ROBERT BRADLEY -- Community Commentary

Since you invited 1/8readers 3/8 to respond with all your little question

boxes, I thought I would just do that. Many a letter I have written to

newspapers. But generally after doing so, my frustration has abated, and

I hit the delete button. Who needs to listen to it anyway? Also, I get

verbose, and what newspaper really needs that? Perhaps I will hit the

send button this time.

I have three things to say about Huntington Beach after having visited

here in 1948 to party on the beach and having moved here 20 years later

to work and raise kids.

First, after several decades, one begins to recognize that, plain and

simply, we have some mean people who live in Huntington Beach. I suppose

every city does, but the diatribe over the Christmas party is slightly

over the top. If I were going to be a June graduate in public

administration, I think I would probably pass on this city.

Thirty years of nonsense over such issues as the Bolsa Chica,

redevelopment, affordable housing (They were kidding, weren’t they?), and

on and on, leave a working stiff a little insensitive to all the

hucky-puck that the City Council and the media debate, cry, and shout

about.

Of course, most everyone has to make a living, and most of the stuff you

hear and read are a matter of good intentions, if not always so

honorable.

One always wonders about the people who join in all the protesting. I

know that they must want a more sophisticated and civil society, but

where do they find the time and energy? One envisions that they are bored

and have little else to feed their ego. I know they work hard. They never

seem to rest.

Who really cares about the Christmas party? The city treasurer drops more

than that on the floor, working hard to lay off the city’s excess cash.

Which reminds me, who is he and why don’t we hear from him on Channel 3?

I guess he just works hard and doesn’t catch Eron Ben-Yehuda’s

attention. Maybe he even knows what he is doing.

I thought the comments on Mayor Dave Garofalo’s leveraged investment in

the local bank were the height of irony (“Some locals question Garofalo’s

decisions,” Dec. 16), coming from people whose business is risking

others’ money. Garofalo has every right to do that -- he will enjoy the

consequences one way or the other. Surely, since he is mayor and the bank

is a local start-up, it is everybody’s business. But why bother to

speculate on how wise it is or if he would do that with the taxpayers’

money? Last I saw, he still has only one vote.

Of course, I understand that he is pro-growth. However, I am tempted to

concern myself with the fact that Garofalo literally hangs on every word

Steve Bone utters. Sometimes I want to upchuck.

I ... think probably Steve Bone does like Huntington Beach. I would like

it, too, if my least expensive room was $149 for a cold and damp Monday.

If I were the mayor, I would be happy with the extra $14 in bed tax going

to the city. I wonder if anyone from within the Huntington Beach

boundaries will ever stay there?

Second, regarding our current and wished for growth: Huntington Beach

will never ever be Belmont Shore, nor will it ever be Newport Beach.

Plain and simply put: It is a beach town. You go to a beach town for fun

and frolic. All the new development will never change that. One does not

visit Main Street because one needs to buy something that is considered a

necessity. There are none there. Everything for sale is optional to basic

needs. And if they had real stores there, who would pop 25 cents for 15

minutes when they can go to a “big box,” park free and save money?

We should try to be the very best we are at what we are. We go Downtown

to party just like I did in 1948, and we should capitalize on just that

and a strong police force.

I vote that we close off the last two blocks of Main at Pacific Coast

Highway and cover it with a sound-and-sight show like Las Vegas did with

the Fremont Experience. Then you could draw more than teeny boppers. An

investment somewhere to replace the Golden Bear would be a pretty good

idea, too. Let’s let the good times roll again -- for adults, too.

Loved the idea of the eminent domain thing we went through (“Eminent

domain repealed Downtown,” Dec. 9). What a waste of energy. When

Ben-Yehuda refers to the seven rooms upstairs 1/8in the El Don building

3/8 as apartments, he really pushes the English language. The El Don

owner will get his price ... and it will be a good figure.

Third, Huntington Beach is really a good city, reasonably well run and

certainly a pleasant place to live. All those who perpetually criticize

every little thing should run for the City Council and really devote

themselves to their causes.

Occasionally, I am asked why I don’t run for the City Council and the

answer is: It’s too hard and demanding, and I am too lazy. Years ago,

when aerospace dived, I was asked why I didn’t try to go to work for the

city. My answer to that was that I couldn’t afford the luxury -- I had to

be able to pay the rent.

So I say we have a pretty good deal, and we need to bask in that feeling

and spare our community the meanness and the disruptions.

Thank you for reading this if you got this far. Once again, my

frustrations are satiated, but this time I will hit the send button and

see if it works.

* ROBERT BRADLEY is a Huntington Beach resident.