RON DAVIS -- Through My Eyes

Did you notice the commercial sponsorship of the recent Huntington Beach

City Council meeting? All of the council members, and most of the staff,

had bottles of the commercial cleaning product Simple Green placed

immediately in front of them, paired with Simple Green’s cute mascot,

Egbar.

For the entire evening, no matter where the HBTV-3 camera went, Simple

Green and Egbar were prominently displayed.

Am I offended by this obvious four-hour commercial for Simple Green? No!

As a matter of fact, I think we ought to do more of it.

I know that the sponsorship agreement with Coke raised the eyebrows of

many. The reality is that not only were eyebrows raised, but a heck of a

lot of money was, too. Money that allows the city to provide important

services at the expense of Coke, rather than the taxpayers.

I’ll certainly put up with an evening of looking at Simple Green bottles

and friendly little Egbar in exchange for what the city, and hence the

residents, receive.

Almost 10 years ago, when the city was in severe financial straights, it

was forced to trim expenses. Winter beach cleanup was to be sacrificed.

Then the city got together with Simple Green, the makers of

environmentally friendly cleaning products.

Simple Green and the city developed an adopt-a-beach program so that the

areas between 17 lifeguard stations could be cleaned weekly, from Nov. 1

through March 30. To induce groups to volunteer, Simple Green offered a

stipend of $500 per nonprofit group to participate in the program. These

groups are even getting a 50% raise this year to $750 per group.

What a great partnership between Simple Green, the city, these nonprofits

and the residents. City officials say over the past nine years, Simple

Green has given about $76,500 -- $8,500 per year -- to various nonprofit

groups. It was money badly needed by these groups for their philanthropic

purposes. Not only did these groups benefit, but the city and residents

got their beach cleaned. As an additional plus, the participation by the

groups has raised environmental awareness. A prime example of a

win-win-win situation.

Simple Green and the city also have a separate deal that allows Simple

Green to place signs on lifeguard stations. The signs have their logo and

a message reminding beachgoers to keep the beach clean.

The company also provides concrete trash containers, complete with their

name and logo, at no cost to the city.

In exchange, Simple Green provides cleaning supplies to the city, which

city officials say saves us somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000

annually.

Simple Green also organizes and provides equipment and supplies for three

other beach cleanup days in addition to the winter cleanup.

This partnership with the city really saves the residents of this

community more than $50,000 a year, when you consider the cleaning

supplies, equipment and the salary savings associated with the winter

beach cleanup.

That the city responded to the largess of this very involved and

community-oriented company by showcasing them for an evening on HBTV-3

certainly shouldn’t be discouraged, but encouraged. If we could generate

anything approaching this level of economic support and taxpayer relief

by showcasing other companies at council and Planning Commission

meetings, I’m all for it.

The deal with Simple Green should be our model for the future -- a model

that produces great results, is simple and adds some green to the city

coffers.

* RON DAVIS is a private attorney who lives in Huntington Beach. He can

be reached by e-mail at o7 r.dd@gte.netf7 .