Beautify the DWP property
I attended my very first Seal Beach City Council meeting on June 13. I have lived in Seal Beach for 17 years. I actually spoke at the meeting. I have to say, I was a little shocked and taken aback.
I had words and thoughts to express and I do not feel I expressed myself as I had intended because I was nervous.
I am not a good speaker, but I can express my feelings much better in writing.
I spoke for and am in favor of the development of the First Street property, known as the “DWP Property.”
I wish to commend the city of Seal Beach for moving forward and coming to an agreement with the property owners Bay City Partners.
I know that the city is working diligently on coming up with the ideal use for this land. This community needs and deserves this beautiful piece of property to be developed.
The settlement is a “win-win” for both sides.
I personally don’t care what gets built there, homes, a hotel, a skating rink, a barbeque area with a beautiful gazebo, a fountain, park benches with dedications on them, it doesn’t matter to me. There is even enough land to make it the site for the new community pool with tennis courts. Why purchase another property, when one is already available? Those are my thoughts.
However, I will add that I cannot believe the pettiness and jealousy coming from some of the people in this town.
I heard more concern about a small percentage of land being given to Bay City Partners, profit that Bay City Partners will make from the agreement, statements that the city of Seal Beach is getting ripped off, etc.
If I purchased a parcel of land, I would certainly hope to make a profit on my investment.
I personally would not purchase land with the intent on giving it away.
It’s time to focus on what is really important and that is what will be most beneficial for the community.
All parties will profit in moving forward, trade offs and progress was made.
It’s time to take down the fence and beautify this property for the benefit of our community.
It’s also time to stop the bickering about insignificant percentages and petty jealousy.
Shelly Bolander
Seal Beach
Naysayers on the DWP
Following my 38 years plus of Seal Beach’s District 1, Old Town residency it isn’t surprising that the half informed, vocal minority and frequent naysayers are mounting their campaign to derail the entire DWP Housing Project and Settlement Agreement in an effort to protect and preserve the community.
Folks, the DWP property has sat, as it is today, for over 40 years.
The Seal Beach City Council declined to purchase the property outright when it was offered by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The property is now privately owned and in dire need of development.
I say tear down that chain link, weed and dust control fence and let’s all come together as a community and concentrate on the projects positives, i.e, development of the six-plus acres that are slated to become open space, improvement and completion of the San Gabriel River Bike Path, and dedication of the First Street parking lot ingress and egress to the city of Seal Beach.
Take the next positive step forward.
Don Davis
Seal Beach
The nature of science
Much has been written lately about the decision by the Los Alamitos Unified School District Board and its questionable new policy of determining what in a course curriculum constitutes “a controversial issue” and requiring teachers to “provide an annual update to the Board, detailing how multiple perspectives of controversial issues are taught in class.”
As a father of three girls in the LAUSD it concerns me that what seems to be lost in the discussion is the true nature of science. Science is not about beliefs, opinions or being a “fan” of an idea.
Science is a process. Explanations for observed phenomena are proposed, predictions based upon the theory are made, experiments are conducted, facts (data) are collected and results are replicated and validated by peer review.
In science, hypotheses are not “proven” in the same sense mathematical or logical propositions are, they are simply strong or weak.
Some hypotheses are so strong and have such overwhelming evidence that they are casually referred to as “laws” or “settled science.”
Evolution falls into this category and global climate change with its large body of peer-reviewed evidence is considered a very strong hypothesis by the world’s leading climatologists.
In science it is insufficient to simply disagree with a hypothesis, one must either show why the supporting data is in error or propose an alternate hypothesis that fits the data and provides more insight for further predictions (making the hypothesis stronger).
Science by its nature is controversial because by definition it is debatable but the rules of engagement are carefully defined by the scientific method.
The rigor and specificity of each scientific discipline precludes serious challenges from outside the domain of experts.
I would no sooner consult the world’s leading dermatologist regarding my prostate cancer than I would consult an MD regarding climate science.
A science class curriculum should be developed and reviewed by experts on the subject and not by a politically or ideologically charged school board.
Bill Homan-Muise
Seal Beach
Help our local economy
With the rise in Sand Castle Building across certain areas, has Seal Beach looked into stimulating our economy and bringing this back?
I understand this was stopped because someone questioned if the liquid sprayed on the castles to hold the sand together is biodegradable?
I understand the concerns of the previous cleanup due to the sand becoming a little stiff from the previous glue used.
A simple question asked of professional Sand Castle Builders is what they use today.
Do you think this would help our economy, something to ponder?
To our City Council: how is our $85,000 doing (from the decision of the previous council) for a consultant to do a study to find a grant for a pool that does not exist yet? Ponder this: in the past members employed in our fine city wrote grant requests. What happened?
I take great pride in our city and have the opportunity to walk the streets and beaches quite often. When I moved here in 1954, Seal Beach prided itself in having a clean safe Beach.
What happened to the good old tractor and sand sifter the tax payers payed for that used to clean our beaches daily? Something to wonder $85,000 to a consultant to do a city officials responsibility of a grant would sure provide more cleaning ability to our beaches (fuel for the existing tractor and an existing Public Works employee?)
How much revenue does our city make from fishermen/women on our pier? Does it offset the cleaning of our pier and beaches of all the trash and fishing paraphernalia?
Has anyone thought of closing the pier to fishing to clean things up? Walk the beaches and see all the trash washing up: empty mussel shells, empty bait bags, fishing line with hooks and weights.
Lastly, when was the last time our City Council members walked our fine streets to discover palm fronds from the newly planted trees are at chest level and full of jagged thorns. At least trim the things so no one gets hurt.
On the Streets reporter,
Tom Hetherington
Seal Beach
Thanks to the Sun
Thank you, Sun News, for being the only source of reliable newspaper information in Leisure World.
The Leisure World newspaper, The Golden Rain News has, in my opinion, been controlled by persons who do not have the best interests of our shareholders at heart.
As a positive result of the recent GRF elections it is possible that new forces will blow a new wind into the GRF, resulting in greater support for the interests of the shareholders.
I am one of the newly elected GRF Directors, and with a little luck we will take over the GRF this year and return it to the service of the shareholders instead of, in my opinion, serving the old guard who have been serving themselves more than serving the shareholders for several years, and suppressing information to the shareholders.
If we newly elected GRF directors are successful in taking control of the GRF this year, watch our smoke as we revamp the GRF in the same manner in which I and my team revamped Mutual 5 and blew a new wind of freedom and service to the shareholders of Mutual 5, and indeed to Leisure World.
Carl Bourhenne
Writing for myself,
President of Mutual 5,
2010-2011
