The Seal Beach Pier and a dead skunk’s lengthy stay on a Seal Beach street were among the topics discussed during an informal meeting between residents of District Three and Councilwoman Ellery Deaton at Javatini’s on Saturday, June 15.
Deaton regularly holds weekday meetings with members of her district in the Main Street area. Javatini’s is frequently selected for the occassion.
This was the first time Deaton scheduled a meet and greet event on a Saturday.
Resident Bill Benkovsky, a Javatini’s regular, brought up the incident of the dead skunk in the middle of an Old Town street.
According to a recent Seal Beach Police Department log, the skunk was in the street over a weekend. (See the Crime Log on page 12.)
Benkovsky said the “poor thing’s” paws were up in the air the whole time it lay in the street.
He also said that when public employees finally came to remove the body, they must have spent four man-hours removing it.
“We need to get animal control downtown,” Deaton said, apparently referring to Long Beach Animal Care Services, the agency which has the contract to provide Seal Beach with animal control services.
Benkovsky also wanted to know the status of the restaurant space at the end of the Seal Beach Pier.
“We are rehabilitating the building because it was left in very poor condition,” Deaton said.
A recent staff report to the City Council listed several problems with the city-owned building that was formerly occupied by Ruby’s Diner.
Among the problems listed in the report were: decayed plumbing and bird waste in the sub-flooring.
The city sought a new family restaurant when Ruby’s Diner left the pier space, but so far the only business proposal submitted has come from a Ruby’s franchise run by Art Haack, the former general manager of the Ruby’s that used to operate at the end of the Seal Beach Pier.
Seal Beach is currently suing the Ruby’s Diner corporation for breach of contract. Ruby’s officials have denied breaching the contract. Haack is not a party to the breach of contract lawsuit.
Deaton said a lot of people had been interested in renting the site, but apparently lost interest when they took a look at the condition of the building.
As to the general use of the pier, Deaton said the city was in the process of re-evaluating the way the pier was used.
She said the city wants all of the uses to go together.
Benkovsky was concerned about fishermen dropping their lines into the water on the side of the pier nearest swimmers, surfers and bodyboarders.
“We want to get where everyone can get together to enjoy the pier,” Deaton said.
She said fishermen would sometimes leave unused bait behind for other fishermen to use—but the bait would remain unused for more than two days.
The initial turnout for the meeting, which was scheduled to run from 11 a.m., to 1 p.m., was light.
Deaton attributed the light turn out to the fact that nothing controversial is going on in Seal Beach at this time.
Deaton said she believed the plan for the potential park on the property formerly owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power was a good one.
Deaton was apparently referring to nearly 6.5 acres of land that the city will receive for free if the California Coastal Commission issues a development permit for Ocean Place, a high-end residential housing project planned by the Bay City Partners.
The commission has not yet set a hearing date for the project.
With Deaton was government intern Noelle Enguidanos, who will be going to Scotland in the summer to study peace and conflict at the University of St. Andrews.
Enguidanos is seeking a degree in political science. She has already been to Ireland. “Apparently, Irish summer is a week long,” she said.
