HB Recount Needed

Following the November 5^th municipal election, one well-favored incumbent lost his bid for reelection. After all the provisional ballots were tallied, another incumbent lost, and by a slim margin. A recount is necessary.

Hermosa Beach civic leaders will be facing particularly difficult issues in the next session, like managing pension costs in the face of union resistance to reasonable reforms. The E and B settlement will also consume much of the next city council's time, and the future of the expanding yet unjustly impoverished school district will try the time and patient of residents and leaders alike. Residents will also expect their new city council to better balance the commercial and residential needs of Hermosa Beach against the green environmental activism which is creeping steadily over the city. For city government representation to be decided by such slim margins as one hundred plus votes between candidates should alert anyone to support a diligent review. Hermosa Beach resident Dency Nelson has every right to pursue a recount of the ballots, as long as the city can count on Nelson to pay for the process.

Of course, another, more disconcerting pattern has emerged out of this close election outcome. Week after week, local residents share their concerns and complaints on the pages of The Beach Reporter.

By all accounts, it would appear that Hermosa Beach residents actively follow and comment on the city's goings-on. Why do so few vote for the people who will be doing so much in the first place?