Local News in Brief : Huntington Beach : Fund Raising for Pier Gets Off to Good Start

It hasn’t been decided if or how to rebuild the tip of storm-ravaged Huntington Beach Pier, but fund raising to restore the landmark has begun with gusto.

Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, in a news conference this week at the foot of what was California’s longest pier, pledged to match private donations of up to $250,000 with county park and recreation funds to help pay for repairs. That money has been earmarked for spending in her supervisorial district, which includes Huntington Beach.

The repair bill has been estimated at $4 million, including construction of a new restaurant at the pier’s end. The End Cafe was destroyed, along with 250 feet of the seaward pier tip, in high surf Jan. 17 and 18.

Huntington Beach Mayor John Erskine--who has been pushing for a grass-roots fund-raising drive similar to one that raised thousands of dollars in 1983 to rebuild Seal Beach’s pier--told Wieder aides that the city has received $5,000 each from five developers with projects in the downtown redevelopment area.

Huntington Beach’s Japanese sister city, Anjo, has also pledged $2,300 toward repair efforts.

And residents calling themselves the PIER Group--Persons Interested in Expediting Reconstruction--raised $400 last weekend, mostly in pocket change collected from strollers, fishermen and beachgoers, an organizer said this week.