The Sun recently asked various city officials one question: What opportunities and challenges do you see ahead for Seal Beach in 2013?
The Sun asked the question by either e-mail or phone.
District Five Councilman Michael Levitt did not respond to the first Sun e-mail. In reply to a second e-mail, he essentially said that the Sun should consider City Manager Jill Ingram’s response to be his. Ingram had previously told the Sun that the council would hold a workshop in February to look at issues facing the city.
However, when the Sun told Levitt that three other council members had answered the Sun straw poll, he graciously supplied his thoughts on the year ahead. However, he warned that predicting the city’s future was “at best a spin of the roulette wheel.”
“I hope the California Coastal Commission follows the correct path and approves the DWP development project,” Levitt said.
“With Boeing vacating two of its three buildings, the city could see the arrival of several new major tenants, and an increase in its tax revenues,” he said.
“I look forward to the huge upsurge in tourism and visitor counts that we were assured by one council member would occur if we completed a major tree removal and replacement project,” Levitt said. This was apparently a reference to the planting of ficus trees on Main Street.
“I strongly opposed this project, and I sincerely hope I will be proven wrong in that opposition,” Levitt said.
Levitt, who represents and lives in Leisure World, said he plans to see a decrease in traffic accidents in the retirement community.
“I am looking forward to CalTrans finishing its major revamp of the Seal Beach bridge on schedule, thereby ending what has become a horrific traffic nightmare,” he said.
“I look forward to dining at the city’s newest eatery … at the end of the pier,” Levitt said.
Levitt also predicted that District Four Councilman Gary Miller would be an excellent mayor.
