Response to Moorlach super city proposal
Empowered taxpayers, smart business owners, and enlightened community leaders all have a golden opportunity to intelligently explore Supervisor John Moorlach’s super city proposal to lower taxes, return more money to the community to fund overdue maintenance and capital improvements, and reduce taxpayer exposure to skyrocketing public employee salaries, benefits, and pensions in the future. No one paid attention to Supervisor Moorlach in the early 1990s when he warned us about impending financial disaster. We should not make the same mistake again.
Michael Rice
Rossmoor
Shuttle a great idea for Old Town Seal Beach
Last week I wrote a guest editorial regarding the possible impacts of the proposed Long Beach 2nd Street and Pacific Coast Highway development.
Traffic congestion (and Old Town parking) was one of the significant potential impacts for Seal Beach residents, commerce and visitors. This past weeks’ (April 21) issue of the Sun Newspapers highlighted a potential solution for our city’s most congested times—the weekends.
Use the Red Buses on weekends to partner with Seal Beach, Long Beach and Leisure World to loop between lots at 2nd Street and PCH to Main Street via Leisure World might be a solution.
The use of the Red Buses during the coming Car Show could be monitored—by the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce?—to evaluate the potential for this idea. Red Bus validated coupons for sponsoring merchants and/or organizations might be issued to help defray costs. Just an idea.
Ken Kropf
Seal Beach
Sunset Beach annexation settlement
The “no on annexation” group Citizens’ Association of Sunset Beach got what it wanted and now it wants more. The CASB filed a lawsuit against Huntington Beach on Dec. 9, 2010 to block the annexation of Sunset Beach. The grounds are that Huntington Beach would be imposing taxes on the residents of Sunset Beach without a vote of the people of Sunset Beach.
On April 1, the city of Huntington Beach notified the attorneys of the CASB in a proposed settlement that if the city annexes Sunset Beach, the city would not impose its taxes on the residents of Sunset Beach until a vote of the people of Sunset Beach and Huntington Beach is held sometime next year.
The CASB got what it wanted but rejected the offer from Huntington Beach. It is obvious that the real concern is not taxation without representation but rather preventing the annexation of Sunset Beach by Huntington Beach.
Phyllis Maywhort
Sunset Beach
Let’s get back to an
exceptional USA
As America approaches $14.5 trillion in government debt, we received a couple of Budget Proposals for 2012 (well to be honest, one proposal and one campaign speech). Paul Ryan and the Republicans produced “The Road to Prosperity.” It is targeted to cut $6.5 trillion from the federal deficit over the next handful of decades.
It includes: scaling back government spending to 2008 levels—which is prior to the 20+ percent run-up in government expenditures; $178 billion in cuts to defense spending, consistent with acceptable levels proposed by Robert Gates; $750 billion in savings to Medicaid, by providing block grants to the states, allowing governors to patch their own bloated balance sheets; Medicare reforms targeted to take effect in 2022, not impacting anyone currently receiving their benefits; $800 billion savings through the repeal of Obamacare, which has been shown by the CBO, and the GAO to stifle employment, and does nothing to address the “cost” of healthcare and 10 percent reduction in government employment over a three-year period.
The most controversial recommendations seem to center around the Republican plans to reform the tax code, by lowering overall tax rates, while eliminating tax deduction loopholes.
President Barrack Obama’s speech (and yet-to-be defined plan), which I’ve dubbed “The Road to Serfdom” (homage to F.A. Hayek), expands the reach of the state, and continues the transfer of wealth from the “producing class” in society, in the form of an acceleration of the progressive collection of taxes, with distribution to the ever-expanded “entitlement class.” It includes a continued expansion of the Federal government, both in breadth and depth.
At the surface, the two proposals represent distinct ideological economic theories. The Republican plan focuses on spending cuts and growing the economy, and a limited role of government(as established by our Founders). The presidents’ plan focuses on an expanded role of the state, punishment of achievement, and a continued redistribution of wealth.
If our future (and our children and grandchildren’s future) is to be brighter than our past, we MUST limit the expansion of the state, promote achievement, restore American exceptionalism, and a growing the of top line of the balance sheet. If our future is an expanded role of the state, with an ever-increasing sense of entitlement, an ever-expanding burden of debt, resulting in a continued limit on our civil and economic liberties, then we deserve the shackles of slavery that accompanies the “free ice cream,” that we’ve asked the government to provide.
I vote for economic growth, liberty, and a restoration of the exceptionalism of America, as “the shining city on the hill.”
Maynard Keynes (and Karl Marx) are dead. Long live Freidrich Hayek!
Earick Ward
Seal Beach
DWP settlement includes mind-boggling twists
Deja vu. Everyone should pick up a copy of “The Settlement,” a story about the DWP property’s future that includes a colorful cast of characters and a mind-boggling plot with some very odd twists and turns.
It’s a good read—if you like mysteries.
A little history:
Developer buys a piece of property for $4 million. Price is low because the property is already zoned and has a specific plan—the result of decades of community planning. Developer doesn’t like that plan, not enough profit—so they sue the city. If the city doesn’t cooperate, the developer threatens to close access to the beach. (Anyone heard about the “Public Prescriptive Right of Access”?
It’s a California law that says under certain conditions, long term public access across private property may result in the establishment of a permanent public easement … I do believe this road and bike path would qualify, but I digress.
Here’s the mystery. The city decides not only should the developer get a zone change with subsequent revisions to our General Plan and the right to build 48 homes, but they get lots of other goodies in the form of:
No development fees; no Quimby Act Fees; no affordable housing requirements; no park improvement obligations; 50 percent reduction in staff time fees; a 7,000-square foot public parcel at 1st and Marina; a $900,000 check (non-refundable) for use of the aforementioned public access road/bike path (four-year lease); they even demand that staff act in good faith recommending the project to City Council and the city must testify before Coastal Commission on behalf of the project (what the … ?). Think of the precedents being set.
If the coastal permit is granted we get to pay $2 million for the other half of the property and we even get to pay for the fence to block the view of the property we can’t afford to improve from the new residents of the 48 homes. Not done yet … then the city must agree to give developer a donation credit for tax purposes on transfer of property that the city paid for! Don’t ya just love a good mystery?
Gwen Forsythe
Seal Beach
Regarding towing
The letter from Mary McCarthy was close to spot on. I also witnessed the un-necessary and possibly illegal towing of a number of vehicles. The tow truck drivers, from all of the companies, were racing about town at speeds that were clearly unsafe.
I witnessed a driver from Mr.C’s towing make an illegal left turn, against oncoming traffic, across Pacific Coat Highway, into the parking lot of the Chase bank to drop a car. This turn required two drivers to slam on the brakes. One of the automobiles left skid marks on the pavement. I discussed this with Councilwoman Ellery Deaton and know that she talked with the chief of police.
Two questions that come to mind are: 1. Was the towing legal, given there appeared to be no citations on any of the vehicles towed, and no sworn officer present when the vehicles were picked off of the street. 2. Does the city derive any funds from the towing companies on a vehicle towed bases?
The 10K is a special event. It might be good PR to suspend towing, with exception of those vehicles that are blocking the runners’ route, prior to the start of the race, until two hours after the race.
The only place Ms. McCarthy may have erred in her letter was that she thought that Mr.C’s towing should sponsor next year’s event. They do not deserve the good press.
There are no personal sour grapes here. I have lived in Seal Beach over 30 years and have never had a vehicle towed.
Timothy Kraushaar
Seal Beach
