Stop
Oil in Hermosa@NoBPinHB17 Sep
@ArthurCSchaper
you live in Torrance so what is your interest in Hermosa Beach?
Honestly, though, what does a Torrance resident have to do with
Hermosa Beach? The seaside beachfront community has 19,000 residents, compared
to 150,000 in Torrance. Hermosa Beach is a wealthy enclave, while Torrance is a
middle class metropolis. However, despite the diminutive size of the Beautiful
City compared to the rest of the South Bay, I find that a number of big issues
are getting bigger in this tiny town, and residents, civic activists, and statewide
representatives should pay more attention.
Consider the matter of public education.
While other school districts enjoy a stable or suffer a steadily
declining enrollment, the Hermosa Beach City School District, a two-school K-8 arrangement,
is witnessing a marked student population increase. The district leaders have
requisitioned eight modular classrooms, and now the school board is discussing
how to expand. The last time that HBCSD had 1,000 plus students, there were six
school sites! While other schools are rebuilding or closing, HBCSD is
expanding. Quite a record.
Then another issue looms. For a school district with such high
test scores, with such committed parents, with a dedicated interest to open
discussion on education matters (eight candidates running for school board this
year), why is it that the state legislature feels compelled, if not justified,
to take away funds from high performing schools such as HBCSD? The drive for
funding equity in California schools should not be a race to the bottom, yet if
a school district demonstrates reported success, they lose funding. Where's the
equity, the justice in that? The issue of scholastic achievement, wealth vs.
poverty, and the sources of student success can find no better forum of
discussion (and criticism) than in Hermosa Beach.
Then there's the E and B Natural Resources settlement, a
fifteen-year battle which has (not quite) come to an end. Imagine, a wealthy
enclave facing an even wealthier lawsuit, one which would bankrupt the city
irreparably. A previous contract from a former city council joined with one oil
company for drilling. In 1998, Hermosa Beach residents voted to ban oil
drilling in their fair city. A lawsuit ensued for $750 million -- !!!. Can
anyone shout "Lawsuit abuse?!" Like a page out of a John Grisham
novel, city leaders ran their own mock jury trial, then decided to settle
instead of go to trial (and lose). A little locale facing off against a Big
Corporation: this kind of drama one finds in movies, never in one's backyard.
Then there's the creeping in of the Green agenda, and I mean
green as in environmentalism, which wastes the green, as in money. Aside from
New York City, I cannot think of any city council leadership besides the
sitting majority in Hermosa Beach which has applauded banning smoking from an
entire city's public thoroughfares, along with other nanny-state, micromanaging
policies. I cannot recall of any city where a former mayor would spend more
time vetting his green credentials with foreign visitors, like from China,
instead of maintaining the daily well-being and quality of life in his
hometown. I also cannot think of any other city where local residents are also
vocal ones, whether in the press or in person, to resist these colorful
encroachments.
And of course, a microcosm of California’s statewide pension
crises/abuses is center stage in Hermosa Beach. Public parking enforcers make
the same salary as a teacher, yet work far less (if I may be so bold). The city
has had one murder in a decade, and very few fires, yet why do public safety
leaders receive such large salaries and generous pensions? Why do public sector
union leaders claim that cutting costs and reforming pensions would lead to a
mass exodus of public safety talent from Hermosa?
The Los Angeles Country Civil Grand Jury cautioned Hermosa Beach
city leaders about these pension obligations. City leaders who take on these
issues face off with union leaders, and sometimes to the detriment of their
privacy. If LA Weekly takes time and space to take public sector unions to task
in Hermosa, then reformers throughout the state of California ought to pay
attention, too. These ongoing battles between city leaders and unions over
budgets and pensions, over present security and future solvency, are playing out
all over the state of California. Yet in Hermosa Beach, the conjunction of highly-paid
service leaders compared to the fraction of crimes and public disturbances would
suggest that a move for reform is not only long overdue, but would serve as a
welcome example for California’s other struggling municipalities.
And just for fun, a cat’s visit to city hall, plus haggling over
who can endorse whom during a city council meeting, just adds a little more
spice to a little city with lots of drama, where residents take leadership
seriously, and where activists can learn how best to deal with the encroachment
of the state, the potential abuses of extensive government power, and the best
means for maintain public safety, fiscal restraint, and a high quality of life.
No comments:
Post a Comment