Sports complex should sport a pool Why...

Sports complex should sport a pool

Why oh why doesn’t Huntington Beach have a swimming complex? Did

Huntington ever consider a 50 meter pool/swim complex when they were

planning the sports complex? It would bring another premiere sport to

our city ... that would be good! Olympic swim trials were held in a

temporary pool in Long Beach! Imagine if they were held here!

Swimming and water polo is not truly supported by Huntington

Beach. These sports surround us, but we don’t have any facility for

it here. We have Huntington Beach teams in water polo and swimming

who have hit world class levels of competition, but we have no

facility, just our locals high school pools, which have limited

space, and limited quality. Time to step up Huntington Beach, after

the sports complex fiasco. Why don’t we make it right, build a

swimming facility so that this city can support its ultimately

talented swimmers and water polo players who currently are carted off

daily to practices and tournaments to other cities and facilities in

Orange County.

It is never too late to reconsider the sports complex plans.

Remember, this kind of facility would pay for itself if we could hold

premiere events at it, and it ultimately supports our community and

the water sports that this beach town is known for!

STEPHANIE KOZOWYK

Huntington Beach

Drivers are the hazard not the RVs

It is absolutely stunning how may people in our society have

completely lost the concept of personal responsibility. It is always

someone else’s fault.

Opponents of the proposed RV ordinance always proclaim that

legally parked RVs are dangerous (“Just enforce the parking laws we

have,” Mailbag, Aug. 12). These drivers always argue that RVs block

their visibility, which results in near collisions with other

vehicles or pedestrians (usually children).

Legally parked vehicles are never a hazard. It is the driver of

the moving vehicle who is the hazard. The California vehicle code

states you can never drive a vehicle faster than it is safe. If a

vehicle is blocking your view, by law the driver must slow down to a

safe speed. If the driver of the moving vehicle is having near

collisions due to his blocked view, it is because the driver is

moving at unsafe speeds. The driver is the hazard and should be

cited.

These drivers will never accept this fact even though it is the

law. It could never be their fault. These are the same people who

drop a brick on their foot and sue the brick manufacturer or sue

cigarette manufacturers after smoking two packs a day for 30 years

and now have lung cancer. The sad fact of the matter is that the

population of these morons is growing at an alarming rate. God help

us all and oppose the proposed RV ordinance. Long live liberty.

NORM WESTWELL

Huntington Beach

Coastal Commission not looking fair

The sale of the mesa’s lower area is in trouble because the

Coastal Commission cannot tolerate any kind of compromise that would

also benefit the landowner and the taxpayers of this state.

How could the commission approve the building of 1,235 homes on

the upper level four years ago and then deny less than 1/3 that

amount of homes now?

Could it be that the commission was fine with saving the lower

bench when they took it without compensation to the landowner in

2000, but now want to penalize the landowner for getting some return

on the land in 2004?

The Bolsa Chica fight has always been steered by extremists.

They are now about to reap what they have sown.

GENE CLARKE

Huntington Beach

There should be no deal or development

The issue of the Bolsa Chica Wetlands is not a matter of a

$65-million bond issue, but that there should be no deal with Signal

Landmark and Hearthside Homes and the Brightwater development.

The Bolsa Chica mesa should retain its beauty as a forefront for

the present generation as well as future generations.

By preserving Bolsa Chica it will symbolize that through turbulent

times that something good can be achieved.

STEVE AND CHRISTINE HAMACHI

Huntington Beach

City should back buying of lower mesa

I absolutely think the city back a plan to buy the lower mesa.

That’s a great idea because the lower mesa is part of a complete

ecosystem. We have a jewel in Bolsa Chica and we want to preserve the

complete ecosystem because the hawks nest there and so do the egrets

and blue herons and we want to keep it as intact as possible. I fully

support the idea to buy back the lower mesa.

DEBORAH WALLIN

Huntington Beach

City mismanaged the sports complex

I do not have children or grandchildren. However, I was very much

in favor of providing the Sports Complex to the kids and families in

Huntington Beach because it is a good place for them to be and they

needed a place of their own.

When I inquired a few months ago of one of the City Council

members as to why it was just sitting there vacant the response was

that the ground needed many months to cure! Now we discover what a

fiasco this whole thing was! How could any responsible member of this

City Council pay these huge fees upfront instead of doing what the

rest of us do -- pay a deposit and the balance when completed. Yes,

they should pursue the contractor on legal grounds, but it appears

they will get back zero. In that case, the city better be prepared to

cough up the $950,000 themselves because the taxpayers are not going

to do so! The worst part of this scenario is that whenever any vote

comes up again to do anything in the city we will probably vote it

down since the elected members of our City Council are so

irresponsible. In the meantime, it is the end of summer and the

Sports Complex sits sadly empty.

CHLOE POLLOCK MIECZKOWSKI

Huntington Beach

Owners should be allowed to fix property

Why can’t we get along? In 1987, when our wall was erected, we

went through a similar problem that pitted neighbor against neighbor.

We had the city permit, approval of the city inspectors during

construction, until some neighbor objected and construction was

halted. After meetings with the California Coastal Commission,

Planning Commission and finally the City Council, our wall was

approved with many costly modifications. One of them was, “The

homeowner is to maintain the foliage forever -- keeping it looking

attractive and an asset to the harbor.” Isn’t that the simple answer?

Whether homeowners have a retaining wall or the original slope, it

is their responsibility to maintain and keep it looking attractive.

If they do not, the city can require the homeowner to make the

necessary improvements. If the homeowner does not comply, steps can

be taken by the city to maintain city codes and standards and

assessing the homeowner for incurred cost through property taxes.

Believe it or not, many of the same neighbors that objected to our

back wall stopped by during the past 17 years and said to my husband,

“We were wrong, your wall is lovely and an asset to our street and

community.”

We are so lucky to live in America that is still the land of the

free -- where a citizen has the right to live on the land that he

owns, and improve it. We are blessed to live in California and enjoy

the best climate in the world! We are fortunate to live in Huntington

Harbour among good and caring people! As a recent widow, I would not

have gotten through this trying time without my Harbour friends and

neighbors.

I strongly recommend that the Planning Commission accept the

Planning Department’s recommendation, and deny the zoning amendment.

I further ask the City Council to withdraw its support from this

amendment and to drop any further proposals which would limit our

rights to develop our backyards.

JUNE ASCOLESI

Huntington Beach

Environmentalists hurt more than help

Of course the deal to purchase more than 100 acres on the lower

bench of the mesa is in jeopardy, but it’s not the developers who

have caused it. This situation seems to be just one more in a series

of problems created by an overzealous environmental community who

have little regard for people or property rights. We could have had

this issue solved four years ago when the developer proposed 1,235

homes spread out over the two man-made benches of the mesa, as well

as millions of dollars toward restoration of the wetlands, public

amenities, a trail for cyclists, horse riders and pedestrians that

would’ve stretched from Huntington Beach Central Park to the ocean

and much more -- all at no expense to taxpayers.

Instead, what has been the big contribution by the so-called

environmentalists? We have a bunch of dead and dying eucalyptus trees

saved so that nonendangered birds may have a better view of the

nesting spots of endangered birds so they can feast on their young.

That’s using your heads.

If the sale does not go through and the money is spent elsewhere

in the state, the environmentalists have no one to blame but

themselves and the Coastal Commission staff.

ASHLEY MOORE

Huntington Beach