MEASURE "B" BLOG
Nov. 1, 2013:
Yesterday both of our local weeky papers reported, incorrectly, that under Measure "B" the Comedy and Magic Club - a place I love (one time I was sitting near the front in one of my subdued Hawaiian shirts and Leno accused me of attending his show in pajamas) - would not be able to do two shows a night. And they penned that pure malarkey despite the fact that when the reporters interviewed me early this week for their stories, I discussed the two-show-a-night issue with them - in excruciating detail with the Easy Reader reporter - and pointed them to FAQ # 12 on this website, which is about the Club and that question.
Oct. 23, 2013:
This morning I Googled "Hermosa Beach fights" and one of the hits was a YouTube video entitled "Hermosa Beach Friday Night Fights."
I've just added it, and others, to the Crime page.
Oct. 19, 2013:
Cartoon by Rod Anderson
Our city council gives lots of lip service to the problems caused by the downtown's late hours, but in terms of effective action just keeps kicking the can down the road.
And the "can" is even getting bigger (see the Oct. 14 entry, below, and FAQ # 5).
Oct. 17, 2013:
The very first two entries in this blog were about the opponents' false claims that the Hermosa police and fire associations oppose Measure "B."
A little bit later, the opponents made a further claim - that the Lifeguard Association opposes Measure "B."
From the Opponent's Glossy Mailer and their Ad in the Oct. 10 Easy Reader
That appears to be another false claim by the opponents and someone must have "called" them on it because in their new ads (today, Oct. 17) in the Easy Reader and The Beach Reporter, the Lifeguards were not on the lists of Measure "B" opponents.
The new ads did mention opposition by the Democratic Party, but it should be noted that the Party adopted that position after a rep from the opponents' campaign firm told the Party's Ballot Measure Committee that the Hermosa police and firefighters' associations, and the lifeguards' association, were opposed to Measure "B."
Oct. 15, 2013:
This entry was submitted to the Easy Reader for their Oct. 17 edition, but didn't get published.
Before they vote, Hermosans need to ask themselves:
Do I know of another city where the city council, the planning commission and the police department have been spending
such a high proportion of their time, for decades, trying to control the late night activities in an area that is just 2% of the town?
Do I know of another city where the city council is expanding late night hours even more?
We are a Blue Zone, and we are green. Is that enough to offset the impact of our late night crowds, and their many cars and cabs?
Do I want the Hermosa Beach city council, the planning commission and the police to have to continue to focus on the downtown,
or do I want them to have more time to think about, plan, and patrol, the whole town?
Oct. 14, 2013:
This entry was submitted to The Beach Reporter's in reply to their Question of the Week, which was, "What are your thoughts about the H.B. City Council extending the weekend hours for a new restaurant:"
The new later hours will remain even if the Sanfords sell the Café Boogaloo project to some other operator; the council can’t take the hours back simply because the new operator is unknown or because he has a different business model.
Those later hours also set a precedent. It's like opening Pandora's Box.
Establishment (previously Blue 32) - another place whose hours were cut to midnight – eventually will ask to get their late night hours back. Will the council tell them that since they are not the Sanfords, no later hours?
What will the council do when Cantina Real, Mediterraneo, Zanes, and Mickey McColgan's, which presently can stay open to midnight all week, ask to do like the Sanfords did, trade away hours early in the week for 1 a.m. on the weekends? How can the council say “no” when the “No Intensification” law they passed last year specifically allows such trades?
What will our new council do when the request by Silvio’s BBQ to trade their presently unlimited hours for 1 a.m. on weekends and an upgrade to full liquor comes before them on Nov. 26, on appeal from the (predicted) denial at the October 15 planning commission meeting?
Paragraph 6 of Section 5 of the Quiet Nights Measure "B" ordinance will suspend the trading of hours and keep this Pandora's Box closed.
(The city council's vote to allow the later hours came after the Planning Commission's unanimous vote to deny the later hours was appealed at the order of Councilmembers Duclos and Fishman. Here is a little of what the Planning Commissioners said during their August 20, 2013 hearing: YouTube Clip.)
Oct. 7, 2013:
Oops, they did it again! Following the phone poll two weeks ago where they pushed the lie that Hermosa's police and fire associations oppose Measure "B," the downtown bars have upped the ante. Last week (Oct. 2) they told the same lie to the County Democratic Party!
You'd think that with the brainpower available at the large and well-connected campaign firm they have hired - the principals include Don Knabe's son - the bars could stick to the truth.
Sept. 30, 2013:
Last week Hermosans received a phone poll about Measure "B," Quiet Nights in Hermosa. The poll pushed some obvious fallacies.
The poll claimed that Measure "B" is opposed by the Hermosa Police Department and the Hermosa Fire Department. That's not true - neither the Departments, nor their associations, has taken a position. The poll said that Measure "B" will cost money for the schools and the library. That's not true - The school district gets its money from the State, and the library gets its money from the County.
Measure "B" - Quiet Nights in Hermosa - proposes a fairer balance between the business community and the residential community, through a modest reduction in the late night hours of downtown businesses: One hour less on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and two hours less Sunday thru Wednesday. The reduced hours will take effect gradually, through April 2019, to give businesses time to adjust.
The idea for Measure "B" came not from me but from our councilmembers, who have said, repeatedly, that downtown hours need to be reduced. Councilmember Michael DiVirgilio: "The real issue is late-night density, the fact that we have so many hours of open operation after 11 or 12 at night. That's the fundamental issue that causes us problems at night. It's the volume of open operations.”
Video clips of what our councilmembers have said are available on the Measure "B" website.
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