Strangers in their own city? The residents...

Strangers in their own city?

The residents of southeast Huntington Beach suffer the fact that

they are strangers in their own city. Their call for an end to the

industrialization of their neighborhoods continues to fall upon deaf

ears. We endure the consequences of processing the region’s sewage

and providing the area with lights and power. Now we are being told

to sacrifice our ocean, beaches and air so that a Connecticut company

can pursue wealth and riches providing water for south county

residents. We are destined to be “strangers in our own city.”

Public officials and Poseidon have taken a line from the Man of La

Mancha, “No matter what we say or do, we are only thinking of you,”

as they prepare to dump the waste of their undertaking into our air

and ocean. Although public officials have seen the ethereal promise

of revenue from AES first diminished and then watched as the remnants

were also spirited away, they now dreamily see tubs of gold being

showered upon them by a company whose one venture into desalination

left water users in Florida a $110-million debt for a plant that did

not work and a $29 million bill to fix it. This promise of riches is

little more than a dream that can be whisked away. Again the wisdom

of La Mancha catches our plight: “ ... it is prudent to recall that

he who has moonbeams in his hands has nothing there at all.” If a

public agency takes over the desalination, as happened with

Poseidon’s other desalination venture, there is no pot of gold and

all of Huntington’s beaches may end up polluted.

More than 30 years ago residents of the southeast part of town

began a process to restore quality to life there. A resident then

related to the council the heart-rending pleas of a dog trapped in

goo at the NesiI/Ascon site that echoed around the neighborhood for

hours before he was rescued, but too late to save him. These mournful

cries led hundreds of residents to City Hall.

In 1983 heavy rains and flood waters overwhelmed the drainage

system of our neighborhoods. This time residents went all the way to

Washington to achieve the 100-year flood protection that we now

enjoy. You will see other names posted on the flood channels, but we

all know that the heroes of that effort were our neighbors, Chauncey

and Sally Alexander. Now, the Orange County Transportation Authority

and unknown interests want to build an elevated highway over the

river. In the event of an earthquake like the one that toppled the

elevated freeway in Oakland, would we be returned to the flood

threats we only yesterday put behind us?

Residents rose up again in 1993 to defend the neighborhoods they

love when city staff joined with Newport Beach and Fountain Valley to

build bridges over the Santa Ana River at Garfield and Banning. More

than 500 angry residents swarmed City Hall. The City Council said no

to the bridges but more than 11 years later they are still on the

Master Plan of Arterial Highways. As downtown developments jam Coast

Highway, residents of the southeast part of town may well one day

have a highway through their neighborhood.

A newcomer from Connecticut “promises to provide a safe and

reliable water supply for our growing region -- at no cost to

taxpayers;” the “strangers in their own city” looked to Tampa Bay and

saw this newcomer walk away with $9 million while Tampa Bay water

users are left to pay for this $139-million failure. We will soon see

who our council will support -- the newcomer from Connecticut with a

desalination record of one failure or the “strangers in their own

city.”

JOHN SCOTT

Huntington Beach

Study needed on police compensation

Thanks for your information in the March 3 Independent regarding

Huntington Beach Police benefits and pension (“Cumulative claims

common”). I believe the management of the city should fund an

independent study by qualified and experienced outside experts of the

total compensation for city public safety personnel. This study

should start within 120 days and be completed for review of all

interested parties within six months thereafter; without a firm

schedule it will never happen. This should include police, fire,

lifeguards, etc. We all agreed they are critical to protect our

safety and we should be supportive and thankful for their service,

but we must also insist that any potential excessive demands be

addressed properly and not be intimidated by the nature of their

work.

I don’t think it is possible for existing city employees, whoever

they may be, to properly gather the facts and make independent

recommendations on the public safety compensation package, including

possible disability claim abuse, as compared to other cities, private

sector, etc. Existing employees are too close to the subject and

people involved and may be influenced by future ill will that may be

created.

Ten weeks vacation, 90% pension or retire in only 20 years with

60%, $1,000 a month for 10 years for “unspecified whole body

injuries?” Do nonpublic safety folks get injury compensation in the

same ballpark or same percentage of staff [50%]? As Gov. Arnold

Schwarzenegger said recently: “Public employees compensation should

be consistent with what is available in the private sector.”

This city desperately needs money to fix roads, sidewalks, gutters

sewers, etc. We cannot afford to assume that public employee

compensation is “OK” without the facts.

BUD GREEN

Huntington Beach

Police earn their pay and their keep

Are the police abusing the pension system? Absolutely not! The

retired policeman have earned their pension. If they choose to work,

they deserve to be paid for that work, regardless of who they are

working for. It’s incomprehensible for anyone to think otherwise.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s impossible to pay a police officer

enough to do the job they do. We may live in a nice area, but that

does not mean the police do not have their hands full. In just the

past 24 hours, in a few block area, the police were called to a

teenage drug overdose, searched a local high school with police dogs,

arrested a known drug dealer at gun point and responded to a bomb

threat at the post office. Those are only things that I know about.

Who knows what other horrible, dangerous incidents they responded to.

I say to the people that think the police department is abusing

the pension plan: Get a life and put that wasted energy to a good

use!

JAN VAN HOUTEN

Huntington Beach