Combining systems isn’t the answer Bill Workman...

Combining systems isn’t the answer

Bill Workman is misinforming the council and public when he

states, “The uniqueness of the library system is that it’s nearing

obsolescence” (City departments to share tech support, June 19). What

makes the library’s computer system unique is that it runs a library

-- it doesn’t perform water billing or payroll or business

applications.

And the fact that the system is “nearing obsolescence” is nothing

new, either. About for years ago, library staff visited other

libraries to see what other, more current automation systems were on

the market. You know what? Rather than upgrade for the sake of

upgrading, or to make maintenance a little easier, library staff

decided to save the city’s money and stick with the old system

because it had better functionality, with a plan to revisit the issue

in a few years. And just as planned, library staff this past year

repeated the site visit process to see what improvements have been

made in the newer systems.

Simply combining tech staff into one city department in and of

itself won’t bring the outdated library computer system “up to par

with the other city systems” as your article suggests. It will be the

professional expertise of library staff examining the available

systems, and choosing the best one for running the library, that will

facilitate that task.

JULIE BIXBY

Huntington Beach

Police helicopters make her feel safe

I don’t know why anyone would object to the police helicopter.

Hearing them fly overhead, at any hour, makes me feel quite safe. I

love knowing they are on the job protecting me. That is one of the

things I like about living in Huntington Beach.

CONCETTA KERN

Huntington Beach

Model U.N. has great and important value

I can personally attest to the value of Model United Nations, and

assure your readership that the program has neither a “socialist

message” nor any “subversive agenda.”

Model U.N. proved of immeasurable value in honing my skills as a

student, and better prepared me to enter the world some 14 years ago.

Using the U.N. as a model for debate provides students with a

three-dimensional look at the world, and keeps them from viewing

international politics through a prism. Model U.N. is history,

composition and debate combined, and teaches students to look at a

given issue from a different perspective, and make an argument the

student may not agree with.

The fact that the U.N. is an organization with many diverse,

competing and often contradictory interests adds to the value of the

program, and creates a more fluid, challenging forum for debate. As

an academic program of the highest order, Model U.N. has consistently

set Huntington Beach High School and other local schools apart from

the morass of public schools in the area that choose to forego it for

other, less effective programs designed to accommodate the lowest

common denominator in the classroom.

In my experiences as a U.S. Air Force officer and pilot, attorney,

law student, collegiate student-athlete and Huntington Beach High

alumni, I have drawn upon the skills learned in Model U.N. on

countless occasions. In fact, I consider my time as a student in the

program as one of the most valuable experiences of my life. I

sincerely hope that the school district and city continue to support

this invaluable, life-broadening academic program.

CHRISTOPHER WILL

Huntington Beach

Anti-abortion antics need to stop

I agree with Melissa Zaiden, (Mailbox, June 19) the anti-abortion

antics in Downtown Huntington Beach must be stopped. As I commend the

pro-life activists’ efforts as an organization, I disagree with their

methods in a public forum. And to add, a non-participating public.

I don’t take my children Downtown to venture into a “freedom of

speech” lesson. Nor to walk upon graphic, extremely upsetting,

disturbing photographs of aborted children. Our family goes Downtown

to eat, shop and enjoy. Not to come upon the sight we saw on the

corner of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway on Father’s Day

weekend. The graphic photos being displayed are crossing way over the

boundary of :freedom.”

This is a blatant misuse and disregard of our constitutional

rights. And will, trust me, incite “a reasonable man” to violence, as

Zaiden appropriately made reference.

Do not allow this radical protest in our community. This is not

the place; certainly not the forum.

VICKI BASSHAM

Huntington Beach

There are more cuts than are mentioned

We’d like to tell you that there is a lot more cuts than you have

been printing, like sidewalk maintenance. There’ll be no new

sidewalks, they cut the sidewalk crew. They cut the painting crew.

They cut the sprayers, which you wrote in there. They cut carpenters.

They cut the playground inspection person for the playground and the

parks department. And we’d like you to have that printed in there so

the public knows exactly what’s going on.

JACK ORIS

Huntington Beach

Library cuts will hurt this area

I’m upset about them cutting the library at Banning and Main

Street that leaves no libraries in this part of town. As usual,

Huntington Beach seems to get it again.

JERALD WEBER

Huntington Beach

City should cut budget in two phases

The city should cut the budget in two phases, if that’s legally

possible. In the first phase they should make all the cuts

recommended by the city administrator with the exception of the

elimination of the rescue boat, library branches and the fire

station.

Once these cuts are in place they should immediately open

negotiations with the city employees to make across the board cuts to

city employee’s benefits and salaries. When times are good I see no

problem rewarding our city employees; they do a great job. But in

this current budget crisis we can’t support the level of benefits or

salaries, which have escalated out of control.

CLEM DOMINGUEZ

Huntington Beach

Cutting vacant positions won’t help

Canceling a bunch of vacant positions is not going to do anything.

That saves no money at all. It just saves a little face and makes

it look like someone is doing their job a little bit better, which is

about time. As far as the budget is concerned, obviously staff has

not been doing their job at all. The City Council has not been doing

its job because it would have investigated and found it out a little

bit sooner than this. As far as the woe-is-me about having to lay off

a couple of police officers and things like that, well, what about

the sports complex, did we really need that? Canning a couple of

smaller libraries, in my opinion, is not necessarily catastrophic as

long as we have the main library. I think that some real cuts need to

be made, just like they would do in the private sector. Say, OK guys,

we are going to do a 15% or 20% salary cut across the board and you

are going to have to start paying a lot more for your benefits. That

is the kind of money saving that we need. And also we pay to recycle,

well that is something the other cities are already doing, that just

makes us look crazy and stupid, which is not too far from the truth.

JAMES BRIDGES

Huntington Beach

We need smarter people to run city

Part of the reason I like your paper so much is that it tells

what’s going on in Huntington Beach.

However, I try not to read it too many times because my teeth

start gritting when I read about who is running the city. The best

way we could cut the budget would be to get rid of all the people on

the City Council and the city planners and get people in there who

are more intent on keeping the city running in the best way possible

and saving money.

Unfortunately the city people we have now are more interested in

cutting checks for $30,000 and $40,000 worth their so called “art”

that are trees, sticks and stones.

Whereas my relatives back in the East are saying “You really live

in a weird city, don’t you?” And yes, I do. They have no priorities

and it just burns me to read that they are going to be cutting the

Fire Department, the Police Department and libraries. The city

council has no idea how to keep their money in check. I would prefer

someone over there who is managing my money to be a smart person as

opposed to what is going on in our city now. The best way is to get

new people in there and start over.

PAT MCGRAW

Huntington Beach