Red Ribbon Week
As part of our upcoming Red Ribbon Week activities during the week of Oct. 28 through Nov. 1, we would like to be able to recognize our parents that serve as members of fire and police departments across Southern California.
If you are serving in either of these roles, I would like to invite you to contact Sgt. Phil Gonshak of the Seal Beach Police Department by email at pgonshak@sealbeachca.gov or by phone at (562) 799-4100 ext. 1160 so that he can share information with you about this special event.
We will also be recognizing our parents that serve in the Armed Forces as part of a very special Veteran’s Day Flag Deck Ceremony, which will take place on Friday, Nov. 8. If you are a member of any branch of the Armed Services or a Veteran, please contact our Military Liaison, Brandi Jones, via email at jj29palms@yahoo.com so that we can communicate the details of this event with you as we finalize our plans.
I am looking forward to being a part of these great activities to recognize our true heroes!
Dr. Jerry Gargus, Principal
McGaugh Elementary School
Protect public beaches
Perhaps a reasonable compromise regarding the desire of some to allow privately owned benches and tables to be placed on public beaches would be to allow the placement of the benches and tables during daylight hours with the requirement that they be removed from the beach and stored on private property from sundown until sunup.
Just as visitors are permitted to erect temporary sun shelters on the beach or bring beach chairs and tables for day use it seems reasonable to permit local residents the same privilege.
But to extend that privilege to permanent placement of benches and tables on public land is a stretch some of us in Old Town cannot support.
As it is now, it is not possible for city crews to operate beach cleaning equipment in the vicinity of benches some of which are secured to the sand with locked cables.
The notion some private citizens have put forward that somehow the public beach is an extension of their front yard has no basis in tradition or law. I would ask those advocating their right to keep their benches and tables on our shared beach to consider the slippery slope argument that if we allow benches and tables, why not above ground swimming pools or perhaps cactus gardens?
Once private equipment is permitted to be permanently placed on the public sand the door is opened for extensions of the use beyond a few benches. Where does it end?
For those who would say that its just a few benches, I would ask that we recall what happened when people were permitted to stake out claims for park space in advance of the Wednesday summer concerts.
Early on Wednesday mornings, and as things spun out of control sometimes on Tuesday evenings, people spread out large tarps, placed yellow caution tape and put out dozens of chairs all over the park as if they had a special claim to the land.
The city was forced to threaten confiscation of the chairs and blankets and it all started to become unpleasant as more and more people pushed the limits of reasonableness. We don’t want to go down that path again with our beach.
I would also suggest that the appeal to tradition that has been put forward as justification for placing privately owned benches on public land is not a sound argument anymore than appealing to tradition when justifying segregation or sexism would be a valid argument today. I suggest we keep this simple. Private property permanently placed on our shared public beach cannot be justified.
Daily use of portable benches and tables which are removed at the end of the day seems a fair and reasonable compromise that grants no special privileges, protects our public land and removes any liability or encroachment issues. Thank you for your efforts to represent everyone’s interests.
Jed Shafer
Seal Beach
Preserve our benches
I would like to respectfully request that the Recreation and Parks Commission keep the benches on our beach.
I am a local in our town and do a lot of community service and have seen the public using these benches on a daily basis.
It is little things like this that make our town so nice and the reason we love it.
It is not just the people on the boardwalk that use the benches, they are there for the general public and they are used by them on a daily basis.
I have seen many times families having lunch enjoying the beach, single mothers using them to clean their children’s feet before leaving the sand and people just relaxing; they are also a place where locals gather and socialize with each other.
I use them all the time as a place to relax from the long work week and enjoy our beautiful beach. The people that use these benches are also the same people that spend their money in our local shops and restaurants.
We are not going to turn our beach into a Huntington Beach or Newport Beach by allowing these benches, but we are preserving our small town feel. That is why we live here: the little things.
It is really sad that we are even having this discussion or considering removing the benches because of a complaint from someone that does not even live in our town.
Do you believe that if I went to another town and complained about a park bench that the city would remove it?
I would bet not.
So I believe that we can solve this problem together I would propose that we have the benches inspected one time a year and issue a permit for them.
I have never seen a bench that was not in good repair.
That is because the people that use them all year take care of them If we are going to remove the benches from the beach, then why would we not remove all benches from all public areas?
Because that does not make sense. We want people to enjoy our City that is all we are asking.
These benches are no different than the benches that line the pier, our parkway and our parks. I know that most of the people making the rules do not use the beach or have not been to the beach in a long time and they say it is only a bench for the people that use the beach.
It does matter and we enjoy them very much. I also know that some times doing the right thing is harder than taking the easy way out, so I am asking you to do the right thing and let’s keep the benches and preserve one of the little things that makes our city what it is.
Maybe the Seal Beach Lions Club will take the lead to make sure the benches are in good repair as they have done for the rest of the benches in the city.
Mike Haley
Seal Beach
The opinions expressed in Letters to the Editor are not necessarily those of the Sun. The Sun welcomes Letters to the Editor. Letters should be 300 words maximum. Letters should be e-mailed, signed by the author and include the author’s address and phone number (the latter two are for verification, not publication). The Sun reserves the right to accept, edit, or reject letters for any reason. Unless otherwise indicated, all letters sent to the Sun are understood to be intended for publication. E-mail letters to: dennis@sunnews.org.
