Mailbag: Sugar ’n Spice tradition is worth keeping

Your article on my favorite stop on Balboa Island to get a frozen banana sure brought back memories when I lived on Lido (Balboa Island’s Sugar ’n Spice goes up for sale; owners hope to keep it alive, Daily Pilot, Feb. 10). When I moved 23 years ago down here to Costa Rica I found that the Costa Ricans like their frozen bananas just dipped in the chocolate without all the other nuts and goodies; however, you very seldom can find them for sale. I hope the new owners keep up the tradition on the Island.

John Kingsley
Playa del Coco
Costa Rica

Lamenting the poor adverb

Although I have greatly enjoyed reading “A Word, Please” regularly in the Daily Pilot, my husband and I found ourselves adamantly disagreeing with June Casagrande’s February 11, 2024 column about adverbs.

Echoes of Mr. Hardin, my eighth-grade English teacher at John Adams Jr. High School in Santa Monica, rattled loudly in my brain.

How did I dress? Warmly, that’s how. How did I slice the onions? Thinly, that’s how. How should I drive the car? Slowly, that’s how.

Sadly, the poor adverb sometimes seems destined for the trash heap of the English language. I, for one, will miss it terribly.

Celeste Liddle
San Clemente

O.C.’s Porter might be best for state

It ‘s not often you get the chance to vote for two candidates that you admire and ones you don’t just like but really like. In the upcoming primary, being offered the choice of voting for Orange County’s U.S. Reps. Katie Porter or Adam Schiff seems to me too good to be true. What adds to the allure of this race is the fact that there has not been an open Senate seat in California since Barbara Boxer retired eight years ago.

Unlike Congressional seats, which last only two years, a Senate seat lasts six years. The downside of this, of course, is that if one of these three Congressional members wins, the others will be out of office for a minimum of two years unless they seek a position at the state or local level. All of my speculation is made from the perspective that the voter is a Democrat or independent. It does not take into consideration that people are going to vote for another strong Democrat in the running, Barbara Lee, or a strong Republican candidate, Steve Garvey of Dodger fame. With two dozen other candidates, there are likely to be many votes spread around. Most speculation, however, is based on the likelihood that at least one of the top two vote-getters will be Schiff or Porter.

With the primary election format adopted in 2011, the top two candidates will go on to the November election regardless of their political party. This format makes strategy as necessary as it is in a chess game. Already Schiff in his ads has devised the strategy of advertising that the top two vote-getters will be him and Garvey, leaving Porter out in the cold. Porter, a professor from UC Irvine, is running on her skills and reputation as a consumer protector and the fact that she takes no campaign contributions from corporations. Schiff has built a reputation as a tough public prosecutor and a leading critic of Donald Trump and who presided over the latter’s first Impeachment trial. Garvey has no political experience but is counting on his reputation as a famous athlete and a concerned citizen who, as a Republican, often expresses conservative views.

From the onset I have been torn between voting for Schiff or Porter, having great admiration for both of their accomplishments. I loved meeting Schiff when he came to Orange County and campaigned for Harley Rouda. I also love the clean campaign that Porter has run and her incredible strength and originality as a consumer protector. After much deliberation, my decision might just rest on the fact that Porter is truly an original. Also weighing heavily in my decision is that she comes from Orange County. She currently represents Newport Beach and other coastal cities in the 47th district of Congress. How exciting and what a novelty that would be for our state to be represented by a local citizen and Congresswoman?

Lynn Lorenz
Newport Beach

H.B. leaders should focus on H.B.

The Huntington Beach City Council gang of four have once again mistaken themselves for federal or state representatives. They seem to believe that they are entitled to be the voice of the people of Huntington Beach by sending a message of support to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for defying the federal government’s jurisdiction over the Texas border.

The immigration issue is complex and frustrating. Neither party has been able to solve it. I can see valid arguments on both sides.

If I feel my Congressional representative, my Senators, the governor or even the president needs to be apprised of my thoughts on any issue, I have and I will continue to write them. I do not appreciate the actions of this self appointed, unauthorized quartet once again overstepping the boundaries of their positions. They have continually used their majority status to quash any objections or public outcry to their absurd proposals. Perhaps a review of the description of the duties of a councilman or woman is in order for these four.

I have lived here since 1960 and have never witnessed such belligerent, partisan-pushing behavior as we’ve seen lately by four of the council members. Councilwoman Natalie Moser was correct in suggesting at the Feb. 7 meeting that the job of the council was “to work for our community” citing issues as homelessness, infrastructure, public safety as taking precedence. Maybe if Strickland, Van Der Mark, Burns and McKeon made our city their priority instead of wasting time pushing their uncalled for agendas we might see some progress.

Mary Franklin
Huntington Beach

When will this City Council learn that they are governing a city and were elected to do so by the people? At the last meeting the majority members passed a resolution in support of Texas with its position on immigration. Federal issues should not be the concern of our council. We elect House of Representatives and Senators to take care of issues they control.

This council predicts a financial crisis in the years ahead, so they should be looking at ways to meet this crisis. Climate change will bring us very important questions on how to prepare and meet potential sea level rise. Our city made many infrastructure decisions during a time of intense building when oil production was no longer a major industry. Many of these improvements must be looked at and may need to be improved.

We are faced with three unnecessary and costly amendments to the charter. Measure A used the prospect of voter I.D. to win over folks. If you are a registered voter, you have already produced identification when you registered to vote. The proponents say it will protect us against election fraud, but there has never been a proven fraud case in an Orange County election. If this were passed the city would probably be sued by the state, and to make it even more costly, the county could refuse our appearance on the county ballot because we went against the state. The city would then have to conduct its own elections at a great cost to the citizens. The city would have to buy new voting equipment, find locations for voting, hire personnel, pay for ballot printing, and many other costs.

Measure B is the most unnecessary amendment. If passed it would place a permanent ban on certain flags that could be flown on city property. There already is an ordinance to allow the council to vote on which flags would fly, so putting it into the charter is totally unnecessary.

Measure C is more of an administrative issue but does have two important sections. One is that the mayor would have the right to cancel a meeting. This should be a decision made by the entire council and only if there is a very good reason for doing so! I believe, at this time, a two-year budget is unreasonable. If we have financial concerns ahead of us, there is a need to watch, study and make decisions on how to address each year!

We have a well educated community whose residents should be a part of the decision-making process. Don’t silence their voices — instead the council should make them a part of the work it should be doing.

Shirley Dettloff
former mayor
Huntington Beach

Based on how the Huntington Beach City Council majority is handling its overhaul of our public library by relocating books from the children’s section with the slightest depiction of nudity (e.g. mermaids) and sexual content (e.g. kissing/cuddling), closing the teen section, and launching restrictive library cards for teens as old as 17, do we really think they can handle running local elections? Their draconian library policies have been mired in chaos and confusion from day one. Can we trust the conservative majority with the hiring, training and infrastructure needed for municipal voting? Our city is operating at a deficit. Where is the money going to come from to pay for this scheme? Based on how these politicians have performed since taking office, we can’t let them tamper with our city charter. I urge Huntington Beach residents to vote no on Measures A, B, and C.

Carol Daus
Huntington Beach

When former City Council members write a commentary urging residents to vote no on A, B and C, all voters should pay attention.

One of the most important arguments is the major costs that the charter changes would impose on our tax payers, initially $450,000 to place the changes on the March 5 primary and thereafter additional unknown amounts in the thousands to set up the city’s own election system.

A PAC has placed numerous signs throughout out the city urging a favorable vote, and it would be interesting to learn the composition of the PAC and whether taxpayer funds were used.

Richard C. Armendariz
Huntington Beach