Why is the end of the Seal Beach Pier still closed?
It’s pretty embarrassing to still have that chain link gate shutting off the end of the Seal Beach Pier. It’s summertime! There were supposed to be some repairs out there that needed to be made that required a fence. Really? So make the repairs!
The city has lots of money for new street lighting and other projects but they are ignoring a core part of our beach town.
The last section around the restaurant is one of the pier’s highlights and after eating on Main Street every week we walk on the pier and the end of the pier is still closed week after week.
When we bring friends from other cities and states out there for a stroll, it’s difficult to explain why this beach town has a major asset chained off. It’s embarrassing. When will it reopen?
Were the claims of damage in the restaurant area real or an attempt to make it easier on the city’s maintenance by simply blocking off our pier? We all realize the city had totally misjudged the fact that Ruby’s would leave if the city demanded a huge rent increase, and that Ruby’s was responsible for maintaining those restrooms and all, but they are gone! And it looks like no other restaurant likes the city’s terms. So for now, admit your mistakes and come up with a temporary solution to open that fence for the summer.
Hope Troy
Seal Beach
The NIMBY effect and housing in Seal Beach
I will not argue for or against low-to-moderate income housing (and there is a difference between low-to-moderate and dense housing). What I am concerned about is the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) attitude.
In Seal Beach, Old Town and the Hill want to put dense housing as far away from them as possible. They say, “why not north of the freeway?”
Well, we feel the same way. Let’s get it as far away from us as possible too. How about that large piece of vacant land called the “DWP?” Of course, that will never happen. Anyway, you see my point.
Unfortunately, existing low-to-moderate or even dense housing cannot count towards future needs. Existing housing is just that: It’s already here.
If that were the case, our city could point to the entire community of Leisure World to satisfy the numbers.
However, the State, in its infinite wisdom and super majority (it can decree anything it wants) mandates us to provide for future housing needs, so we must set aside some land (and rezone it if necessary) to meet those projected future needs.
Every city has to do that. Doesn’t mean it has to be built, just designated and zoned. Hence the problem, as there is no land anywhere in this city that would be acceptable to all to meet what the state wants. And dense housing does not have to meet low-to-mod requirements. Rest assured, dense housing in Seal Beach will not be cheap.
And by the way, that park off Lampson Avenue (Arbor Park) is on the Joint Forces Training Base, within the city limits of Los Alamitos, and is owned by the federal government. Our city leases the land from the Army Corps of Engineers.
We had to do that years ago to give this community some open space, as when College Park East was first built, the city let S&S Inc. off the hook for parks in this area.
Notice how all of our parks are either by the freeway or on Lampson Avenue and the total acreage is way, way below what a community this size should have by law. Any and all parks in this city should be taken out of consideration for any future housing needs. Otherwise, might I suggest Marina Park? Again, you see my point.
Patty Campbell
College Park East
Seal Beach
Gridlock, Safety, and Common Courtesy
We all know that there is construction going on at the Seal Beach Boulevard Bridge and it is going to go on for quite a while longer.
We need to share the road and be polite. Traffic is awful and people are waiting up to ten minutes from Leisure World to the 405 to get over the bridge into Rossmoor.
I have to say that I am irked that there is not more of a police presence. I am irked when I am patiently waiting my turn and cars cut in and over as far up as the entrance of the 405. This happened twice yesterday.
Two cars almost caused an accident at the base of the bridge cutting over from the right turn only lane at the entrance to the 405 south.
People are constantly driving in the right turn only lane and cutting over quickly or they are sitting in the right turn only lane blocking traffic to cut in so they don’t have to wait in line.
I guess these people feel they are entitled and don’t have to wait like everyone else. I guess wherever they are going is more important than where the rest of us are going. I say how rude of you, wait your turn!
It is up to our city to make this a safe area while construction is going on. I really feel traffic and engineering should put those long skinny cones up and divide the right turn only lane to the 405 south. I also feel they could put a curved cement divider up by the entrance to the 405 south so people are not as tempted to cut over at the last minute.
It could be placed strategically so an ambulance or fire truck could get around it, but the average citizen would have to be extremely bold to do so.
This area is getting worse, not better and I see where it’s going to lead to road rage and or accidents caused by impatient people.
To all you rude, self-entitled people, slow down, wait your turn, or use the alternates, Bolsa Chica/Valley View or Studebaker.
Shelly Bolander
Seal Beach
Can’t dig what’s going on along Lampson
I have lived in the Parkewood Homes, next to the Navy Golf Course on Lampson Avenue, for seven years. I liked the area because it “seemed” off the beaten track and was relatively away from traffic.
Oh, and I can collect free golf balls hit over the fence. Mistake. Now, it’s a joke around here on what’s happening next. In the past three years or so, it seems that Seal Beach, and now Garden Grove, have to be digging up Lampson Street year round. Need to spend the budget?
I understand the Garden Grove issue, because of at least three fatal accidents in the past two two-three years near the Manley Street intersection. Speeding is the main factor. The logistics and scheduling for the Seal Beach work has been questionable.
I see the same areas being dug up for different reasons at different times and the same lanes having to be blocked for long periods of weeks at a time. Recently, contractors did a median project between Birchwood Avenue and Rose Street. They were digging up the median for one reason, and after completing whatever they were supposed to be doing, they dug up the same spot a week later, for something else, closing all the same lanes again.
They closed lanes to plant trees in the sidewalk one time, closed the same lanes again to put in some bushes in the median another time. Then later, they put in some large boulders and then closed the same lanes again to dig out some old sprinklers. Then they dug it up again later to put in some new sprinklers where they had already dug it up for other work.
They closed the same lanes another week to dig out some more old sprinklers. Then they closed the same lanes another week so the could put in new sprinklers to water the boulders.
They closed the same lanes another time to put in some trees and then went back and closed the same lanes again another week to put in some bushes where they had already planted other shrubs.
Oh, they also had to go back and put in some sawdust like mulch where they had already done other work. Planning and scheduling jobs a little better, might help the inconvenience.
This sure wouldn’t happen on Main Street. There was the water plant job. That was an important project, and considering all the work they had to do, lane closures were minimal. They had it planned well. There were lane closures for TV cable installations and various paving jobs. Of course there was the Seal Beach Boulevard/Lampson Avenue intersection excavation for some sewer work and redesign, which made that intersection a catastrophe at the time. Much like it is now, because of the bridgework.
Now, I hear rumbles for some of the overhead utility pole construction on Lampson going underground, because it might fall down some day.
Oh, and they might widen the 405 freeway?
Personally, for all the money spent, I don’t see much difference. Doing this work at the same time as the Seal Beach Boulevard Traffic Fiasco has created traffic nightmares. Worse than Valley View was. What’s next and when does it end?
Tom Almanzan
Los Alamitos
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