MAILBAG:

The idea that the City Council can better manage the home foreclosure business than the private sector is insanity or worse.

Banks have a fiduciary responsibility to get the most out of each property. Cost of repairs to a novice is extraordinarily high. Then, purposely limiting the price to less than retail for any buyer is certainly a bad deal to local taxpayers. Let me remind everyone that all back taxes on any property sold must be paid first, and so Huntington Beach would get its back taxes at the time of the sale. Huntington Beach code enforcement employees ensure that unsightly blights are corrected. Thus, I can only surmise that there may be another more sinister motive to such sudden action taken by the majority of this city’s rulers.

Perhaps someone should remind the council that our expectation is that they manage the city’s operation and existing projects rather than developing new ones. They say that we are in a budget “crisis;” if so, why are they searching for new ways to spend more money? Should we divert city funds from infrastructural necessities like roads, sewers, alleys, sidewalks and add more delays to our Senior Center construction because of this unwarranted and financially disastrous folly?

Our city’s history leads me to think that what is needed is a disclosure search to locate whom the real benefactors of this highly unusual “special program” are — including friends, relatives and campaign contributors. Remember, full disclosure is rarely made by government entities without a filing for fraud and corruption.

Rod Kunishige

Huntington Beach

All politicians need to be concerned about environment

In response to the Dec. 18 article “Harman eyes attorney general seat,” I was intrigued by Sen. Tom Harman criticizing Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown for aggressively enforcing environmental laws, especially Assembly Bill 32, which was drafted to reduce carbon emissions in California. Does Harman need to be reminded that the attorney general has a sworn duty to enforce state laws regardless of his or her personal opinion?

Harman is more concerned about our economy than our environment. It’s not an either-or situation; the two are inextricably bound. When will our elected representatives start factoring in the real cost of environmental degradation including the health costs associated with pollution or the cost of rising premiums that all consumers share when insurance companies charge us for the latest “natural disaster” that is more than likely tied to global warming?

Are businesses and our elected officials so shortsighted that they will continue to ignore these challenges until it is too late? Even if the full extent of these changes (including rising oceans) are not fully felt until 2050, to what planet will our children and grandchildren be traveling?

Lynda A. Hernandez