We miss you Kenny! Kenny Carradine has been coming to Seal Beach Playgroup for the past 12 years to pick up our preschooler’s love letters. He would even let us have a peek at his mail truck. He retired this January and we miss him. Congratulations Kenny, we wish you well, but it just wasn’t the same dropping our love letters in the mailbox.
Candace Iwami
You can still ‘fight City Hall’ on water rates
You CAN still “Fight City Hall” and WIN because the Water and Sewer Protest Letter Deadline was extended to February 26 by the City Council at their last meeting. If you are a Ratepayer and receive a Water and Sewer Bill in your name, just write a brief letter protesting the proposed rate increases. Mail it for delivery before February 26 to:
City of Seal Beach
City Clerk
211 Eighth Street
Seal Beach, CA 90740
Or hand deliver it to the Clerk at City Hall by February 26 or submit it in-person at The Clerk at the City Council’s Public Hearing on February 26 at 7pm. And if 50% plus 1 of the Ratepayers submit such a letter by February 26, then the City cannot implement the Water and Sewer Rate increases. Only 2,523 water rate protest letters and just 2,347 letters protesting sewer rate increases need to be sent. Then the Ratepayers will WIN because Proposition 218 prevents The City from proceeding with those rate increases. On December 11, while you were enjoying the 2023 holidays with family and friends, the City Council and City Management slipped this action past the attention of many of us. But now you know what’s happening and how simple it is to “Fight City Hall” and actually WIN. Your protest letter:
1. MUST be from the tenant/ratepayer of record whose name appears on the Water and Sewer Bill or the property owner’s name, who pays those bills.
2. MUST show the Ratepayer’s street address or tax assessor’s parcel number of the property owner, who pays those bills.
3. MUST include a statement that you OPPOSE the increases and briefly explain why, like any or all of the following reasons:
a. I should not be penalized for conserving water during drought or
b. I cannot afford these oppressive rate increases or
c. Water and sewer revenue should only cover legitimate and verified costs of delivering such services and not be used to generate profits that are used elsewhere or
d. Cost cutting should happen before the Ratepayers have to shoulder these burdensome 140% hikes.
4. MUST be signed by the rate paying tenant/customer of record whose name appears on the Water and Sewer Bill or the property owner’s name, who pays those bills.
Only one protest letter per parcel or address that receives a Water and Sewer Bill shall be counted. Again, if a simple majority (50% plus 1) of the affected tenant Ratepayers or parcel owners submit written protests by February 26, the proposed rate increases CANNOT go into effect and ALL Ratepayers will WIN. Write this quick and simple protest letter and submit it today !
Hope K. Horning
Seal Beach
