activists to push their own profit interests (“Appeals Court reverses legal fees ruling on mayor, councilman,” ER April 25, 2023). Redondo Beach residents need to decide whether we will allow our city to be controlled by these special interests, through this intimidation, or whether we will support our fellow residents and public officials, and stand up to the special interests. A recent example was when a City Councilperson supports letting residents vote on a shopping-mall project, then is sued personally by the mall developer for the sole purpose of putting the Councilperson in financial distress from paying tens of thousands in legal fees. All residents are vulnerable to this threat, whether running for City Council, Mayor, serving on a commission or working on a campaign, or even supporting a ballot measure. A regional private-equity fund director with a mall project under scrutiny remarked that writing checks to lawyers intimidating opposing elected officials is an efficient approach to clearing the way for his projects. We need to decide if our elected officials are to be working for the residents, or caving in to threats from wealthy special interests.
Robert Gaddis
Redondo Beach
Sounds of Sousa
Dear ER,
It was fitting that Ryan McDonald wrote the beautiful article about Kevin Sousa, which read like a love letter (“Just the Man to See,” ER June 1, 2023). McDonald covered years of Hermosa Beach activities. I met both men, when I joined the No on Oil fight. Kevin helped lead the charge and McDonald reported on it. McDonald captured, in both words and photos, the essence of Sousa, who was a wonderful loving and giving man. When you were with Kevin, you felt as if you were the only one in the world, with whom Kevin needed to be. It is a special gift that few have. I’m so happy that I saw him as he was manning the sound board at the Surfer’s Walk of Fame Inductions, while Jamison was singing. He helped Jamison come up through the singing world. I told him I’d read a great article about him and how he was helping the teens at allcove. He modestly said the article must be wrong. No, I said, it is important work and he rejoined, the most important thing you can do is to help teens through their dark times. It was two and half weeks before he passed, but he gave no indication he was ill. I feel blessed that I got his warm smile and big bear hug one last time. I am teary-eyed writing this letter. We love you Kevin and we know you are doing good things in a different place. Love and hugs and prayers to those of us, who will miss him for a long time.
Andrea Valcourt
Hermosa Beach
Editor’s note: Kevin Sousa will be remembered with a service and paddleout on Sunday, June 25, at the Hermosa Beach pier, followed by a Tribute Concert on Pier Plaza from 3 to 7 p.m.
