Los Sealmoor Beach
July 19, 2012 in Uncategorized By: Dave & Rebecca Lara
(Los Alamitos, 7/19/2012) Well, if you ever thought our Thursday columnist shied away from the tough issues, today’s column should prove he or she is not afraid to tackle anything! This one should trigger some comments!
Once again, HG challenges us to rethink things. I’m more willing to accept the challenge coming from a neighbor than a politician:
by Highlands Guy: OK, it’s time to let go.
It’s time to get your ego out of the way of our future.
When I say our, I’m talking about the civic entities of Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, and Rossmoor. We were fine during the “good ‘ol days”. But with the recession taking hold near the end of the 2000’s and the seemingly unstopable public employee retirement and lifetime health benefits, it’s time to face up to it and make a big change.
Geeze, between the three cities, you have it all. Obviously, we all have a huge stake in the school system putting it right near the top of the list. And the contributions of time, money, expertise and volunteerism from all three populations keeps the schools improving year after year.
This certainly is one example of cooperation of folks from all three communities who care and are willing to put in the sweat to do it right.
It is my contention that there is a lot of waste of time, energy, and money by each entity that have very similar needs, and are facing similar battles. And that we can call on the strength of our combined numbers to address them.
As a for instance, the ongoing intrusion of the freeway system by Caltrans, into local neighborhoods, could probably benefit from a show of force by our combined citizenry. The ability to go up against the next higher level of government requires big numbers.
Adding to this mix, one should understand that each of the three entities do some things very well (Like Seal Beach’s acuity at attracting new business, for instance). And each should acknowledge that they can learn some of these “best practices” from their neighbors. I also think this points to the strength within, and that our three communities are packed with a whole lot of big brain power from which the political leaders can be chosen.
My impression is that each arm of the triumvirate could only benefit from a larger tax base to bolster their largess against an economy that is predicted to only worsen over the next few years.
Additionally, there are a number of areas that certainly could be enhanced or created with the resulting economy of scale and/or just plain more people. Included would be:
- A “real” senior center. A dedicated building that addresses the physical, social, and economic challenges of an aging population.
- A child care center offering safety, security, and proven programs that attend to a variety of needs, including those with fewer resources. The positive results will be felt for years to come.
- A more refined way to address alternative sources of support for our award winning school system.
- One police force. The advantages of a more unified approach to policing activities within a relatively small area would outweigh the ingrained silo thinking in the first responder community.
- A bigger, more cohesive population may command more impact on County and State politics as well as local programs and projects.
-From the Saugatuck + Douglas (Michigan) Consolidated Government Committee:
“…Mineral Hills combined to form one jurisdiction, The City of Iron River. Here’s what Iron River recently had to say: ” The only voluntary municipal-government consolidation ever in Michigan took place when the cities of Iron River and Stambaugh, and the Village of Mineral about their cost-savings: ”
… it is estimated that the ‘new’ City of Iron River is experiencing an average saving of $1,350,000 annually.”
Where’d the savings come from?
Quoting the Iron River website: (Listed first:) “Combined all city offices thereby eliminating duplication including council members, managers, clerks, treasurers, office support staff, assessor, and legal counsel.”
…And that’s just the way I see it.
Dear HG, I find it a little funny that you would choose Iron River as an example of three cities joined as one for the good of all. Iron River is nothing like Los al, SB or Rossmoor. Well, maybe a little like Rossmoor because they do love their big trees and have many of them.
The area is pretty depressed. in the 50′s less than 8,000 people lived there, now less than 4,000 people live there. The average snow fall is 70 inches.
From personal experience I can tell you it is a beautiful area. I would say at night the mosquitoes’ out number people a million to one. It’s a much slower lifestyle and many of the seniors now only live there in the warmer months.
It’s a perfect place to vacation with your young children, stay on a lake where you can boat, fish,(my son caught his first fish off the dock) catch crawdads, put them in a bucket just to pour them back into the lake. Deer in the yard. Hours of computer free fun for the kids. You can canoe down a river and run into giant beavers who watch you walk the canoe over their dam. All of these things can be done with almost no other people around. No crowds, You don’t have to get up at 6 am for your walk on the beach before the crowds arrive.
If this area sounds like our area then we will just have to disagree. I think our area is a little more high maintenance because of the number of residents in a much smaller area. If it took three small area’s coming together for them to survive, so be it. It also happened because the residents wanted it.
If we want it then we should be able to vote on it.
http://wildwoodpress.org/a-tale-of-two-cities-a-village/
Traffic turmoil!
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 1:39 PM
As we should have expected, most Iron River-area drivers have been able to get around very well despite the U.S. 2 construction now under way.
Most of them. But a few of them are, shall we say, more than a little confused.
Old habits die hard. If they are accustomed to having the right of way at an intersection, they expect to always have the right of way. Even if there is a new stop sign facing them. Even if there are signs that say Do Not Enter. Even if they have to drive around barricades to follow the usual path.
We have seen plenty of that over the last few weeks. Those of us who live on the main drag through town have amused ourselves watching traffic try to cope. Or not try, as the case may be.
One night, two vans drove right past three huge dump trucks, parked to block off nearly all the street, only to quickly confront an irregular expense of dirt. They came to the sudden realization that “Road Closed” on the signs they drove past means exactly what it says.
At other times, we have watched cars execute a perfect circle at the intersection where the detour starts. I guess that makes it Iron County’s second traffic roundabout (after the Alpha circle).
At home, the cats are dealing with it, though not with much enthusiasm. They are quite content during weekends, when the workers are gone for a few days. But at around 6 a.m. Monday, when the banging and scraping and beeping resumes, they start looking edgy. But we suspect they would still rather deal with that than the vacuum cleaner.
Closer to the action, nature is coping, too. The critters that pass by during the night aren’t having any problem. In a sheltered corner of the front porch, Mrs. Robin isn’t letting all the noise and racket ruffle her feathers as she tends to her three babies.
Life goes on. The workers dig up the street, they do their work, they refill the hole and eventually they will repave.
More fun and scrambled traffic patterns are in store—the crews haven’t gotten to that one-block segment of M-189/Fourth Avenue yet. What’s a driver to do?
That’s simple. First, be patient. We don’t have to deal with detours and one-way streets too often, and it won’t be for long. Sure, it takes longer to get from here to there—but we could think of a bigger pain in the butt for drivers. Have you ever missed your exit on the freeway only to read those fateful words: “Next exit 16 miles”?
The other thing is, think behind the wheel, look where you are going and do what the traffic signs say. The signs that say “Stop” and “Do Not Enter” and “One Way” and “Road Closed” are there for a reason. Focus on your driving when behind the wheel. And if you have to take “the scenic route,” so what?
It’s like life itself, which, they say, is all about the journey, not the destination. Enjoy the trip.
–Peter Nocerini
When Seal Beach needed to increase it’s sales tax base, where did they put it? Near the beach? No way. The put it along the border of small Los Al and small Rossmoor. A small city and a small area of the County where the county couldn’t care less.
So, Seal Beach wants to expand “low cost housing”, where do they consider putting it? Near the beach? Nope. Next To Rossmoor and Los Al? Yep.
And someone thinks that joining these three communities together is a good idea?
Only of you live in Seal Beach, on the water side of the hill. Maybe.
Listen to the College Park residents talk about how they are second class citizens. Does anyone think that those further to the north will somehow be treated any better?
The best thing that could happen is that there be two cities. Seal Beach can be a nice beach city, with everything south of the 405. Then everything north of the 405 could be a second city. Both cities would have about the same population. Both cities would have their separate commercial districts to provide revenue streams.
The County would get rid of an area that they don’t want. Los Al would get the unwanted College Park people, who we would love to have. Between the College Park and Los Al people the Rossmoor people wouldn’t be a “majority” or a “minority”, but would be equal partners in the new city (one major concern for Los Al people in taking in Rossmoor is that they would take over the City Council and everything would be all Rossmoor all the time).
The upside to this arrangement avoids all the downside of the SuperCity. Of course there would be one big loser in all this. Seal Beach would lose the sales tax goldmines that they shoved into their neighbors communities. And that is why the better idea, that of two communities, will never happen. They pushed all the traffic and costs onto their neighbors and kept all the revenue to spend on the other side of the hill. They did that so they could remain their quaint beach city. They want to remain that quaint beach city and still get the benefits of the crap they placed on the outer border, and they aren’t going to give that up without one hell of a fight.
So, the answer is two towns split by the 405, not a beach city that has already treated those north of the hill like crap running the north end of the new city into becoming the slums.
Draw the line at the 405 and split it in two… or just leave it the way it is.