Noisy flying ads should go, now...

Noisy flying ads should go, now

Kudos to the Huntington Beach City Council on considering an

ordinance banning banner-towing aircraft. Ever try to go to the beach

and read, take a little snooze in the warm sunshine with the lulling

rhythm of the surf in the background? Then what is that? An endless

army of leaf blowers at the beach? Oh no -- it’s the banner towers.

There they are, lined up one right behind another. Low-and

slow-flying leaf blowers with wings. Don’t worry, I can go home. Ahh,

home on the patio, wife and I, grandkids in lap. Peace? No peace?

Every few minutes here comes another low and slow banner-towing

airplane. So every weekend these horribly noisy flying nuisances

steal these moments of peace from all of our lives.

PAUL BERGMAN

Huntington Beach

Banner towing planes should be prohibited from flying over the

city for several reasons.

Safety: The planes fly at low altitude over a densely populated

area under near stall conditions. Sometimes there are two or three

flying dangerously close -- close enough, I fear, to collide or get

tangled in another’s banner.

Noise pollution: The planes must fly at nearly full throttle to

carry the large banners, making sounds a lot like big lawn mowers in

the sky.

Air pollution: Plane engine exhaust contributes to smog.

View pollution: The beach should be a sweet refuge from the

constant bombardment of advertising in our everyday lives.

Does the city derive any revenue from the planes? If so, where is

that revenue allocated? I would happily sign or help distribute a

referendum to put this issue to the voters. Along the same lines, the

next question put to the readers can be, “should the city put the

cost of maintaining and operating a helicopter toward more officers

on the street?”

SEAN STEPHAN

Huntington Beach

J. R. Williams (“Mailbag,” Aug. 1) obviously never tried to enjoy

his backyard and talk to friends on a nice summer day while What A

Lot A Pizza’s banner is being towed overhead. He would find it

impossible. I for one will never patronize What A Lot A Pizza or any

other company that feels it’s OK to invade the peace and quiet of my

home for their own purposes. If Mr. LaVigne wants me to buy his

pizza, he can advertise in the paper, send mailer coupons, employ

billboard advertising at bus stops, even leave fliers on my doorstep,

but flying a noisy (and probably somewhat dangerous) airplane over my

house is the most counterproductive thing he could do with his

advertising dollars. I wonder when he and other banner advertisers

will learn that.

MICHELE BURGESS

Huntington Beach

Copters are better buy than ‘Surfhenge’

I am not an advocate of heavy police surveillance but I have to

admit in these times I would much prefer to have the helicopters

flying over knowing that at least someone is watching over our

residents. Also, as far as the cost of $400 an hour, to me, that’s

money well spent as opposed to the $40,000 plus spent on that piece

of garbage on that they put on Beach Boulevard and Pacific Coast

Highway, so if residents have a problem with how the money is spent

or where the helicopters are going why don’t they drive over there

and get angry about how much money that costs.

P.A. MCGRAW

Huntington Beach

Harman made the right decision

I support Assemblyman Tom Harman 100% in not accepting Gov. Davis’

bribe-for-vote tactics. Because our coin-operated governor has built

up his coffers by offering legislation and contracts in return for

campaign contributions he believes everyone is as corrupt as he is. I

am happy to see our assemblyman stand by principles and not accept a

short-term gain for Bolsa Chica in exchange for a budget vote that

will further burden his already overtaxed constituents. It’s time the

governor learned not everyone can be bought off as easily as he and

his fellow Democrats. Thank you Assemblyman Harman. Now let’s get out

the vote for Bill Simon and dump Davis.

J. R. WILLIAMS

Huntington Beach

Delay of district vote the smart way to go

I am in full agreement with putting off the vote on the

districting initiative until March 2004. The reasons are many, but

here are a few.

First, passage of the initiative would require a massive reworking

of local government that must be planned for. There has not been

enough time for the impacts to be anticipated and studied.

Second, with four open seats at stake on the City Council, the

entire focus of the electorate needs to be on selecting the best

leaders for our city’s future.

Third, a special election in March 2004 will give this local

measure the full attention it deserves in a presidential primary

election year. Candidates for the City Council that November would be

able to campaign based upon the results of the special election in

March.

Fourth, the 22,000 signatures submitted by no means represented

22,000 die-hard supporters of districting. Many signers I personally

witnessed did so with a ho-hum “whatever” attitude, or they were

conned into signing by unscrupulous signature-gatherers. There is

certainly no mandate for districting in this city whatsoever.

There will now be ample opportunity for civic education to take

place on this issue. Districting supporters should welcome the

challenge of defending their initiative. Unless, of course, they have

something to hide.

TIM GEDDES

Huntington Beach

Power play kept districts off ballot

It has come to my attention that a law firm sent a letter to the

city to try and push the Fair Districts initiative off Huntington

Beach’s November ballot. The lawyer who wrote the letter is a former

Huntington Beach city councilman. Am I the only one that sees the

irony that a law firm that represents major developers, including

Koll Real Estate Group (now Hearthside Homes), now has filed this

letter on behalf of the so-called “Citizens Against Power Politics?”

At this week’s City Council meeting, a parade of former city

council members spoke against the Fair Districts initiative. It’s

just too much to see power players going around and masquerading as

“Citizens Against Power Politics.”

It looks to me like the power politics going on here is for a

handful of city insiders trying to deny the thousands of voters,

including myself, the right to vote on an initiative we petitioned to

get on the ballot.

We the people signed the petitions to put this initiative on the

ballot. We the people should have the right to vote on the initiative

at the November election.

Instead, the City Council voted to use power politics and push the

initiative onto a special city election well over a year from now.

Once again, the council has demonstrated that we need to do

something to reform the way we elect our City Council members.

MATTHEW HARPER

Huntington Beach

Editor’s note: Mathew Harper is a trustee on the Huntington Beach

Union High School District Board of Education.

Nature center should not be closed down

I don’t think the city should cut funding for the Shipley Nature

Center. If they can afford thousands for that “thing” at the corner

of Pacific Coast Highway and Beach Boulevard and thousands more to

redo the beachfront across from the new resort, then I think they

should dig down and continue to fund a community resource that serves

so many schools, community groups and citizens. I do wonder about the

city council’s priorities.

JAN FERRY

Huntington Beach

The city should not cut funding to the Shipley Nature Center to

help balance its budget. Ranger Dave Winkler introduces countless

school children to the wonders of nature each year, engendering

wonder and respect for the natural world that will persist for years

to come. This is a critical time when environmental education will

make or break us as a society. People need places like Shipley to

learn about nature, relax, and enjoy one of the last little natural

places left in Huntington Beach.

LORI WHALEN

Huntington Beach

The city should not cut funding to the Shipley Nature Center. The

nature center is one of the very few natural areas left in a city

that seems hell bent on filling each and every open space and lot

with some hotel, shopping mall or apartment complex. These businesses

are needed for a city to be successful, but people need a place to

unwind and relax too. Drive across Huntington Beach sometime and try

to find the open spaces, there’s not much open space left. The nature

center is a gem that, once it’s gone, we’ll never get it back and our

children and their children will miss out on something very special.

Please maintain the Shipley Nature Center and it’s staff.

STEVE ENGEL

Huntington Beach

The Shipley Nature Center is a valuable learning tool for many

local schools as well as beautiful natural environment that is home

to many forms of wildlife. Closing it would be tragic for our city.

Many local citizens are dedicated to making it an even greater

asset to Huntington Beach including the Tree Society and Friends of

the Nature Center, who were planning on restoring the center to a

richer wildlife habitat and improved visitors facilities. Please

don’t let this valuable resource close. Unlike Florida, we don’t have

a lot of swampland in California.

CATHERINE CALDERA

Huntington Beach

I think the closing the Shipley Nature Center would be a big

mistake and a tragic loss for the city. The nature center is one of

the city’s jewels. I’ve taken my children there when they were young

and we’ve always had a wonderful time with it. It’s still a joy to

this day, even though my children are now in their 20s. After all the

years it’s been open it would be tragic to back off it now.

GARY DROEGER

Huntington Beach

I’ve been a resident of Huntington Beach for 32 years. For 24

years I’ve been taking my preschoolers to the Shipley Nature Center

to listen to Ranger Dave explain the wonders of all the flora and the

fauna surrounding us. His enthusiasm creates an excitement in the

children that the most expensive high-tech toy fails to do. Our

children are surrounded by a really high-tech computer oriented

world, but this nature-filled experience for the children is as

indispensable as our new expensive sports complex. I really would

hate to see the nature center close. Even the parents that go along

with us, they’re just as amazed, if they haven’t already been to it,

as the children are. So to see a butterfly’s tongue or to touch and

feel the snakes and the tortoise and all the birds, it’s wonderful. I

would hate to see a place so close to where the children live, that’s

so out of the world that they’re normally in, close.

COLLEEN WHALING

Huntington Beach

All of the Bolsa Chica mesa should be saved

The Bolsa Chica Land Trust continues to fight to purchase the mesa

from developers for a fair market price and to preserve the wetlands

for present and future generations. It would be a pity to see it

destroyed by housing.

MARILYN STRONG

Huntington Beach

The Bolsa Chica Land Trust should absolutely continue the fight to

save the entire mesa from development. This land is such a precious

piece of open space for wildlife and people. What a pity it will be

if we lose it.

VICKI HOGUE

Huntington Beach

There has been far too much development in Huntington Beach in the

last 10 years and we need to start to strongly consider the quality

of life for the current residents in our city planning.

Developing Bolsa Chica any further will clearly erode the quality

of life for the community residents. It will primary benefit will be

the financial gains of a few individuals, most of whom do not even

live in Huntington Beach.

JACK REICHERT

Huntington Beach

I definitely believe they should keep the homes off of the mesa.

If you have ever been there, it is the last great open area in Orange

County that is a wetlands and a diverse ecological area. Not only are

the wetlands important but the mesa is very important to the survival

for the remaining land. If they build there they would have run off

and they would have cats that would kill all the birds. It’s very

important that the continue to fight to keep development off of any

of that area.

JUDY YANCEY

Huntington Beach

I think that is a great thing that the land trust is doing in

trying to preserve the entire mesa. They should do all they can to

try to preserve that area and hopefully the seller will become a

willing seller and sell the land at a reasonable price to the land

trust or to the public, whatever it takes for that land to not be

developed. I think that would be a great thing for the city.

JOEL SHELDON

Yorba Linda