Mailbag: Bag debate is democracy in action

No matter what side of the great bag debate you are on, you have to admire the process in Huntington Beach that banned and then unbanned the bags.

Two years ago, City Council members took it upon themselves to banish single-use plastic bags in an attempt to help beautify our beaches. People who disparaged the disposables were delighted with the ban, while those who liked the bags were deeply displeased. Likewise, some residents took exception to the council issuing such an edict, citing it as a clear case of government overreach by nanny-state mandate.

The bag-ban controversy played a decisive role in the outcome of last year’s council election, which saw pro-ban incumbents kicked out and anti-ban candidates voted in. Keeping their campaign promise, the new council recently repealed the plastic bag prohibition, so residents of the city will once again be able to shop without the burden of BYOB (bring your own bag).

People disappointed by the return of the disposables should not despair. While the bag-ban battle raged in Huntington Beach, a similar struggle was underway statewide. The implementation of a law passed to prohibit the plastic bags throughout California has been put on hold by a referendum designed to keep the sacks legal. In November 2016, voters in the Golden State will directly determine whether the bags stay or go.

This entire episode is a story about democracy in action, and its moral can be summed up in a single word: Vote.

Chris Borg

Huntington Beach

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Don’t sell old senior center site

Selling the old Rodgers Seniors’ Center is a very short-sighted option (“City may sell old senior center,” April 23).

Once open space is lost, it’s gone forever. The downtown area is already over-congested. To put a couple dozen homes in the area would just add to the problem. This area can use some open space, like a park.

Another alternative is to keep the facility as a general-purpose community center. The center is already used for classes and gatherings apart from events for seniors.

I realize that selling the senior center would require a citywide vote, but it shouldn’t ever come to that. Keep open space open. We do not need more housing downtown.

Chris Varga

Huntington Beach

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A coming Dust Bowl at the beach?

Even though our state is running out of water, have no fear. Soon, California will become the national leader in the production of dust.

Don’t be surprised when our amazing state Legislature, in a blinding flash of brilliance, creates a new tax on dust, because that’s what Democrats do.

A desalination in Huntington Beach could actually produce potable water. But those plans have gathered dust on a shelf somewhere, and the dust on the plans will be taxed.

Undaunted, our city leaders are up to their necks in residential development. The big question is whether they will allow 2,100 units or 4,500 units. After the building orgy is finished, will Huntington Beach still be Surf City or will it have a new name — Sardine City?

Where will the water come from when all the new spigots are turned on? Maybe there will be no water, just dust.

Thanks to our astute politicians and narrow-minded environmentalists, who for years have preached for weeds, rats and tiny fish before humans, this is the payoff.

Long live the delta smelt.

Irv Gilman

Huntington Beach

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New council members, damaging partisan baggage

While I agree with the sentiments in the commentary by Lenard Davis (“Supporters of gay rights should avoid Republican Party,” April 16), much more needs to be said in regard to politics in Huntington Beach.

We are being told that when we voted for our current City Council members to gain new leadership, we would have to accept all of their partisan positions on issues that were not central to their campaign priorities. That meant that if we agreed with their positions on the plastic-bag ban, use of fireworks, the proposed new senior center and business, we would also have to accept their positions on the Poseidon Water desalination plant, the abandonment of manufactured-housing residents (especially seniors) to the predations of mobile-home park owners, and the tolerance for high-density residential development.

Voters are now waking up to the fact that this is not what they signed up for when they cast ballots last November. And yet, by voting for council members beholden to the Republican Party of Orange County and their partisan special-interest allies, that is exactly what is happening. None of the new leaders are the independent decision-makers we had hoped for. We now must accept their partisan baggage, which is deeply anti-community.

This should be a wake-up call. However much we like the candidates who have leadership potential, we must temper that support with the fact that they may be toeing the line on partisan issues to which we are opposed. You buy the candidate but are forced to buy the party as well. As we will see, this may have unintended consequences.

With Republicans, we must consider the party when voting for the candidate and consider the candidate when voting for the party. Would that it were not so in our city. We need leaders who are not partisan puppets or ideological prisoners but independent decision-makers who place the interests of the citizenry above their special-interest patrons.

While some might say the same is true about the other side or party, one only has to look at the vicious negative campaigning waged by the Republican-backed candidates in 2014 to see the difference. Not only will the profits-over-people philosophy of the new council majority not improve the quality of life for city residents, but it is likely to do lasting damage to our community.

Tim Geddes

Huntington Beach