RV changes will benefit Huntington I wonder...

RV changes will benefit Huntington

I wonder if Bob Polkow thinks that Chief Kenneth Small decided on

his own, one day out of the blue, to revise the Huntington Beach RV

ordinance or if after years of input from the community Small felt it

would be prudent and in the best interest of the city as a whole that

a revision was in order (“RV owners being unfairly run over,” Jan.

13)? Somehow I think it is probably the latter.

Regardless of how the State Vehicle Code defines what is and isn’t

an RV, the city of Huntington Beach has the right to determine on its

own what is appropriate in regard to parking on its city streets. One

only needs to look to our neighbor city, Fountain Valley, to find an

RV parking ordinance far more restrictive, and in my opinion far

better, than in Huntington Beach. RVs are not allowed to be parked on

city streets at all in Fountain Valley. The only exception is that RV

owners can obtain a 72-hour temporary parking permit for the purpose

of loading and unloading their motor home. Driving through Fountain

Valley reveals streets that are safer, open and uncluttered by boats,

trailers and motor homes.

Polkow refers to the thousands of “law-abiding RV owners” in

Huntington Beach and how they are being unfairly treated and harassed

by the impending revision to the RV ordinance while at the same time

admitting that he is not informed as to the specifics of the new

ordinance. Seems somewhat premature and alarmist to me. The last I

checked the population of Huntington Beach was somewhere around

200,000 people; of that number I suspect that the percentage of RV

owners is somewhat small. I would think that Smalls’ responsibility

is to serve the best interest of the majority of Huntington Beach

residents, not a small vocal minority. In addition, the need to

revise the ordinance stems not from law-abiding RV owners but from

those that don’t abide by the law, and there are plenty that don’t.

I am an RV owner myself, albeit a boat, and I have lived in

Huntington Beach for almost 10 years. When I decided to buy a boat I

made a conscious effort to find one that would fit legally on my

property; if I couldn’t have I would have stored it. I could park my

boat on the street and move it every 24 hours, forcing my neighbors

to have to stare at my boat out their front door as many a motor

home/ trailer owner does. It would be legal for me to do that but in

my opinion it is selfish, irresponsible and inconsiderate, so I

don’t. My right to own a boat doesn’t supersede my neighbors’ right

to enjoy their properties. In an ideal world everyone would do the

right thing. Unfortunately too many people don’t do what’s right

unless forced to by a law or ordinance, hence the need for a revision

to the RV code.

I hope that when the new ordinance is presented that the City

Council will do the right thing and represent the city as a whole

rather than being swayed by a vocal minority.

JOHN FITZGERALD

Huntington Beach

City bound to lose tax dollars from sales

It looks like some of the tax dollars from Huntington Beach will

be going over the hill to Costa Mesa. With the closing of K-Mart on

Magnolia we have an opportunity to shop at a much cleaner, well

stocked and organized K-Mart on Harbor Boulevard. The Target at

Brookhurst and Adams will be closed until October. We have to drive a

little further but the Target on Harbor is huge, well stocked,

shopper-friendly and open. While we’re traversing Harbor there is a

bigger and better TJ Maxx along the way. Also, a short hop toward

South Coast Plaza and we have a great Marshall’s at our disposal.

Huntington Beach would be better served to open a Sears at the old

K-Mart site rather than Home Depot. There is a Lowe’s going in just a

few blocks away so just how many home improvement stores does one

community need? City father and mothers -- think about it.

BARBARA SHEPARD

Huntington Beach

Same old song at Huntington City Hall

Here we go again with another Huntington Beach City Council member

not representing the city properly but apparently taking advantage of

the city and the publics’ trust.

It was bad enough when former Mayor Dave Garofalo was convicted of

felony charges on what, in my opinion, was stupidity and failure to

listen to good legal advice. Now we have former Mayor Pam Julien

Houchen whose motivation is questionable.

I cannot believe after how critical she was of Garofalo’s

wrong-doings and after the city of Huntington Beach paid more than $3

million dollars -- not her own insurance mind you -- for the

complicated birth of her triplets, she would think she could get away

with allegedly converting apartments into condominiums. Her husband

had some questionable activity with the paintball games, too.

Unfortunately the city of Huntington Beach and the triplets are

the losers. She should have thought about them before she did

anything that could get her in trouble. The law and punishment must

fair and equal to all, and in my opinion when a police officer,

lawyer, judge or elected official is convicted of a crime the penalty

should be severe and the maximum. They represent the publics’ trust.

As for the Huntington Beach City Council, there needs to be some

major changes. Obviously, there is a problem now that we have had two

council members accused of committing crimes.

I also still do not understand how we have term limits for City

Council members? According to the city attorney, a candidate can run

and win a City Council seat consecutively and then sit out one term

and do again it forever. Is term limits just win two, sit one?

Well, in closing, at least we got national attention, again with

our crooked City Council and the Visitors Bureau did not even have to

pay for it. All publicly is good even if it is bad, right?

ARTHUR AJAY JOHNS

Huntington Beach

A cut and dry no to recycled water

I say no, I wouldn’t ... it just sounds terrible to me (“Future is

a flush away,” Jan. 13).

JUDY KAGY

Huntington Beach

Not even for a nice warm bath

A great big no. I don’t think I’d even want to bathe in it, I

might not even want to water my lawn with it. You better think this

over, real well, council people. If you’re going to be selling city

water it better be for some purpose other than for drinking.

LARRY MOORE

Huntington Beach

Must be a better alternative

I don’t think is a good idea for us drinking treated sewage water,

I think there’s better ways of doing it than that and I’m not

comfortable drinking that water.

TOM ELLIOTT

Huntington Beach

A mistake in treating water could be grave

No, absolutely not would I feel comfortable drinking sewage water.

There are so many errors in computers, in people, of course honest

mistakes, but what a grave mistake and danger that would be to

everyone. Then we have an epidemic, we have children. What an

epidemic that could cause. It’s incredible and no absolutely not. I

am opposing it emphatically.

LAILANI REYNOLDS

Huntington Beach