Employees should pay into their retirement...

Employees should pay into their retirement

One area that has always seemed unfair to all residents of

Huntington Beach is the 7% we pay for the employee portion of the

employee contribution to their own retirement fund.

The police are under contract so probably couldn’t be affected.

Every other employee should be required to pay their own 7% and not

ask the city to pay it. I don’t have the ability to calculate the

savings but it would be substantial.

JOHN BOWDEN

Huntington Beach

Save money and get rid of the art center

Do completely away with the art center. I think it is just a hole

in the ground that the City Council keeps pouring money into. I know

they have a huge debt and I believe city funds go into supporting

that and it is just a white elephant.

I think very few people use the facility, care about the facility,

want the facility and certainly it was never asked for by the

residents. And I can never seem to find out how much money goes into

that, but maybe you could because that is a waste of money with few

benefits and at least with the DARE program you can help a child,

even one and a little art exhibit doesn’t help anyone so see if we

can do away with that white elephant.

ROSEMARY COWELL

Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach should have gun range

I am 100% in favor of a gun range. As retired law enforcement and

an average shooter, I believe the city is discriminating against

this. Also, it is costing the city quite a bit of money for lost man

hours when they have to send officers to other cities in order to

remain proficient with their fire power.

THOMAS HALEY

Huntington Beach

Surf City has no place for a new gun range

No, I don’t think we have a place to have it that’s big enough and

quiet enough for a gun range and every place would disturb the

neighbors.

CHARLENE BAUER

Huntington Beach

No, this is an issue that has already been addressed. Where were

all the council members in the past? Were they not interested in city

issues at that time?

PATTY GORDON

Huntington Beach

They’ve already gotten rid of the gun range once. The gun range is

for a minority of people and just because some guy got elected who

used to be a cop, obviously we know where his priorities are, not

fixing the sewer systems, not fixing the streets and not keeping

police on the street but some stupid gun range for a minority of

people and most cities this size don’t have anything like it.

ROBERT BINGMAN

Huntington Beach

City should continue council district lawsuit

I think the city should follow through with the suit against Scott

Baugh and Connie Brockway. I think I agree with it 100%, after more information, I feel more opposed to the districting and I think

currently this is based that Baugh is really just a professional

lobbyist in the form of special interest, that is his underlying

motive.

DREW KOVACS

Huntington Beach

City shows true colors by suing city clerk

I think that the city suing the [City Council district] initiative

petitioner, Scott Baugh and its own clerk shows just how off base our

City Council is. The city fighting this initiative is costing one

heck of a lot of money and I think some of the citizens of the city

should take a look at the areas that the city was not able to fund

because they didn’t have the money but they were able to spend

thousands of dollars to fight this initiative. I believe that the

citizens should look at these things and ask the city council, “what

are you doing?”

JOSEPH JEFFREY

Huntington Beach

Leipzig has been a disappointment to city

Former Huntington Beach mayor and current lobbyist Vic Leipzig is

a huge disappointment to this town. When he was elected to the City

Council many years ago, I liked what he had to say. Leipzig seemed

like he sincerely cared about the community. Now he is a lobbyist for

Poseidon Resources, the people that want to build a desalination

plant at the beach, and the Hyatt Hotel, the people that wanted to

pave over more wetlands and who knows who else.

I guess I’m just naive, but I don’t get it. One day he is an

advocate for the quality of life in Huntington Beach and the next day

he sells his advocacy to the highest bidder. Could it be that Leipzig

is cashing in on his past political status?

.

STEVE HOMER

Huntington Beach

DARE works for some, and that matters

I am responding to the letter by Robert Smythe in the Jan. 23

Independent. His letter really upset me. My daughter went to The

Fountain Valley School District and had the DARE program when she was

younger. I remember that she enjoyed this very much and was very

impressed.

She would come home and inform me of all the bad things of drugs,

cigarettes, drinking, etc. Yes, it is cute, and yes, it may or may

not work for all kids, but it does work for some, and yes, parental

supervision may or may not work either, but that doesn’t stop me from

trying.

As adults, we should never give up on kids. Smyth talks about

using our tax dollars for an un-effective program. Maybe he has a

good reason, I don’t know. But this I do know -- my daughter learned

a lot from DARE and now she is a 17-year-old, and I spend every

single day trying to make her a better person, and although she still

makes the wrong choices sometimes, I don’t give up. And many times, I

see my efforts in effect, and to this day, she remembers her DARE

program. She remembers the police officers and police dogs who spent

their time coming out and she has that memory to look back on and she

knows that they cared. And for that, go ahead and use my tax dollars.

Every single child out there is worth the program. And I want to

thank every police officer in DARE for your efforts for every child

you give your time to.

LISA K RIVERA

Huntington Beach

I applaud the Independent for its accurate reporting on the DARE

program and the obvious dislike of removing the program. How sad it

is to read that some people can’t seem to break away from so called

“independent studies” and see that the majority of the people in

Huntington Beach want the DARE program, and because of this outcry,

our City Council has risen to the call and afforded our children a

chance to continue on with this outstanding program.

My child had the opportunity to graduate from DARE in December.

She has already used her education in resisting peer pressure and

applied her knowledge of the seven ways to say no. I am so thankful

for Officer Bradley and the lasting impression he has made on my

child.

I hope that people realize that raising kids in today’s world is

even harder than it used to be. Parents need assistance in educating

their children in these areas. I’ve read where people say that if

even one child resists drugs then the program is a success. Well, I

know one child who was profoundly affected by this program and

Officer Bradley.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for accurate reporting, and to

the City Council for rising to the challenge and bringing back the

DARE program, even if only temporary.

NANCY BUCHOZ

Huntington Beach

El Toro is dead, long live the great park

It seems that there are some who are still trying to get El Toro

to become an international airport, namely Rex Ricks and Donald Nyre,

who are constantly writing letters to the editor.

This is a done deal. There will be NO airport at El Toro. The

voters have spoken, and they have said the land is to become a great

park.

Enough said, let us move on.

KATHY COURTNEY

Laguna Niguel

Get rid of the boards that run the city

Why do we elect those that we entrust to represent our interests

in the passage of laws that forms our destiny of behavior?

The Huntington Beach City Council passed an ordnance, well needed,

to limit the meetings of the appointed Planning Commission to once a

month. Some of those “appointed” commissioners rose in protest to

such an extent that their appointees are apparently shaking in their

elected boots.

Our mayor apparently is so shaken by these appointees that she

called for an emergency reconsideration of the ordinance. Only after

advice from council and her colleagues did she stop shaking and agree

to reconsider until the next council meeting. I do believe that what

we now have in our city is a good example of “the tail wagging the

dog.” Why have these people, not elected by the people, assumed such

a powerful position to be our governing body? I repeat, why do we

elect those that govern? It is the appointees, commissions and boards

that rule. As for me, I say, let us get out of this quagmire of

politics and consolidate or get rid of all these wannabes that

apparently have taken control of our city’s destiny.

BOB POLKOW

Huntington Beach

District initiative signatures are bogus

The collection of the signatures [for the district initiative] by

people who got paid was a miscarriage of justice. In the first place,

they collected from people saying they were trying to get the council

to have term limits. The council already had term limits.

I questioned them for weeks at the market (where they collected

the signatures) and told them they were wrong and I said, “Why do you

think there are four vacancies?” The man was getting $2.50 a

signature by his own admission. Now they’re suing the city clerk.

It’s like suing Santa Claus. Connie Brockway is the mainstay for the

council and the public.

It gets worse. The recently elected retired policeman Gil Coerper

wants a gun range. There’s already been a study saying there was no

room for one.

Somebody better do their homework.

EILEEN MURPHY

Huntington Beach