Sidewalks, parking and committees, oh my!
As a business owner and property owner on Main Street, I look up and down Main Street with growing concern. Most of the parklets are looking junky and due to the parklets being in the street, street sweeping is impossible. The gutters haven’t been cleaned in over 2 1/2 years! They are filled with stagnant, stinky water, dirt, trash, mud, mosquitos and who knows what else.
Retail is having a hard enough time, making it and now they are being ordered to clear everything off the sidewalks? Retail has never gotten a break during Covid, whereas restaurants have had many breaks and leniencies. If retail has to bring all their items in, then the tables and chairs outside of the parklets need to go, as do sandwich boards. I don’t know how that was allowed in the first place, when they have parklets to utilize. I feel the parklets should also only be in front of the restaurant it belongs to and not in front of other adjacent businesses. If parklets are allowed, then retail should be allowed to have merchandise out, then it should be limited to the street side of the sidewalk against the storefront building. As long as it’s not in the way of pedestrians walking on the sidewalk. Fair is fair.
I read in the paper who’s on the Main Street Steering Committee. How are members picked and determined? I feel there needs to be a wider representation of people, that are affected by what goes on in Old Town/Main street. Like some retail/service business owners. That seems only fair. There seems to be none of those people represented. It always seems to be the same old group of people as representatives.
I also don’t feel that parklets should become permanent fixtures in our limited parking spaces. Main Street doesn’t have enough parking as it is, with parklets taking up so much needed space, we have even less. You are trying to get more people to come and shop and dine on Main street, but you’re taking away their parking. So people get frustrated and don’t come to Main Street because there’s not enough parking. It’s a catch-22.
We need to address these issues now and everyone needs to be represented when making decisions in a fair manner.
Lisa Woodruff
Picnic tables and pigeon waste
I have called Grant at park maintenance many times over the last 2 years to come and steam clean the tables here at River’s End. He usually does eventually. He never does it on Friday before a busy weekend and he never does it at least once a week.
People come every day to eat here with their families and kids and they must put their food and plates on top of all the pigeon crap on the tables.
I gave Grant a great idea to buy streamers on Amazon designed to keep birds away from your guard they cost less than $12. He could fix them to the light post hanging close to the table and when the wind blows them the birds are afraid of them and would not land on the tables. He has never acted on it nor has he acted on my idea to put an owl up on the street lamp to lamp to scare off the birds. In fact Grant and the maintenance department have never done anything to maintain these tables.
Why would you even have tables in the park if they were unusable? Yes people occasionally feed the pigeons but they do it on the grass and over there in the bushes not on the tables so that is not a good excuse. His excuse is probably he’s just too busy.
I think the health department should be notified and the people of Seal Beach should be guaranteed clean tables when they want to use the tables in their park. People would be outraged if dog owners did not pick up after their dogs.
Well I am outraged that the Seal Beach maintenance department does not take care of the pigeon crap on the tables it just piles up more and more every day. I hope you find this interesting and print it. If not then shame on you. My next call will be to the health department. Can you just imagine the lawsuit being filed because people got diseases from pigeon crap while having a picnic on the tables? WHAT A NATIONAL LAWSUIT! SOME LAW FIRM WOULD WIN EASILY. PLEASE AVOID IT NOW BECORE ITS TOO LATE.
Before I sent you the 1st email I called Grant at Seal Beach park maintenance and left him a message. I told him I always have to call to get these tables cleaned and it is not my job. It is his job to maintain the parks and keep these tables clean. About 2 hours later they came and cleaned one table only. It took him about 10 minutes. A supervisor there was named Joe and I asked him to clean the other table and he told me he didn’t have time. There was no way he was going to clean the other table… Even though I asked several times. I Google pigeon fever and I’m including some some of it as an attachment. This is a lawsuit waiting to happen to the city of Seal Beach. We live in a very litigious World and someone will make a lot of money. I think this should be on the front page of The Sun. I’m going to post it on Next Door and Craigslist and Facebook. 5 hours have passed since they cleaned one table and and the pigeons have not landed on the table YET. The city could construct something next to the tables and high enough up that dangles down when the wind blows like people use to scare birds out of their garden and the problem would be solved. Go to Amazon and search birds and garden.
Once people become aware of this one of two things can happen. Lawsuits or nothing but thanks for keeping us safe.
As you know people come from all over Los Angeles County and Orange County and so many of them sit at those tables. I know, I see them. I’m there everyday. Hopefully other papers will pick it up and let people know that they no longer have to sit at tables with pigeon crap on them because Seal Beach has decided to keep them clean and put pigeon deterrence near the tables. It’s an easy fix as I have told you previously. they just either are unconscious to it or lazy. Well let’s wake them up! If Los Angeles County can prohibit people from smoking on the beach and in parks and in bars then we can put deterrents up for pigeons near these tables
Once they put the things up they will need a sign posted saying something like: These pigeon deterrents are put here to assure that you have clean tables to enjoy. Please dont touch them. They are here to keep the pigeons off the tables. Pigeon droppings can cause diseases. Thank you, Seal Beach Parks and Recreation. Please print all my notes to you. This way we will have everyone behind us. Now they MUST ACT. It took them years to move the hose that the surfers use to wash off their boards over to the sand. It used to clog up and turn into a disgusting swamp, no chlorine, no filter. The birds would drink the water and crap in it. Children and everyone else would wade in it using the hose. It never drained. Finally they moved it over to the sand by the shower, brilliant. Someone in control doesnt have safety and sanitation as their first objective. Not at all. I’d always call Grant telling him the swamp isn’t draining again and they would come out but 2 days later it would fill up with sand. This lasted YEARS. So you can see Einstein isn’t in charge here.
Brenda Fogarty
