Problem trees
Dear ER:
When you go to a cemetery, you can always tell when there was a recent burial. About 6 feet of dirt is piled above the ground. That is what the southwest corner of 10th Street and Loma Avenue in Hermosa Beach looks like right now. This would not have happened if I were home.
Two weeks ago this corner was filled with three large trees. They were a mecca to hummingbirds, sparrows, and home to squirrels. During the days bees were there doing their work to pollinate. I was a part-time Fish & Game Warden and Park Ranger for 15 years before I retired. I did this to protect wildlife, nature, and the environment. These trees were on city property. They belonged to everybody in the city for people to enjoy.
These trees were cut down by a disgruntled neighbor who didn’t like follicles from the trees falling on the hood of her car. She told a neighbor the trees were a “problem” and other neighbors could feed the wildlife. Who does this person think she is, that she can cut down city property and displace wildlife? There are no more hummingbirds, sparrows, or squirrels.
I know there were two hummingbird nests in the trees when I left town for a week. They went into the chipper.
Bill Hallett
Hermosa Beach
Creeping communism
Dear ER:
The recap of Massey’s ‘achievements’ on the Hermosa council was rather amusing (“Hermosa Councilmember Massey won’t seek reelection,” ER Aug 8, 2024). LED street lights, so I now need a flashlight to see my garage door lock. Outlawing plastic utensils…great. Interesting how they left a few things out. Remember those great fun concerts on the beach every August. You can thank Massey for getting rid of those. Remember when the city was paying $70 an hour for these rent a cops to give out masking tickets on the pier, which we all now know was a complete farce; as well as anyone with half a brain in 2020. Shutting down a gym that led to a $1.2 million legal judgment. Massey’s fingerprints are all over that one. Hiring a city manager who has an agenda contrary to the interests of the Hermosa citizens…. Then there was the time last year when he wanted to tell us what we can and cannot do in our own garages. I hope this bad taste of what communism feels like will remain with Hermosa voters so it does not get repeated.
Tom Utsch
Hermosa Beach
Who ya gonna call
Dear ER:
I recently had a medical situation and planned for my aftercare. As a nurse, I know things don’t always go as planned — and they didn’t. Most people will experience something similar. No one plans on having a teenager who needs mental health support, or an elderly parent suffering from loneliness and isolation But those things happen, and health insurance doesn’t cover everything. Where do you turn?
I turned to the kind people at Beach Cities Health District. I was given referrals that enabled me to remain in my home. However, there is a movement that seeks to end these services for the cities of Manhattan, Hermosa and Redondo Beach.
BCHD, whose property has never had an assigned (FAR) Floor Area Ratio, was arbitrarily assigned a FAR of .75 instead of the 1.25 given to similar properties. In addition to tax dollars, leased space funds BCHD programs. The .75 FAR is the death knell for this gem of the South Bay. The detractors have opened a firehose of lies to convince the public that BCHD isn’t worth keeping, the most recent claiming to have “fact checked” a new Gallup Poll survey favoring the effects of BCHD on health and our economy, and claiming the poll is a lie!
I am proof that this agency improves lives.
Mary Drummer
Redondo Beach
Opportunity knocks, on old hospital
Dear ER:
Redondo Beach has a magnificent opportunity to remove the aging, unsafe monstrosity that is the old South Bay Hospital building on the Beach Cities Health District campus on Prospect Avenue, and replace it with a center to benefit all of us by promoting healthy bodies, healthy minds and healthy spirits. By supporting BCHD’s Healthy Living Campus project and allowing for a FAR of 1.25 that has been suggested for all other Public Service buildings in Redondo Beach, the city will enable BCHD to fulfill its plans for sustainable, efficient, state-of-the-art facilities, as well as open space for all of us to enjoy. All of us in the three Beach Cities can help this vision come true by saying Yes to the BCHD Bond Measure that will be on the November 5 ballot. The measure will cost each homeowner less than a cup of coffee a week. That’s as good a bang for our bucks as anything else on the ballot.
Dency Nelson
Hermosa Beach
Chop off their heads
Dear ER:
The $30 million bond Beach Cities Health District (BCHD) is asking you to vote on in November isn’t necessary. Even though BCHD “pleads poverty” they receive steady tax dollars; about $5 million per year. Now, without even asking you, BCHD is working to serve outside district residents. BCHD will begin servicing outside cities, which is in direct conflict to guidelines the voters voted for. Can I underscore that the beach cities residents are footing the bill for allcove services for cities like Lawndale, Hawthorne and Long Beach (which has its own Health Department). This is on the heels of the $1.7 million bike path to nowhere. BCHD’s poor, reckless, fiscal choices put taxpayers on the hook for services that do not benefit Beach City residents and BCHD legally is not intended to serve. BCHD refuses to do what everyone else has had to do — cut expenses. They could easily reduce the [combined] $1.2 million annual earnings of their top five executives, and reduce their full time equivalent headcount of 80 people.
What has BCHD done for you by their wasteful, reckless spending over the years? BCHD wants to turn their financial responsibilities, as well as those commitments of a private party, into tax increases. These efforts are lock step with BCHD’s careless disregard for the public will. The need to dissolve BCHD’s board should be a priority of all of us. Just say no to another poorly planned bond for outside residents we get stuck paying for.
Candace Allen Nafissi
Redondo Beach
Costly election
Dear ER:
The Beach Cities Health District could and should have saved taxpayers $383,506.79 by canceling this fall’s board election. No election was required because only three candidates are running for the three seats. Lack of interest in the District’s election has canceled the election before. But that’s not what’s happening this time. Instead, BCHD is moving ahead spending nearly $400,000 on a $30M bond measure vote this fall. Sadly, the $400,000 on the bond measure election doesn’t include all the taxpayer funding that BCHD spent on lawyers, consultants, surveys, manipulation of measure wording, and other money BCHD spent on preparing the bond. Let’s just call it $1 million total as a round number. That’s a lot of taxpayer money to spend, when the surveys show that about half of the taxpayers object to the $30 million bond.
BCHD is hell bent on tearing down the hospital building, even though its own $100,000 consultant report stated that “best practice” allows 25 years continued use as-is before demolition. Why is BCHD tearing it down? It’s simple. BCHD wants to use taxpayer money so its commercial real estate developer can save $21 million by not having to tear it down, put in sod, and addparking. BCHD wants to stick the taxpayers with that bill.
Here’s a better idea. BCHD spends $2.4 million every year on its 13 executives who manage a total of 137 full and part-time employees. How about we skinny down that fat executive payroll to pay off the $30 million. Taxpayers deserve to reap the benefit of BCHD taking at least $1 million in chief blah-blah-blah officers off the books, and canceling this fall’s election.
Mark Nelson
Redondo Beach
Teaching moment
Dear ER:
I applaud Redondo Beach Mayor Jim Light and the City Council for their efforts to get this right (“Council discusses instant runoff,” ER August 15, 2024). They know that voting is the most important thing in a democracy, so more research is the responsible thing to do. None of us who voted for the new election method knew there could be unintended consequences. This turned out to be a learning experience for all of us, which is fine. Thanking Mayor Light also for his gracious apology at the end.
Barbara Epstein
Redondo Beach
Rank vote
Dear ER:
Crucial information about ranked-choice voting was recently revealed (“Council discusses instant runoff,” ER August 15, 2024). Voters were not in possession of all of the facts at the time they cast their votes. Many would not have voted for RCV had they known all of the information then. The City Council must find a solution and the right voting system for Redondo, to avoid disenfranchisement and other problems, which could be the result of RCV.
Nainsi Skiba
Redondo Beach
