Mailbag - May 9, 2002

Noise from the dog park breaks city ordinances

The reason the local neighbors are trying to get the Huntington Beach

Dog Park relocated is that every day the dog park is open it violates the

Huntington Beach city code in regard to noisy animals.

This states that no owner of an animal or owner of the property (The

city) shall permit by sound or cry the interference of “the comfortable

enjoyment of life or property” by a number of persons, a neighborhood or

a community.

It goes on to define this as a nuisance and that it shall not be

permitted.

I am one of a number of people in the neighborhood adjacent to the dog

park whose comfortable enjoyment of life and property is being interfered

with.

Contrary to the belief of the dog park supporters, the decibel level

does not matter, nor does the time of day. Any noise at any hour that

disturbs the neighbors is a violation and “shall not be permitted.”

The only solution we see to this ongoing dispute is to move the dog

park -- the sooner the better. The supporters can then have the space

they desire at any time of the day for their own use as they see fit.

ALAN REID

Huntington Beach

Let’s keep on this prevailing wage issue Please write more

stories on the ludicrous Huntington Beach prevailing wage.

I would like to see stories citing how Irvine saved money on not

having prevailing wage, on how $35-$40 an hour is more than contract

computer programmers, contract accountants or salaried teachers make.

What is the percentage of Huntington Beach workers who make less than

$40 an hour?

Do some editorials on how the Huntington Beach City Council cowered to

union interest.

Absolutely, absurd.

GARRET GRAJEK

Huntington Beach

John Baca Park is a great tribute

How refreshing to hear that a new park is being named after a Vietnam

war hero instead of another politician. Good move.

SHIRLEY SUTTON

Huntington Beach

Do us a favor, get rid of the waiver

As a founding member of Orange County’s Ocean Outfall Group (a

citizens advisory committee dedicated to ending Orange County’s 301(h)

waiver), I have studied the issue enough to know that it’s time to wake

up and smell the sewage.

In a recent Los Angeles Times article (‘Beach Closure Is Reminder Of

1999 Problems’, Times OC May 2nd), the shenanigans again muck to the

surface, as Monica Mazur a spokeswoman for the county’s environmental

health division, makes silly statements like “We still don’t understand

what’s going on,” and “It’s like an onion, we’re gradually peeling the

layers away.”

Indeed. It’s like an onion all right -- it stinks to high heaven.

These people won’t admit the problem until it floats up and dances

with them, like a mermaid.

Orange County operates under a 301(h) waiver that allows them to dump

dirtier sewage than 99.75% of sewage districts in America, four miles off

one of the most famous beaches in the world.

And now, the Orange County Grand Jury tells us that a publicly funded

1997 study (The 20 Meter Study) was not shown to the public, and that,

had it been, the sewage district probably wouldn’t even have been granted

its current waiver.

With ongoing public protests outside the sewage plant in Fountain

Valley, a great web site called www.stopthewaiver.com, and a well

choreographed city-by-city campaign by the environmental community

raising awareness of the snowballing issue, all we can say -- once again

-- is: “Do us a favor, get rid of the waiver.”

JOEY RACANO

Huntington Beach

When should the sanitation district stop studying the contaminating

the ocean water and start actively combating it? How does yesterday

sound?

All right already with the studies. Their own studies so far have

proven the plume comes back to shore. Their studies show the cost to the

average taxpayer will be $40 a year. They have $400 to $600 million in

reserve. They should drop the waiver, start immediately toward full

secondary treatment and stop polluting the ocean.

EILEEN MURPHY

Huntington Beach

I have lived along the Southern California coast for virtually my

entire life and now my children and I spend a lot of leisure time at the

beach.

My opinion is that Orange County Sanitation District needs to own up

to its inefficiency and poor internal politics and do what is necessary

to be 100% compliant with the Clean Water Act. How many more waivers are

they going to ask for? Do what is necessary to be 100% compliant, instead

of wasting precious time, valuable resources and our county funds to

continue to cover up the alleged major cause of our closure of the

beaches.

If Hyperion in Los Angeles (how much larger is their population?) can

be compliant, why can’t we in Orange County? We are currently ahead of

whom, with our efforts to treat waste water before being pumped out to

the ocean -- Tijuana?

Orange County Sanitation District, get your act together now.

JOHN STREIPS

Huntington Beach