Main Street should be closed to traffic...

Main Street should be closed to traffic

Real life experiences from other cities in the United States and

cities overseas clearly prove that local business will boom, not

suffer, if streets such as Main Street in Huntington Beach are closed

to traffic.

More peoplewill come to such areas, stay longer and spend more.

Independent research shows that the more traffic-free space there is

in city centers, the more time people spend there.

We lived for seven and 30 years, respectively, in a city called

Aarhus in Denmark (population 300,000), where local businesses for

years fought the closure of a street very similar to Main Street.

It was finally closed after years of debate with the result that

many more people shop, dine and hang out in or at the local stores

and restaurants, and that the street has become an extremely popular

magnet creating tremendous amounts of tax revenue for the city; it’s

much more popular than the street ever was or anyone could ever dream

it would be.

Berndog Tostenson -- in his June 24 letter, “Main Street is a

treasure just as it is” -- and others are very wrong in stating that

“what is most exciting ... for all of us” is having cars on Main

Street, and that “you can’t have a parade without a street.”

A parade can easily follow a pedestrian street, and a lot of us

with discretionary income would be a lot more likely to visit Main

Street if it was a more pleasant, attractive environment as we

strongly disagree that looking at cars driving by is the most

exciting aspect of Main Street.

Yes, “the local businesses depend on people. And our local

population cannot support those businesses alone.” That is indeed why

we should do something now to attract more business in a way that has

proved effective, appealing and creates tax revenue.

DAVID AND MARIANNE

DELLINGER

Huntington Beach

Pacific City not thought through

On a recent visit to the Pacific City office on Pacific Coast

Highway, I walked across the mock-up they had on the floor of the

office.

I asked what retail would be included. I was told there would be a

grocery store as an anchor. My immediate response was, “Where will

you put the grocery carts, and how will people get groceries to their

cars if the parking is subterranean?”

Of course, there was not an answer. This project has not been

thought out as carefully as it should be. Water will be another issue

that will have to be addressed in the near future.

We do not need Pacific City.

DIANA ZIMMER

Huntington Beach

‘Forced’ Pledge has lost its meaning

Letter writer Anne Myer thinks that “ ‘under God’ should stay in

the Pledge of Allegiance” while Sam Pinterpe sees “ ... no reason to

bring God into the picture,” according to their letters in the June

24 Independent.

I question why the pledge is forced upon our children in the first

place. Through repetition it has become mundane and meaningless. Are

we so insecure of our faith in God and country that we require school

children to reaffirm it on a daily basis?

JOHN BOAG

Huntington Beach

Wave park should be tied to beach cleanup

This is a Huntington Beach surfer’s reaction to a recent news

article about how Huntington Beach city officials are considering a

proposal to allow a commercial $10-million wave pool to be built in

the city (“Ordering up the ideal surf,” May 13). According to the

article, the Surfparks company is touting the pool as an improvement

on nature, where surfers don’t have to deal with contaminated water,

crowds and flat waves.

Does it bother anyone that the first sales attribute listed of the

wave pool is that the water will not be contaminated? Why take a

pro-environment approach and clean up the real waves when we can

instead take a pro-business approach and continue polluting the ocean

while building our own clean replacement waves inland?

Of course, these two approaches are not mutually exclusive. A

pro-business approach can still be tailored to provide an

environmental benefit.

For example, the city might tie the approval of the wave pool to a

modest binding commitment from the profiteers to help clean up the

real beach in some small helpful way. Although it pains me as a

Republican to suggest a tax, I believe that in this case the city of

Huntington Beach should impose a small consumption tax on the

proposed clean inland waves. Accordingly, the rider of each clean

private inland wave would partially subsidize some small action that

helps clean up the real public waves.

Yes, I am a Republican suggesting a tax. Deal with the

unpredictability and hypocrisy of it all.

JOSHUA C. HARRISON

Huntington Beach

Helicopter money should be elsewhere

Once again the police helicopters have made the Forum page with

the usual lame justifications. The reality is they are not cost

effective for the crime they allege to prevent. Jason Smith suggests

they can “help with lower priority calls such as parking problems”

(“Police helicopters an invaluable tool,” Sounding Off, June 17).

Meanwhile, the major streets are filled with potholes.

It is obvious from the list of uses in his letter on June 17, that

the money spent on these ego trip toys could be used more effectively

elsewhere.

WILLIAM WINTERROWD

Huntington Beach

Don’t be fooled by Leipzig’s agenda

Vic Leipzig is pushing for a tax increase, albeit an “itty-bitty”

tax increase, for the Orange County vector control tax assessment

(“Not a pesky tax,” Natural Perspectives, June 17).

This, in my opinion, is not out of the blue, and should be

highlighted for what it is.

Leipzig is just years away from realizing his decades-old dream of

re-flooding the former Bolsa Chica “wetlands” (oil fields) by gouging

an approximately 360-foot-wide direct inlet/outlet from the former

oil fields/polluted wetlands, to the southern Bolsa Chica State

Beach. Certainly he knows (and knew) that this action would cause

vermin now living on the oil fields/wetlands to flee en-masse to the

nearest high ground, as well as provide a huge breeding ground for

mosquitoes, which can carry West Nile and other dangerous viruses.

For reference see: “Can We Restore Wetlands And Leave The

Mosquitoes Out?” https://www.sciencedaily.com/

releases/2004/05/040526063740.

htm

An excerpt: “Wetlands do have benefits for people,” she [Elizabeth

Willott, an assistant professor in the department of entomology at

the University of Arizona in Tucson] said. ‘Wetlands clean water,

help in flood control, provide habitat and have aesthetic value.”

Even so, she said that environmental ethics require taking into

consideration that after a wetland is restored or created, people’s

exposure to mosquito-borne diseases may increase.”

Make no mistake, Leipzig’s gentle verbosity was only smoke and

mirrors -- only a diversion -- simply designed to soothe-then-reach

into the Orange County taxpayer’s hip pocket, once again, to fund his

niche-hobby (birding) with a huge deficit effect, in my opinion, to

our beautiful beaches, and health.

Just say no to the Orange County vector control tax increase, and

say no to the direct inlet/outlet at Bolsa Chica State Beach!

TOM POLKOW

Huntington Beach

Vector vote should be more inclusive

I beg to differ with Vic Leipzig (“Not a Pesky Tax,” Natural

Perspectives, June 17) regarding the ballot being sent to property

owners only by Vector Control.

All Huntington Beach residents are paying property tax and all

should have a vote.

Extra funds needed for special projects have always been provided

through grants from the federal and state governments. For a

temporary problem at the state level, we want to make a permanent tax

at the local level. What happens when the state is in better shape

and continues to fund the grant it has temporarily suspended?

Has Vector Control considered seeking a grant through the federal

government? I understand they provide grants for most anything.

I would support a tax for one year only to make up their

shortfall. However, it should be part of a normal election, where all

citizens are entitled to vote.

JIM HUNNEL

Huntington Beach