Sales tax increase?
As a SB resident since 2000, I can’t support ANY sales tax increase. More money doesn’t cure inefficiency. This city needs to make its parks less labor-intensive, increase its “buy local” campaigns, freeze administrative pay raises, control pension benefits, the list goes on. ”Just a penny” is just a buzzword.
Lesli Shishim
Seal Beach
Performing arts group founder says thank you
Arts association thanks everyone for their support
With the 5th year presentation of “Sunday in the Park with Shakespeare,” featuring “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” congratulations are in order for the generous support of the Seal Beach community businesses and individuals, as sponsors, who made this wonderful production possible.
As they say, “it takes a village,” to make things happen and so many have stepped up to the plate, not only being extremely generous in their financial support, but also in their attendance to welcome this cultural event to the city. With Sunday night’s audience of nearly 900, it proved once again that packing a picnic basket, a blanket and a beach chair, gathering friends and family and settling in under the stars at the beach for a classical night of Shakespeare is at the top of the list for summer entertainment in our “Mayberry by the Sea.”
This event is made possible by the Seal Beach Community Performing Arts Association partnering with the theatrical company, Shakespeare by the Sea. There may be some confusion in this arrangement after the Director of Shakespeare by the Sea made a plea for additional donations to cover expenses for the evening. We are two businesses with separate budgets and I’m pleased to say, all expenses on the part of SBCPAA were covered by the exceedingly generous support from our Sponsors for the evening. We are pleased with this support, we are able to bring this FREE event to Seal Beach and look forward to another great production on August 4, 2019.
With much appreciation, I’m pleased to say our sponsorships ranged from $50.00 to $2,500, our most successful year of raising funds to date, with 33 sponsors. Our anonymous donor of $2,500 became King Neptune, followed by Sun Newspapers, Baytown Realty, Dunlap Property Group, Lions Club, Shawn Steel Law Firm, Duncan Creative, J.R. Watson Properties, Run Seal Beach, American Beachside Brokers, Deaton Foundation, Fresh Cut Creative, Main & PCH, LLC, Seal Beach Chamber, Women’s Club of Seal Beach, Encore Awards, Finbars, Dekra-Lite, Joie De Vive, O’Malley’s, Recharge at Electric, Seal Beach Animal Hospital, Sixty-Minute Spectacles, SoCal Pro Health, State Farm, Swell Insurance Solutions, Glory Days Beachside Grill, J. ensemble, Javatini’s, The Abbey, Black Marble Consulting, McKenna’s Tea Cottage and Ocean Stained Glass. I wish to make special mention of the “manpower” behind helping with the logistics of setting up and the taking down for SBCPAA, the Seal Beach Lion Leos! Such fine young people.
Many, many thanks and much appreciation to all from SBCPAA for the opportunity to help us fulfill out mission: Enriching Lives, Enriching the Community through the Cultural Arts.
Esther Kenyon
Founder/Administrator
Seal Beach Community Performing Arts Association
Disappointed in Seal Beach Police
I have been a resident of Seal Beach for 27 wonderful years now. Throughout those years, I have felt quite safe in this great town of ours. However, this changed on July 25, 2018. The purpose of my letter is to set the record straight and express my disappointment in the Seal Beach Police Department’s inaction on that day.
That Wednesday was like any other summer day for me. I dropped off my 8-year-old granddaughter at her daily summer activity and returned home with my other granddaughter in the car, she is only 3 years old.
As I turned into the alley to access my garage off of First Street, I saw a young male walking belligerently with a golf club in his hand. Something was clearly wrong.
I looked ahead and saw a parked police car in the alleyway facing me. I immediately felt relieved because the Seal Beach police appeared to be responding to the situation. Suddenly though, the young male violently hit his golf club against my neighbor’s car windshield, shattering the glass. I expected the police officer to spring into action. Rather, the police car remained parked and no officer exited. I felt trapped. I was unable to back up because there were cars lined up behind me on First Street. The young male slowly approached the passenger side of my car—the side in which my 3-year-old granddaughter was strapped into her car seat. Then, to my horror, the young male reached back and forcefully struck the side of my hood with his golf club.
Luckily for us, the young male decided to move on, and walked away from my car.
Soon after, a man visiting my neighbor’s home approached my car and told me it was safe to go home. I asked him if the police had tackled the young male, and he responded, “No, I tackled him down, and now the police are all over him.” I was in disbelief. It took an out of town visitor, the real hero, to handle the situation.
At that point, as you can imagine, I felt many things. But the greatest emotion I experienced was my disappointment in the police officer on the scene. He watched the whole incident and did nothing. I was even more disappointed when I later learned that the officer had been responding to reports of the young male assaulting a female and damaging other property in Seal Beach.
The following morning, I went to the Seal Beach Police Department to file a report. I was asked to wait for an officer, and it turned out to be same police officer who had been on the scene. He explained that had the young male attacked our bodies, he would have acted, but he did not because the young male only attacked our property. This explanation did not reassure me though because it would have taken just one more swing to smash my granddaughter’s window, undoubtedly injuring her. Furthermore, how could he have acted when he was still sitting in his car?
I know that we live in a dangerous world. I know that bad things can happen anywhere, even in our little town. But I know now that we cannot rely on the police to protect us, and I wanted to share this with our community. Thank you for reading my letter.
Song Kanter
Seal Beach
The myth of the Leisure World governing board
I am a person who normally sees the glass as half full, but lately I am not able to do that with regard to Leisure World governance. It seems hopeless and depressing. We are told that GRF representatives have been elected to represent us. The truth is that most if not all of our GRF representatives have volunteered to do the job because no one else wants to do it.
In our community of over 9,000 people only 18 individuals have volunteered to be on the governing board. Board members love to remind us that we have elected them and technically we have. State law requires us to conduct elections even when candidates are unopposed. We “elect” our volunteers and then they act as if we have given them our mandate to govern.
Is no one concerned about why, in a community of 9,000, only 18 people are willing to serve on the Board of Directors? No one sees a red flag here that something is not right? Board time might be better used in investigating this rather than finding new ways to keep shareholders entertained.
If there is money for entertainment, surely there is money to hire expert help to analyze the problems caused by our governance structure. Someone should evaluate what changes could made to improve this unique way of governing a community of our size.
GRF Board members complain that their meetings are not well attended. Could it be that shareholders have no real allegiance to someone who ran unopposed and would have gotten the position anyway?
There is a huge disconnect between Board members and ordinary shareholders. Board members show no inclination to recognize or remedy this situation.
It works for them. Is it any wonder most shareholders don’t care and don’t get involved? According to the July 24 GRF Board Agenda, there will be a proposal at the August Board meeting to have limited office hours.
It’s not clear exactly what this means, but if it is approved and if it opens up avenues for dialogue with Board members, that would be a huge step forward. I might start seeing the glass as half full again.
Anne Walshe
Leisure World
