Mesa View teacher is a stellar example...

Mesa View teacher is a stellar example

On Sunday, Feb. 2, more than 200 seventh- and eighth-graders from

Mesa View Middle School met at 5:30 a.m. to volunteer throughout the

entirety of the Pacific Shoreline Marathon. Their task was to

distribute water, give encouragement and cheer on the runners. I

spoke with many of these students later, who said, “I had so much

fun, I loved volunteering.” The man who accomplished the feat of

motivating these students was science teacher Jay Du Val.

Du Val is one of those rare teachers who is not only a superb

instructor, but he goes the extra mile to teach by example how

important it is to be a contributing community member. He’s also in

charge of the eighth-grade Yosemite program at Mesa View, and I can

personally attest that his fellow teachers and parents who chaperoned

the students for the week provided a life changing experience.

Besides everything else, Du Val is an active parent in the Huntington

Beach High School Band Booster Club. He drives the instrument filled

truck to all of their competitions.

In this day of so much criticism of education and educators, Jay

Du Val stands out as an inspiration to all of us as a leader of young

people, an exemplary community contributor, and above all, a

marvelous human being.

JUDY M. SCHANTES

Huntington Beach

Council made right decision on fireworks

The council totally made the right decision in allowing fireworks

back in Huntington Beach. We have lived here for seven years and have

family and friends with businesses on Main Street. We love this city

because it feels like a small town and that has been a great

environment to raise kids. To stick Huntington Beach with the label

“riot-city” seems a bit outdated -- and short sighted. The residents

of Huntington Beach are mature enough to handle fireworks on their

beach. Besides, wasn’t all that redevelopment done to attract people

here?

CHRIS AND MINDY WHITE

Huntington Beach

I am certainly happy that the City Council reconsidered its first

ill-advised vote and now we shall enjoy the Fourth in our own

backyards viewing fireworks on the beach. It is time to look at our

city today and not yesterday as it has changed considerably and the

City Council needs to grow with it.

CHLOE POLLOCK MIECZKOWSKI

Huntington Beach

We need districts in Huntington Beach

The big special interest group that is opposed to districts is

Huntington Beach Tomorrow. All the council members over the past 15

plus years have been members of Huntington Beach Tomorrow, the Amigos

de Bolsa Chica or the Land Trust. The only item on their agenda is

the Bolsa Chica. Who do you think is funding the anti-districting

initiative? Who is buying the big signs, the mailers, writing the

letters in each weeks paper, speaking at the meetings, etc?

The city of Huntington Beach is in desperate times financially,

but it is all self-induced. Districts will help to break up the

incestuous relationship that has brought the city to the brink of

financial disaster. We need something to break up the political

monopoly presented by the save the Bolsa Chica groups and districts

will help. We have districts for congress, senate, schools, state and

national and may other cities, why not Huntington Beach?

LLOYD EDWARDS

Huntington Beach

Let’s oust the seven members we have

I am in favor of the districts because I think it is time that

Huntington Beach dump all those seven people who have done such a

lousy job since they’ve been elected and go with a district concept

where we would have one person representing us that we could go to

rather than being passed on to various people.

And if you look carefully, those who are against the districting,

are those people who have been involved in City Hall politics for

many, many years and enjoy hanging on with all their comrades.

PHILLIP F. SWANSON

Huntington Beach

AES Corp. is not behind Measure E

I would like to clarify several issues about AES’ involvement with

Measure E and inaccuracies in the recently circulated “No on E”

brochure.

It is true that AES contributed $22,500 in mid-2002 to assist in

the drive for petition signatures. Since that time, however, not only

have we not made any further contributions on behalf of this

initiative, AES Huntington Beach has not had any communication at all

with any of the proponents of Measure E. The current momentum behind

this measure appears to be driven by the citizens of the community

and not AES.

Districting has absolutely no impact on how AES is assessed for

property taxes, as implied by the brochure. The state Board of

Equalization has jurisdiction over our property tax assessment, not

the Huntington Beach City Council. All AES has ever requested from

the state Board of Equalization or, Orange County before them, is

that we be assessed fairly, using accepted taxing methods, which in

the case of many businesses is an income-based approach, not property

value. The original assessment done by the state Board of

Equalization was done incorrectly. When the evaluation was redone it

resulted in a reduced assessment value. We just acted as a

responsible business owner and pursued what is fair and lawful.

Furthermore, districting has no relevance to the 5% utility users

tax. As evidence, the issue has already gone to the ballot and been

voted down by the community, while under the current “at large”

system.

AES would like the people of Huntington Beach to make their

decision on Measure E based on facts. Regardless of the ultimate

structure of the City Council, as the new plant manager, I look

forward to working together with the city and local community to

continue to transform Huntington Beach into one of the finest cities

in America.

ERIC PENDERGRAFT

Plant Manager

AES Huntington Beach

Measure E folks are running scared

It is obvious that the “yes on Measure E” people are running

scared as they pump thousands of dollars into last minute mailers and

a host of garish signs.

This shows their desperation as their once comfortable position in

the polls begins to crumble as voters begin to take a closer look at

this fraud of an initiative.

It looks like it will be a race to see how many voters wake up

from the “change at any price” reverie of the gubernatorial recall to

discover how badly they are being played for suckers by the powerful

special interests who are exploiting local desires and fears for

their own selfish gain.

There has never been a bigger wolf in sheep’s clothing than

Measure E in recent Huntington Beach history. Let’s hope the wool is

removed from over the eyes of our voters in time.

TIM GEDDES

Huntington Beach

We’re better off with members at large

The residents of Huntington Beach, at this time, have seven City

Council members to contact if they have any concern, about anything,

anywhere in the city. Why would they want to reduce that to one

person? A person who may or may not share their concern. The more

ears a citizen has to express their concerns, the more involved the

citizen will be in city matters. We urge a no vote on E.

BILL AND MARY JANE WILEY

Huntington Beach

District question is difficult to judge

I am actually intrigued with this one. I have been a Huntington

Beach resident since 1966 and a homeowner since 1972. In that 38 years I have found the city government to be generally despicable,

but no more despicable than the other governments I am forced to live

with at the county, state and federal levels. They have pulled their

dirty tricks (mostly on my water bill), they have spiked pensions and

they have shot themselves in the foot over their fair share of local

issues. In recent years, they have guaranteed that there will be no

revenue gained from any Bolsa Chica development or the desalinization

plant, just to identify two in an endless series. No problem, they

reason, we can always stick it to residents as we have consistently

done for longer than even we can remember.

So now I have to decide if the council shall be five

representatives from geographic districts or seven elected at-large.

Both will remain despicable, you can be sure. But will the

despicability index go up or down? Are five palm-greasing-seekers

better than seven palm-greasing-seekers? Really hard to judge.

ED SEBELIUS

Huntington Beach

Vandalized election posters a bad sign

It’s been very disappointing to see the green and blue “No on E”

signs being torn down around the city. However, it is rewarding to

note that most of the pink “Yes” signs are on those heavily traveled

streets and not in the neighborhoods or on home lawns. To me that

would seem to indicate the “yes” signs were put up by professionals

and the “no” signs by the Huntington Beach citizens and voters.

I sure hope so because I want to be able to continue to vote for

all seven council members.

BILL HALPIN

Huntington Beach

I am writing this letter because of my outrage over a graffiti

spraying of a large No on E sign (Golden West Street).

This action is symbolic of the campaign to discredit and to

replace the current seven members of the City Council in Huntington

Beach with five members.

In a matter of principle, if not theory, democratic representation

is being rejected. Common sense should point in the direction of more

rather than less representation for a vibrant Huntington Beach. If

political power is trust, would you trust those who would support

Measure E -- those who would reduce the City Council of seven members

to five members? Vote no on E.

ALFRED WROBEL

Huntington Beach

Districts make no sense for residents

Try as I might, I can’t seem to grasp the mathematics of why one

vote every four years is better than three or four votes every two

years.

Currently, I have access to all seven council members. Should

Measure E prevail, there would be only person accountable to me. I

live in the 92647 area code, and the library is in 92648. As a

longtime library activist, I would have to appeal to the City Council

member out of my district. This, in itself, would mean a diminished

and ineffective voice for me. Vote no on E.

OLGA WROBEL

Huntington Beach

In 1965, I was a member of a group of citizens presenting an

initiative to Huntington Beach, creating seven city council

districts. At that time, there were five council members, elected at

large. The reasoning, at that time, was to break the control that the

Downtown area had on city politics. This control resulted from the

very heavy turnout of voters, usually in the high-90 percentages, to

the detriment of the fast growing city. A large percentage of retired

persons lived Downtown, as opposed to new residents, many of whom

worked outside of the city with long commutes. This initiative went

down to a resounding defeat by a 2 to 1 margin.

However, the city then set up a charter revision committee that

proposed a seven-person council, elected at large. This revision was

accepted by the voters, and in April, 1966, the make-up of the

council began to change. Two homeowner association presidents were

elected to the council. I was one of those presidents. Support came

from all sections of the city, including Downtown, where things also

began to change. This council makeup has served the city well for 38

years.

The complaint that the Southeast section of the city is not being

served can only be corrected in one way: develop leadership. If this

portion of the city can band together then representation will occur.

Measure E puts part of Southeast in with Downtown. Where do you think

the council member will reside for that district?

Many residents of this city were not here back in the 1960s when

the population explosion was transforming this oil and agricultural

town into a major metropolis.

There were serious problems then.

If the voters of this city pass this measure, the political

turmoil will only increase. I have been amazed at the mean-spirited,

often half-true, ugly letters to the editor that have been published

over the past few years, attacking the City Council and city

employees for everything they do. Many of these writers must have a

very bad existence, but taking out their frustrations on the city

staff is not the way to go.

Or at least try to be truthful and informed.

A no vote on Measure E will continue Huntington Beach as a pretty

good place to live. Think about it.

JACK GREEN

Huntington Beach

Union-endorsed trustees, a problem

My house is over 35 years old. It is not falling apart like our

high schools supposedly are. Why? Because I haven’t shortchanged

periodic maintenance. Apparently our school district has. And I can

guess why. Most school board members are elected with heavy support

from the employee unions. These board members then seem to have no

discipline in negotiating contracts, settle on too much, and then

find it necessary to cut other general fund items in the budget like

maintenance. This is easy to do because the effects don’t show up

immediately.

Union-elected school boards are like fiscal “alcoholics.” Our

passing huge bail-out bonds is like giving them another bottle of

booze?. What our high school district really needs is a 12-step

program in budget discipline. Vote no on C.

JAMES MUNRO

Huntington Beach

Measure C is for more than parents

I am currently a resident and homeowner in Fountain Valley and

have lived in this area for over 35 years. I am getting close to

retirement. I have no children in my household and my son, now an

adult, was a graduate from Huntington Beach High School with an

excellent education.

I am extremely concerned about the responses and perceptions of

some senior citizens in our community who hotly refuse to support

funding for major structural repairs of our high schools in the

Huntington Beach Union High School District as proposed in Measure C.

One typical response is: “I don’t have children in school anymore. I

believe in public education but our tax money has supported too many

administrators and not the classroom. I will not vote for more

taxation.”

I argue that schools reflect the values of our community and

increase the value of our property. The public uses these facilities

as well. Secondly, our students will become taxpayers and voters who

will influence our future welfare. Our students are not responsible

for the structural decline of our high schools that are over 35 years

old. Measure C is a small price to pay; I will pay approximately $60

more a year on my home’s tax bill. Our schools are just like our

homes; they age and require our attention and our support.

JUNE STARK-KARABA

Fountain Valley