Inhumane abuse going on at our borders
First of all, I would like to say this is not a letter to debate the pros and cons of stricter or looser border enforcement – there are reasonable arguments on both sides. However, I hope my fellow Seal Beach citizens are aware of the inhumane abuse going on at our borders right now. Today was the last straw for me as I read of a despairing young man’s suicide in his cell after being forcibly separated from his family.
This was obviously his last straw after a dangerous journey from Honduras in a desperate struggle to find a better, safer life.
Meanwhile, our current policy allows for the forcible separation of infants and children from their parents who are then sent to sometimes distant locations or held in holding cells that one senator likened to dog kennels. The children have been described as screaming and crying for their parents as they are removed. Try for a moment to imagine your own pain if this happened to your family. The utter lack of any empathy from key decision makers in this administration shocks me to the core.
All this from the same people who gather routinely to attend weekly bible study sessions at the White House. Can anyone imagine for just a moment how Jesus Christ would react it he suddenly appeared at one of these detention centers? Would he be giving a thumbs-up to our administration or would his reaction be more akin to how he handled the money changers in the temple?
Yes – I know they don’t “have” to come here, but that does not in any way forgive this brutality. I encourage anyone who is shocked at this to join me in calling or emailing both of our senators – Feinstein and Harris – as well as Representative Rohrabacher.
Cathy Goldberg
Seal Beach
A vote to do nothing
Yesterday, Seal Beach’s Mayor Mike Varipapa and Councilmember Schelly Sustarsic voted to do nothing. To allow oil companies to continue not paying their taxes, to reduce the quality of life of their residents, and to impose new taxes.
By voting down a 15% success—fee—only, non-exclusive, tax—recovery contract, Mayor Varipapa and Councilmember Sustarsic guaranteed the City will get 100% of nothing rather than 85% of something. Councilmembers Ellery Deaton and Sandra Massa–?Lavitt (who voted in favor) commented they didn’t know how they were going to explain this vote to the City’s residents.
MPA offered the City the option to cancel the contract at any time for any reason,and to find and recover owed taxes for either an hourly—rate OR a fixed amount OR a percentage of what it recovers (No—Recovery—No Fee).
Mayor Varipapa and Councilmember Sustarsic instead recommended spending $45,000 to hire another contractor with the HOPE of recreating the work MPA’s already completed – and is offering to give the City for FREE.
Mayor Varipapa and Councilmember Sustarsic argue that MPA is unqualified to do the work (although MPA has already recovered more than $200,000 for the City). If MPA is truly unqualified, then there’ll be no additional new oil revenue and no cost to the City. If MPA is qualified, then the City collects 85% of all new tax revenue.
The Mayor’s and Councilmember’s reasoning makes no sense. The truth is, Mayor Varipapa and Councilmember Sustarsic are worried that MPA is qualified and will continue their success finding and recovering owed taxes – and that REALLY makes no sense.
Each time Seal Beach residents pay a new tax, are missing a pool to swim in, can’t attend a cherished City event, or can’t quickly get the police, they should remember Mayor Varipapa and Councilmember Sustarsic and their vote against collecting OWED taxes.
So what now? DO SOMETHING! The City Council, in allowing companies to continue to not pay their taxes, is complicit. MPA recommends the Council immediately hire ANY contractor, give them 90 days to find and recover whatever money they might find, then – let MPA get to work. No more delays. No more political shenanigans. No cuts in City services, quality of life, and safety. And no new taxes!
Greg Kirste, Principal, MPA.
Dear Councilpersons Sustarsic and Varipapa
Thank you from all concerned citizens for your tough and rightful stance on the oil contract discussion and vote at Monday’s council meeting.
To think that city management was willing to give up our deserved oil revenue to a person with little experience or proof of his statements is questionable. This process has not been transparent, why has it dragged on so long by our management? Why did Mr. Kirste not identify this large treasure chest of funds owed when he did have a contract with the city? Why did he wait to negotiate a third contract to his favor and then talk about funds owed to the city? Plus Mr. Kirste is the brother of Ms. Ingram’s travel partner and the ones that our city manager and others have had numerous social engagements with over the past many years.
City staff should be performing the task of oil tax recoup like all other cities that have wells within their borders. We need not pay a very high commission to get what is ours. No other city uses this practice and we should not be the first.
On another note from the meeting, how many more critical financial errors is this council going to allow that are only being caught by one of our astute residents? In the business world, any CFO making these continual large reported errors would be sent home working on his/her resume’ long ago.
Thank you for sticking up for the city and doing what is right Schelly, Mike and Robert.
Marc Loopesko
Seal Beach
Crime log not relevant to readers’ concerns
I know several people have complained that the crime log has gotten worse over the past several months, but I think it has hit a new low now. It seems that most of the crimes reported in the log are either DUIs or thefts from the shopping center. There are hardly any crimes reported in our neighborhoods themselves, and I think most readers are more interested in what’s going on in our subdivision than what’s going on at the major thoroughfares.
Also, the log now looks like a sea of numbers and slashes, since you have the date reported, the time reported, the date the crime occurred, and the time the crime occurred. So most of the logs consist of two dates and two times, and a tiny blurb about the actual incident with sparse details. The date and time the crime was reported isn’t of much interest, but the date and time of the crime itself would be.
I understand there are reasons you can’t go back to the old crime logs, and that’s unfortunate.
David Kalish
Seal Beach
Thank you for your generosity
The Seal Beach Animal Care Center would like to thank the Seal Beach Yacht Club, our event attendees, volunteers, and donors for the wonderful support you gave us at our annual Pet’s Ahoy fundraiser at the Seal Beach Yacht Club on May 20th.
Thanks to your generosity, we raised $16,249.12 after expenses.
The money will help us feed, house and provide veterinary services for our many dogs and cats.
Hope to see you at our annual Wag ’N’ Walk Event at the pier on Saturday, September 29th.
Christina Miller
Seal Beach Animal Care Center Fundraising Coordinator, Seal Beach
