City should waive fees, go after sellers...

City should waive fees, go after sellers

I think that the City Council should waive the affordable-housing

fee, give clear title to the homeowners who bought the condos, fire

the staff members who allowed this problem to happen in the first

place, and I think the city attorney should start filing class-action

suits against the real estate company and the title company who said

that these condos were under jurisdiction and could be converted into

condominiums.

WALTER LAZAR

Huntington Beach

Sellers, Realtors should fix mess

I feel this condo-conversion mess is just horrible and totally

unfair to these people who purchased these homes in good faith,

relying on the Realtors, relying on the trust companies and escrow

and so forth.

They’ve paid all these fees to buy them. It is definitely not

their fault that this was not brought up to code. It was their

representatives. So if there’s any liability there, it should from

the people who did the conversion and also the trust companies and

Realtors involved.

The one problem is you sign a zillion, zillion forms when you buy

something, but nothing ever protects you as the buyer as they always

tell you. Everything protects them, and this is totally unfair, and

now the buyers are probably stuck with property that is even below

the value maybe that they even paid for. So the Huntington Beach City

Council is totally off-base on this. If it is going after someone, it

certainly should not be the purchasers of these properties.

DORIS JONES

Huntington Beach

Blame and fees laid

on wrong doorstep

I’m not happy with the suggested solution that the City Council

has come up with. What I’m wondering is, why doesn’t the City Council

go after those people who did the apartment-condo conversions? Why

didn’t they get permits? Why didn’t they pay the fees that were

required?

Also, other people who were involved in not only the condo

conversion themselves, but any approvals along the line, or those

people who were involved in selling those condos, why shouldn’t the

city be going after them? And a third point is if there were sales

made, surely they have to go through a title search. Why wouldn’t the

title company have some responsibility in this?

I don’t think that the present owners of those condos should bear

any costs of permits, any costs of the condo conversion. It’s not

their fault. They didn’t know that permits were not obtained, so I

think the City Council is falsely putting this on the backs of the

present owners. Another question that I have is, “Who is the City

Council protecting?” I think that’s a question that should be exposed

in an open council meeting.

ERNEST PENDRASIK

Huntington Beach

I believe it’s a terrible scam that’s coming down on condo owners.

They never should have been exposed to the illegal conversions to

begin with. If I were the person who illegally converted apartments

to condominiums, they would probably want to see me put in jail, so

it’s not fair that they have to pick up the huge tab. It should be

the people who did the illegal conversions.

ARNOLD YACKLEY

Huntington Beach

Owners should not have to pay the affordable-housing fees. The

Realtors who sold the properties should be responsible, including Pam

Julien Houchen. I find it very interesting that the City Council

isn’t considering this.I know there’s an investigation, but to take

more money from these people who probably didn’t have a clue that

this was necessary to pay these fees, I say go back to them. That’s

where it needs to go. I’m certainly disappointed that someone like

Houchen happened to be one of the Realtors.

BARBARA DICKENSON

Huntington Beach

Key to good council member is teamwork

The most important thing for new City Council members to take to

heart once they take their seats is “leadership through teamwork.”

Regardless of constituencies, background, intellect or other

qualities, rookie council members must exert their newfound influence

constructively by working with those returning council members to

solve our city’s problems and address our city’s needs.

TIM GEDDES

Huntington Beach

Headline misleads, deal a lousy one

Your headline “Hearthside agrees to sell” sent my spirits soaring

... but then I continued to read your story and saw that you speak

only of the lower shelf of the Bolsa Chica land mass. My spirits

plummeted. Independent, shame on you for a totally misleading

headline.

To answer your question, “Is this a good trade ...” I say, “No,

no, no.” The lower portion of the mesa shelf cannot provide enough of

a barrier to protect the waters of the Bolsa Chica wetlands. Building

more than 300 houses on the upper shelf will further dislodge

wildlife and bird habitat. Modern living habits will poison the

waters below. Another thousand vehicles on our overburdened streets?

Is this a “good” thing? A good trade? Not in our lifetime.

Signal Landmark has benefited from this community, and after 30

years of battling the preservationists, I would suggest that they

abandon their development plans and turn the acreage into a

low-impact Signal Mesa Park, thereby creating a corporate legacy

similar to the Irvine Co.’s Limestone Canyon Preserve. The perfect

solution, as I see all this.

ANNE JEAN SPIEGEL

Huntington Beach

Film can’t be called

a documentary

Lois Vackar (“Review of ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ on the money,” July 8)

says she wishes she had a notebook to remember some of the points

made in “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

I wish she had also checked out the lies that filled this

successful propaganda piece. The dictionary defines “documentary” as

“presenting facts objectively without inserting fictional matter, as

in a book, newspaper account or film.” Filled with fiction, this

fails as documentary.

Since there are so many gulls in Huntington Beach, do you suppose

this tends to make some residents so gullible? Bad comparison? No

worse than “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

BILL KETTLER

Huntington Beach

Film shows how America was conned

I agree with Steven Brooks (“Readers deserve balanced review,”

Mailbag, July 15). We do live in a country where we should have

balanced discussion. The ultimate word is “should.” We do not have

fair, unbalanced discussion.

Can we have balanced media? It is about time someone told the

truth, and in Michael Moore’s documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11,” all the

facts are true, and people are shocked because they haven’t been

exposed to the truth before.

The government literally brainwashed the American public very

successfully to support this illegal, immoral invasion. I urge

everyone to go and see “Fahrenheit 9/11.” The Independent’s review

was excellent, factual and fair. I urge Steven Brooks to go and see

it -- he obviously hasn’t -- and so should all thinking people.

America, you were conned.

MIKE SHRUBSOLE

Huntington Beach