Retired police welcome to volunteer Re: “Walking...

Retired police welcome to volunteer

Re: “Walking a familiar beat,” Huntington Beach Independent, Jan.

27.

I fully endorse bringing back retired Huntington Beach police

officers to augment the current full-time staff. What a great

resource! However, they should return as volunteers rather than as

paid contract employees.

There are many Huntington Beach retirees who volunteer a minimum

of six hours a week to the police department as auxiliary staff and I

will promise you that most of them do not enjoy a lucrative

retirement benefit such as the police retirees receive. Three percent

of final pay (with uncontrolled spiking opportunities) per year of

service? Unheard of in the private sector.

Welcome back -- the Retired Volunteer Seniors Program awaits you.

RICH OLIVER

Huntington Beach

Cartoon on police was not funny

Not many news-related items have surprised me over the years, but

after seeing Steve Bolton’s cartoon comparing retired Huntington

Beach Police officers to that of thieves I was shocked (Independent,

Feb. 3); even more surprising is that the Independent would print

such trash.

The cartoon is a slap in the face to not only the men and women of

the Huntington Beach Police Department, but the entire law

enforcement community who have chosen to protect and serve their

community most of their adult lives. I do not know of any police

officer who chose their profession thinking that they may some day be

wealthy enough to be able to live in Huntington Harbour or Newport

Coast, but I do know many love their jobs and hope to make it to

retirement age without a debilitating injury.

I recently retired after serving 28 years with a neighboring

police agency and I must tell you, I feel very fortunate to have made

it through my entire career seeing and doing what most people only

witness on television. As your newspaper has reported, recruitment is

extremely difficult today compared to 20 or 30 years ago when

applicants stood in long lines in hopes to attain two or three of the

positions offered. Those days are gone and we should all be thankful

that there are still men and women out there who chose to lay their

lives on the line for us no matter what and hopefully, make to

retirement age in good health.

DANN BEAN

Huntington Beach

One vote against development

I am strongly opposed to the planned development at Beach and

Atlanta. It seems the Planning Commission will not be satisfied until

they have made Huntington Beach’s beachfront like Long Beach’s

beachfront. And we all know the mess that is. We do not need another

hotel, and we do not need anymore traffic at Pacific Coast Highway

and Beach Boulevard. Look at the nightmare they created to the

traffic at Beach and Talbert by allowing Wal-Mart to build without

regard to the adverse effects to our city.

The new resort and the million dollar tenements they have built at

Pacific Coast Highway and Beach are not anything like what we were

told they would build at the resident’s meetings held before the

permits were granted.

I live at Beach and Atlanta -- this new development will not only

destroy our property values, but more importantly, it will destroy

the qualify of life we have all invested large sums of money to

achieve.

RICHARD A. SHIELDS

Huntington Beach

Redevelopment right for Beach, Adams

Redevelopment at Beach and Atlanta would have the potential to

increase sales tax revenue to our city, improve the grading and

drainage of a low lying large parcel that is currently under used due

to the way the buildings are placed on the site.

Lessons learned from the long-term wait for completion of the

redevelopment of Huntington Center need to be applied here: The

anchoring tenants must be carefully integrated and transitioned into

the process. It has taken far too long for the new shopping center at

Beach and Edinger to come online and a major reason is the delays due

to negotiations needed with the anchors there: former Montgomery

Ward, Burlington Coat Factory and Mervyns. It would be difficult to

leave the existing larger buildings in the same positions and build

around them at Beach and Atlanta.

Due to the flood plain location (note the higher graded elevation

of the project built recently north of Beach and Atlanta), careful

grading will be required to insure the impact of changes in grade are

addressed in the planning process and any high rise construction is

well engineered for this specific location.

It would be informative to hear from our local government how much

sales tax revenue loss is projected by the closure of Kmart on

Magnolia and the redevelopment of Target on Adams until these

locations are again occupied and open as Home Depot and an updated

Target store and how that affects our city budget. For the short term

it is hoped that the owners of the commercial property at Beach and

Atlanta will work with their existing tenants to keep the center

viable until it is necessary to demolish some of the existing

structures. May the owners manage their property well and create a

good plan for the best use for this property and a realistic time

table for its redevelopment.

KAREN JACKLE

Huntington Beach

sdfgsdgsd

When I first heard about the dilapidated strip mall getting an

overhaul I was very excited. My husband and I lived in Seaside

Village for four years (still own the property), which is directly

across from Big Lots on the west side of Beach Boulevard. We had

always wanted to see something done with that property. After reading

the article in the Independent, I became concerned when I saw a

preliminary proposal for a multi-story luxury hotel. Huntington Beach

already has two luxury hotels that sit at less then capacity the

majority of the year. Another hotel is planned for The Strand as well

as Pacific City. Five luxury hotels is not what the city of

Huntington Beach needs.

Huntington Beach needs more upscale shopping so residents won’t

travel to nearby South Coast Plaza or Westminster Mall. We also need

more restaurants to support the travelers who stay in the nearby

Hilton and Hyatt as well as the locals who travel to places like

Fashion Island for dinner. Building another luxury hotel at Beach and

Atlanta is not site specific for the size of property it would be

located on. That strip mall -- as old as it may be -- sits right in

the middle of residential communities. Anything being built more than

two or three stories will not be appropriate for that location.

I do like the idea of a European look but hope the city of

Huntington Beach will proceed with caution. We don’t want South Coast

Plaza or Fashion Island traffic problems.

ANGIE DAHMAN

Huntington Beach

Time for a ‘for sale’ ordinance, too

Several readers over the past few editions of your newspaper have

made interesting and legitimate comments regarding the city’s RV

parking ordinance. I hope something is finally decided (if it hasn’t

been already), whether it be by City Council, the police chief, by

vote by the residents of Huntington Beach or a combination of at

least two of the three.

Anyway, I would also like to bring up the issue of the vehicles

“for sale” ordinance, which according to the Police Department’s

traffic division, is currently being reconsidered, amended and/or

revised. I believe there are other forms of media that people can

turn to these days that can enable them to sell a vehicle a lot

simpler and quicker than to leave it on the public street, sometimes

for days at a time, and have to clutter the curbside.

I’m sure there are others who would agree as the vehicles are not

only “eye sores” in front of residences and business, but they cause

extra and unwanted traffic (vehicular and pedestrian), they take up

precious parking space for those without garages or carports and they

intrude on licensed car dealerships, just to list a few issues.

Some Los Angeles County cities have loosened their (local) laws

regarding vehicles “for sale” and it has had negative effects on

neighborhoods and the quality of life we all love to enjoy. I hope

the city of Huntington Beach will continue to work on reinforcing the

ordinance.

JASON SMITH

Huntington Beach