Watch out for the blighted pear trees...

Watch out for the blighted pear trees

The city of Huntington Beach needs to be aware that the pear trees

that line many of our streets have been attacked by a fire blight.

This is a very infectious and destructive disease. It’s very

expensive to treat and most arborists recommend removing the trees

altogether.

Pear trees on private properties have also been affected as this

blight is extremely insidious and will eventually infect other

varieties of trees and plants. I hope a solution to this problem is

being sought.

BARBARA SHEPARD

Huntington Beach

Reasons to worry about Boeing

Huntington Beach residents have good reason to be concerned, but

it might be premature and nonproductive to worry about the potential

for Boeing’s business departure from our city.

It is certain the local economy will be negatively impacted by the

loss of 1,100 well-paid engineering jobs in the short-term. Should

those jobs be back-filled by other Boeing engineers, as suggested by

our former economic development manager, David Biggs, the impact will

be offset.

However, a loss of this magnitude, both in numbers and talent, may

also be the beginning of a diminished future for Boeing in our city.

A preliminary fiscal estimate of the financial impacts of the loss

of 1,100 engineering jobs can and should be an eye-opener for the

business community, residents and our economic development staff.

In order to understand better the potential impacts we have to

account for the direct, indirect and induced impacts in terms of

employment, output and personal income.

The direct impacts are measured by the loss of salary paid to the

employees. If we assume that the average annual wage for a Boeing

engineer is about $60,000, then we are looking at $66 million that

will temporarily, or permanently, be eliminated from the local

economy for every year these jobs remain vacant at the Boeing

Huntington Beach campus.

If that is not sufficient to raise an eyebrow of concern, we have

to add the indirect and induced potential losses. Indirect impacts

are new jobs, output and income generated by industries that supply

goods and services directly to Boeing and in this case, specifically

to the lost Delta rocket program. An operational analysis estimates

this amount to be about $23 million per year. Impacts consist of

jobs, output and personal income in industries that serve the direct

and indirect employees and their families.

Other impacts include not only the end-use consumer products but

also any locally purchased intermediate products that were used in

producing the consumer goods and services.

The estimate of these impacts for 1,100 engineering jobs adds

another $26 million to the total impact analysis, resulting in a

potential fiscal impact of the loss of $115 million in economic

activity. Huntington Beach residents have ample cause for concern.

Obviously, the entire $115-million loss will be felt in the region

and does not solely impact Huntington Beach. Westminster and

surrounding communities should be equally concerned.

We can only hope that the concern we currently have is shared by

our city administrator and her economic development staff, who will

hopefully transform concern to action.

I recommend immediate discussions with Boeing management and

contingency plans to work to attract quality jobs in equal numbers

and pay, should that become the best option.

Currently the city is in the process of finding a replacement for

the departed Biggs. If that person does not aggressively respond to

the challenge, it will be time to worry.

JEFF LEBOW

Huntington Beach

Medical pot store not wanted here

We already have enough drugs in the street; we don’t need to open

a store.

RAYMOND AUBE

Huntington Beach