Letters to the Editor: Thursday, July 17, 2014

Hail to our Chief Joe

Just wanted everyone to know that my family thinks we have a wonderful police chief.  We have lived here for 39 years and we have never known who the Police Chief was, let alone have him know or care who we were.

The street lights on the greenbelt on Electric Avenue from Seal Beach Boulevard to 15th Street were out for almost two months and it was very scary for before-dawn and after-dark walkers to and from our jobs on Main Street.  I tried many other ways for over a month to get them turned on.

I told Chief Joe the story.  He called Edison.  The lights were on in less than a week (even on the 4th).

Forever grateful,

Floreen (Flo) Bursinger and Family

Seal Beach

Rose Parade Float fundraising falls short

In March 2014 the city and people of Seal Beach were invited to participate in the 126th Rose Parade on January 1, 2015 as part of a kickoff to Seal Beach’s Centennial year as a city. A great honor indeed, but in order to design and construct the float the Rose Parade required a minimum budget of $250,000. A daunting fundraising task by any means.  however, using a privately formed committee and 100% private funding, efforts went forward to attempt to raise the money using both an opportunity drawing as well as a plea to corporate sponsors to support the float effort.   To further complicate matters, the Rose Parade just recently set a deadline of July 31st to confirm full funding of the entry.    This final deadline was simply too much to overcome for the small private Seal Beach Roses Team.

“Its with a heavy heart that we shelve our efforts to enter a float in next year’s Rose Parade,” said Committee Chair Robert Aguilar, Jr. “The invitation was a great honor and the response from Seal Beach residents was positive and encouraging. However, we were just unable to garner the necessary financial support in the prohibitive time frame.

“Needless to say, the float committee and its supporters felt this would be a great opportunity for the City of Seal Beach and its local businesses to benefit from international exposure. We have such a beautiful city with great people and we wanted nothing more than for this to be a successful campaign.  It just wasn’t meant to be.”

The committee is offering refunds to those who have purchased opportunity drawing tickets. The refunds will be issued on a request basis and will include a small deduction for administrative costs. Requests for refunds can be sent to sealbeachroses2015@gmail.com and will be issued for confirmed donors only.   Funds not refunded will be rolled over to the 501c3 fiscal sponsor, Alpenglow Hospice Foundation, after August 31, 2015 and are fully tax deductible. The Seal Beach Rose Parade Float Committee would like to extend a sincere congratulations to the city and people of Seal Beach as we enter into our centennial year as an incorporated city. The city itself is in the process of planning a centennial celebration and will be raising money to make it happen.  We encourage people to support their efforts and make 2015 a year to remember.

The Seal Beach Rose Parade Float Committee

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