Resident Resents Utilities Ruling

Dumb, that’s what our City Council is. For 10 years now we have been trying to tell them that we don’t want to have our utilities undergrounded at our expense and for 10 years they have ignored us and fought us in court.

And yet again, on April 18, 1989, our city overrode a majority protest against undergrounding by 56% of the property owners in Vista Verde, Kingsview and King Estates, sections overlooking Los Angeles Harbor.

Why would the city of Rancho Palos Verdes make homeowners pay about $17,000 per property to underground their utilities when they don’t want to? The only plausible reason would be because of the influence that a few property owners, with poles and wires obstructing their view corridor, have with the city. Never mind that these few people purchased their properties with wires and poles installed and in place. Suffice to say that the city expects us, the majority, to pay to underground the utilities of the few that stand to gain full unobstructed views of the harbor and increased property values.

And so, for the third time and because the city will not heed our wishes, we are forced to take action against our city to protect our rights. If the city and/or the utility companies want to pay for a new system, that’s their business. But for the city to force the citizens to pay for undergrounding when the majority voted against it is a miscarriage of justice and a disgrace by our elected officials.

Mayor Jacki Bacharach and Councilman Robert Ryan are up for reelection this fall. Let’s vote them out this time.

JULIAN FOLEY

Rancho Palos Verdes