Fireworks at beach will spell fiasco I...

Fireworks at beach will spell fiasco

I cannot believe that the City Council approved another year of

fireworks at the beach. Last year was an absolute fiasco; the wait to

leave the parking garage was about two hours, due to Pacific Coast

Highway gridlock; it wasn’t worth it. They need to plan better than

that. What was wrong with the Huntington Beach High School venue?

SUSAN TEITELBAUM

Huntington Beach

There are politics to rapid response

I read with interest the opinion of Rick Fee, President of the

Huntington Beach Firefighters Assn. (“Employees don’t make policy,�

Mailbag, Nov. 18) as he redirected argument and politic away from his

dedicated membership with regard to fireworks at the beach on

Independence Day. A fitting rebuttal as advocate for his union

membership.

All too familiar was the barb at the end suggesting that public

safety response time might be at risk, and that we “expect and

deserve� a timely rescue of our loved ones.

Implied, I felt, were two ideas/issues our community has been

struggling with. First, that the union representing firefighters is

devoid of political activity or political influence, and second, that

our community should expect rapid public safety response -- nearly

regardless of cost or other community sacrifice.

I believe it is very clear that the firefighters association

enjoys a high level of community activism and works diligently to

manage and increase their political influence. Their support of

revenue-generating fees is not devoid of politic, nor were the

political mailers indicating endorsement of candidates. Let’s not kid

ourselves. The “worker bees� of the association are very active in

influencing policy and politic -- and quite successful. Perhaps not

directly on this decision, but the implication was generalized to the

point of spin.

It is very rare to enter and leave a conversation with a public

safety employee without their subtle magnification of the “rapid

response� that may be in jeopardy given this issue or that variable.

As a community leader I’ve been made aware of issues ranging from

automatic gate openers that respond to Fire Department signals to the

potential removal of speed bumps in my community -- all in the

interest of response time. My townhome association may indeed

incorporate newer access technologies with a future upgrade of our

community entrance -- at reasonable expense. I fail to see the

risk-benefit balance of removing speed bumps in a residential

community where my child’s injuries from a speeding car’s bumper will

be responded to 15 to 20 seconds faster. Forgive my assumption that

response times and any associated problems (and potential solutions)

are reported by those responding in the field.

Amazingly, our Fire Department allows hotel area streets (designed

without street parking) to be utilized for high density parking on

New Year’s Eve with hotels at very high occupancy. Where is the

response time or evacuation concern in this allowance? I understand,

Fee, that you’ve little influence in such policy. Yet I caution that

response time turned politic could at some point represent an ethical

lapse on the part of those sworn to protect and serve. The

accountability ranges from the City Council dais all the way to the

“worker bee.�

My family and I truly enjoyed the fireworks show last year. I am

not an expert in public safety or our city’s capacity to manage

large-scale events. I do feel we direct sufficient resources to

public safety. I understand the firefighters association as a

political animal and seek such public acknowledgment. I will not be

held hostage to response time arguments where greater good and

improved management of existing resources infer that the argument is

being twisted to political ends.

MIKE CHURCHIN

Huntington Beach