A great night for Huntington Beach I...

A great night for Huntington Beach

I feel compelled to write about an incredible experience I had at

the Third Battalion First Regiment U.S. Marine Dine-In, where

Huntington Beach formally met the 1,200 Marines that we are adopting.

At the end of an incredible evening, a young Marine came limping

up to me and stuck out his severely injured hand saying, “I want to

thank you in Huntington Beach from the bottom of my heart for doing

this for us.” Then he teared up, apologized for getting emotional and

hugged me. As he hugged me he said, “Until tonight I didn’t realize

that anyone cared.”

I told him with some emotion myself that I knew the people of

Huntington Beach cared and that our city would be showing them how

much we cared in the next few months. The “3-1” Huntington Beach

Marine Adoption Committee will soon be advising residents about what

specifically they can do to show that we care.

DAVE SULLIVAN

Huntington Beach

* EDITOR’S NOTE: Dave Sullivan is a Huntington Beach city

councilman.

Good faith needed

in school sales

In response to Rosemary Saylor’s letter (“Sale of fields a tough

financial decision,”) I agree with her suggestion that residents of

Huntington Beach need to step up and buy the closed Fountain Valley

School District school sites that lie within our city’s boundaries. I

will be supporting a measure to do that if it gets on a ballot. But

she is off the mark in her statement “ ... [the school board] does

not make [a decision to sell property] without a review committee

(made up of parents and other concerned community members).”

The district did in fact put together such a committee, but nobody

from the affected neighborhoods was on the committee, nor were any

users of the property, as suggested by state law. The absolute

minimum of public hearings were held, and most affected neighbors

were not notified. Most speakers at the few hearings held spoke

against the sales, yet the school board voted unanimously on the

first vote, without debate, to sell the sites. We can all draw our

own conclusions from this as to who really made the decision to sell

the property. In my humble opinion, the board and community are being

led by the nose.

What will really happen if Supt. Marc Ecker has his way is that he

will be managing a big fat endowment of the tens of millions from the

sales, plus nearly $25 million from the recent sale of McDowell

school, plus whatever is left over from the sale of two other schools

in the last few years, less the nearly $6 million the district

recently spent on the purchase of the Star Real Estate building at

Brookhurst and Slater. Ecker might have the cushiest superintendent’s

job in the county, yet according to state law, none of these sale

proceeds can be spent on teachers’ salaries or instructional

materials. It can only be spent on capital improvements to the 11

remaining district campuses. Please don’t take my word for it, look

up the facts yourself.

Yes, Huntington Beach should buy the land and preserve it in its

present state. But the question is, when and for how much? I agree

that we should all do a better job at funding and supporting all our

schools. But liquidating community assets like our precious few

athletic fields in order to set up one tiny (4,000 students) school

district to be wealthier than all the other surrounding districts is

not smart, and not fair.

I call on the school district to deal in a truly good-faith manner

with Huntington Beach to facilitate the transfer of those properties.

The process of deciding to sell the property was not conducted in

good faith. Shoving a full-market price demand on a short fuse down

our throats is not good faith. It will be fought vigorously.

DERYL ROBINSON

Huntington Beach

We don’t want

MTV beach house

We have never allowed MTV in our home. I feel the influences

promoted by it are not in keeping with the standards and values we

choose for our family. I can’t imagine that having a “beach house”

for MTV in such a prominent place as the Pier Plaza could add

anything positive to our community.

CAROLYN S. ALLEN

Huntington Beach