Yes on Measure C for classroom repair...

Yes on Measure C for classroom repair

I’m a 28-year resident of Huntington Beach and the parent of a

Huntington Beach High School student. I support Measure C to repair,

improve and expand classrooms in the Huntington Beach Union High

School District, which includes Coast, Edison, Fountain Valley,

Huntington Beach, Marina, Ocean View, Valley Vista and Westminster

high schools, as well as the Huntington Beach Adult School.

All of our high schools are more than 35 years old. As with most

structures, these schools require major upgrades and repairs. Voting

yes on Measure C will provide funds to repair leaking roofs, cracked

walls, old bathrooms and plumbing systems, remove asbestos and lead

paint, upgrade outdated fire alarms and electrical systems and make

urgent seismic upgrades and structural repairs to schools with

sinking foundations.

Measure C includes strict financial accountability requirements,

including an independent citizens’ oversight committee, annual audits

and no money for administrators’ salaries. Every dime goes toward

repairing and upgrading local schools.

These repairs and safety issues can’t wait. Already this year a

serious plumbing leak caused the closure of Huntington High School.

Only one set of bathrooms was available to more than 2,300 students

and teachers. Please join me on March 2 and vote yes on Measure C to

repair our schools.

CLAUDIA NOBLE

Huntington Beach

The Huntington Beach Union High School District has placed Measure

C on the March ballot. Measure C is a general obligation bond that

will provide funds for the renovation and upgrading of the district’s

facilities, almost all of which are 30 or more years old. While some

people have raised objections to this measure, let me suggest a few

points of clarification:

1. This measure is for the high school district. It has nothing to

do with the bond measure passed two years ago for the elementary

schools in the Huntington Beach City School District.

2. It has no relation to the Wal-Mart or Home Depot transactions

that were undertaken by other elementary school districts.

3. By law, none of the funds can be used for administrator or

teacher salaries. And by law, a community committee must be appointed

to be sure that the funds are spent only for those capital projects

listed on the bond measure.

Some people think that they have no interest in improving the high

schools because they do not have children or grandchildren in these

schools. Improving the schools is not primarily for the benefit of

the parents or the grandparents of the students. The students are the

next generation of our community. It is important for the entire

community that the next generation receives the best education we can

afford.

We cannot expect that schools built 30 or more years ago will

still be adequate for today’s needs, no matter how well maintained

over the years. Today our schools need better infrastructure to

support computer technology and security systems not to mention

outmoded science labs, undersized classrooms and the like.

At an average cost to a typical high school district resident of a

little over $100 a year, this is a very small price to pay to enhance

the future of everyone in our community.

BILL WALLACE

Huntington Beach

* EDITOR’S NOTE: Bill Wallace is a Huntington Beach Union High

School District school board member.

I am a registered voter, an active community member, and most

importantly, a parent, in our Huntington Beach Union High School

District who is strongly supportive of Measure C.

This measure will appear on the March ballot and I strongly

encourage everyone’s support for the sake of our schools. Our

district has tried to keep up campus standards by doing as many of

the necessary repairs and upgrades as possible, but with funding

shortfalls, unkept promises from Sacramento and a constant rise in

operating costs, only those repairs that are critical to safety can

be addressed.

Others must wait, contributing to the deterioration. Huntington

Beach Union High School District operates nine schools with more than

14,000 students. Each of these schools needs serious repairs or

all-out renovations. We also need more classrooms to accommodate the

increasing student numbers. Currently, some of our teachers have to

change rooms every period to take advantage of any possible available

space.

How can our children learn under these conditions? We must all

help by making our neighbors, especially those without children

attending our high schools, aware of the situation. Please vote yes

on Measure C and ask everyone you know to do the same.

MARTHA WAIT-HUBNER

Huntington Beach

I am writing this letter to urge your readers to please vote yes

on Measure C. I have a son at Marina High School and one at Marine

View Middle School. The teachers have worked very hard to help all

the students reach incredibly high academic goals and have received

awards for their efforts. Measure C would complete this process with

safe and up to date schools.

Some of the high schools are more than 30 years old -- and

plumbing that old is not a pretty picture. These schools are great

“fixer-upper” opportunities for the residents of Huntington Beach,

Fountain Valley and Westminster. This measure will provide much

needed funds to repair and renovate the high schools in our area.

Measure C will not only benefit our children, but our grandchildren.

It will provide schools that we can be proud of as residents of these

three cities. It will also ensure that families with young children

who move here will consider it a privilege to attend our high

schools.

DEBBIE E. MOLINO

Huntington Beach

No fireworks at beach a good call

It was good to see that at least four of our City Council members

had the common sense to deny an extravagant fireworks show at the

beach.

I have lived in Huntington Beach for over 20 years and I have

vivid memories of the riotous behavior that was exhibited by the

unruly and unsavory people who seemed to be bent on causing trouble

and destruction on the Fourth of July. I recall that our Police

Department had to enlist backup help from the law enforcement

agencies in nearby cities. I would not like to see such disorderly

conduct ever occur again in Huntington Beach.

It appears to me that Robert McLin, and City Council members Pam

Julien Houchen and Jill Hardy either were not here in those days, or

have very short memories. Their rhetoric is filled with wishful

thinking and irresponsible thought processes.

Perhaps McLin, Houchen and Hardy would be willing to put their

money where their mouths are. In other words, maybe they would be

willing to pay the costs of the overtime to pay for any additional

policing that may be deemed necessary to protect the citizenry. And

pay for any injuries or property damage caused by hosting an

extravagant fireworks show at the beach. Maybe they would even be

willing to pay for the extravagant fireworks.

Finally, if Hardy really believes that she can’t think of anything

more family oriented than fireworks on the beach, she should get out

more.

ED BUSH

Huntington Beach

Measure E flier totally misleading

I found the slick “Yes on E” mailer, which polluted my mailbox

recently to be a total insult to my intelligence. Its Q & A format

included so many untruths and distortions, I lost count. I found the

question about where Huntington Beach’s police officers stand on

Measure E to be particularly gratuitous.

It is ironic that the Huntington Beach Police Officers Assn. wants

to “break the power of the special interests” when the association is

one of the most influential special interests in the city. The

question about who else supports Measure E is a joke. These are the

same outside special interest representatives who have lost the power

they once had to control the city and now want it back.

The question asking why is the City Council against fair elections

is disgracefully written and answered. Insinuating that the current

City Council is in the pockets of special interests is both

mendacious and malicious.

All of the “special interest” garbage in the mailer applies more

to the proponents of Measure E than it does to their opponents.

What the mailer fails to mention is that Measure E will likely not

dislodge incumbents in at least four of the five proposed districts

in the November 2004 election. Is that the “change” the Measure E

people are selling?

Huntington Beach voters should not be fooled by this fraud of a

measure. Take away the lies and the wishful thinking, and we are left

with a cynical power play initiative that will ruin our city rather

than save it.

TIM GEDDES

Huntington Beach