EDITORIAL

City officials can rest assured they are on solid ground in helping

residents of the Huntington-by-the-Sea beachfront mobile home park. Now,

if only the residents too felt so sure of where they go to sleep at

night.

Instead, they say, for the past three months their lives have been

filled with constant shaking, dirt-filled air and the intrusive noise

caused by city construction near the AES Corp. power plant. The shaking

has caused structural damage to some homes, not to mention the damage to

nerves and lives, they add.

The city’s public works director, Robert Beardsley, rightly took

responsibility for not providing the mobile home residents enough

notification about the work, which is being done in connection with plans

for a new beach maintenance facility near the plant on Newland Street.

While the extent of damage residents say they have suffered was

unforeseeable, there was no excuse for not alerting them about the

looming work.

Now, city officials are urging the residents to file damage claims

related to the work. Without the paper work, the subcontractor in charge

of the project, C.W. Poss Inc., will not be able to deal with their

concerns. And already, the residents are mobilizing to bring a mass of

claims to the city.

It is a good first step in addressing the problem, and judging by the

city’s acceptance of its failings thus far, residents should be hopeful

and confident that their claims will be analyzed thoroughly and promptly.

But if they are not satisfied, they should continue to make noise about

their plight.

It certainly seems clear they’ve learned enough about making noise to

keep the city’s attention.