Buses Stopped
On Tuesday, May 8, 50 or more Seal Beach residents filled the Marina Community Center to object vigorously to a recently discovered plan by the Long Beach Transit Agency to bring extensive bus traffic to a part of residential Seal Beach.
The plan would have brought this new bus traffic to Marina Drive between 5th Street and the Marina Drive (San Gabriel River) bridge.
The plan called for noisy, structure-shaking 40-foot long, 10-ton buses to run up and down Marina Drive on a frequent basis, 365 days a year. After more than 30 minutes of spirited opposition to the plan by residents, including a statement by City Councilman Gordon Shanks, Long Beach Transit relented and withdrew its bus traffic plan.
Instead, Long Beach Transit agreed to implement an alternate plan that will keep the bus traffic on the Long Beach side of the San Gabriel River.
All residents who took the time to attend the meeting and/or sent e-mails to oppose the original Long Beach Transit plan should be very pleased with their efforts to successfully maintain the quiet, residential nature of the Marina Drive neighborhood. Your actions in the last couple of weeks to make your opinions known on this bus traffic issue will have a very positive impact on the quality of life in the Marina Drive neighborhood for years to come. Thanks for your efforts on this issue!
John and Kristina Tinker
Seal Beach
Long Beach Transit irked by ‘colorful comments’
The Sun has obtained this letter, which the Long Beach Transit Authority sent to the City of Seal Beach on May 10, 2012 regarding the bus issue, and ending bus service to Seal Beach:
Dear Ms. Ingram (Seal Beach City Manager),
At the request of the City of Seal Beach, a community meeting was held on May 8 at 7:30 p.m. in the Community Center at 151 Marina Drive, Seal Beach. The purpose of the meeting was to determine the level of interest/support for proposed transit services to Seal Beach. Community members and your city council member in attendance expressed vehement opposition to Long Beach Transit’s proposed transit services in Seal Beach and made it clear that our customers are not welcome. The level of angry, rude, and unprofessional behavior directed toward our organization helped Long Beach Transit to clearly understand that any bus service directly linking Long Beach & Seal Beach is not in anyone’s best interest.
Although it is best if I don’t go into the details of specific comments, Seal Beach City staff present can give you a sense of the “colorful” comments from residents and the Seal Beach Council member. A prolonged dialogue putting one group of Seal Beach residents against transit users would not serve any useful purpose, but merely inflame deep-seated ugly feelings that were expressed during the meeting.
Long Beach Transit has a long history of reaching out and helping communities whenever disasters or emergencies occur. One example is the assistance provided to the City of Seal Beach during the tragic salon shooting last October. Long Beach Transit’s police detail was among the first to respond, followed by LBT buses that assisted in the transportation of persons impacted by the horrible event. It was very sad and disheartening to see such angry and hostile behavior from the Seal Beach community, seemingly incited by an elected official.
It is therefore in our best interest that we cease transit services to Seal Beach effective August 26, 2012. This will allow Long Beach Transit to redirect our financial resources toward the physical accommodations required in other Long Beach Transit service areas. OCTA and LBT will work with your staff to determine the most effective transfer arrangements for persons traveling to and from Los Angeles County. Our transit agencies work very well together and will strive to minimize disruptions of service.
Laurence W. Jackson, President & Chief Executive Officer
Long Beach Transit
The straight poop on McGaugh dog feces
We are compelled to respond to the “McGaugh overstated dog feces” problem at out local elementary school.
I read the letter from a few weeks back and wanted to make sure I was not over reacting.
We can officially confirm and are more than compelled to let other parents know that our child, other children and the children playing sports at McGaugh field do have issues with dog feces on the grass. My child has been attending McGaugh since 2009 and I have at least five times had to clean shoes and assist other children freaked out by what they have just stepped in.
Our grass area is for kids and should be kept this way. We are not against seeing a dog in the park, but please do yourself and every future child a favor and pick up your dogs defecation.
I can drive by the school on any weekend and see people let their dogs loose and then let them do their duty and just whistle them back to the gate and leave as well as leaving the defecation.
I pick my child up at the west gate and I encourage any person who doubts what is happening to be there when the kids get out of school and see what happens.
Take the test and ask other parents if they are experiencing the same thing?
We have a dog and make sure we have two bags for his walks in case something happens.
I live in Old Town and many mornings see the Dog Control folks ticketing people who let their dogs loose on the sand to defecate. I want to see the same thing happen on the grass of our school. It should be a school not a dog defecation park. No children should have to experience something like this while attending school or while playing a sport on the field.
We do not enjoy picking up your dog’s defecation on the bottom of our children’s shoes, as that is just a step too far for a child.
Elena and Kye Osti
Seal Beach
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