First Hundred Days in Office

Too often politicians don't have a comprehensive plan of what they'll do when elected and instead deal with what they have to when it presents itself, or simply just lands on our collective doorstep. We need a far reaching vision with the bold strokes of an artist.

So, here is my plan of what to do starting day one:


BAN THE BAN
How many laws does it take for you to know that you're free? Not as many as some may trumpet. The South Bay and the State of California have become increasingly draconian. For instance, in Manhattan Beach they are now issuing tickets for reading in your parked car. The sad thing is, when a money is paid for a citation it goes first to the County, then the State takes its chunk, before the City gets its small stipend. The question is, if hardly any of our budget comes from such Nanny Nation annoyances as seat-belt tickets, why is so much time, money, and effort being wasted targeting residents of Redondo with what essentially boils down to an extra tax. No more. Also, as others have done, I will make it my priority to law comb; going through the books to remove archaic, irrelevant, and out-dated ordinances.

UNDO STREET FESTIVAL FREEZE
The City Planning Commission has put a 'freeze' on permits for any new street festivals. This is no way to build a community and I will undo this freeze, and ease the permit process for street festivals provided promoters showcase local talent and vendors.

MORE SERVICES FOR SENIORS
Collective bargaining by the city for more affordable prescription drugs, increase monies to senior centers, and expand senior busing services are all important issues to me. 

PROMOTE BUSINESS
Cut and reduce red tape, permit restrictions, fines, and fees businesses have to endure to operate in the South Bay. Boost employment through tax credits to companies who hire new employees. Offer incentives to green technology firms, dot com companies, and others who are on the forefront of innovation. A first year zero tax to any companies who start up or relocate to Redondo. We can't rely on one store, like Nordstrom, being so responsible for so much of our economy. The tax difference could easily be offset by trimming the budget.

BUREAUCRACY
Bureaucracy in local government has ballooned to unsustainable proportions. For instance, in fiscal year 2011 total revenues to the city was 88.1 million dollars, yet expenditures exceeded 88.2 million. That same year the city spent 4 million to replace vehicles, many of which did not need to be replaced. This is just one more example of a government agency spending money because they have it, and are afraid that if they don't, the same amount won't be available for them next year.

http://www.redondo.org/services/city_docs/budget.asp


RESTORE THE HOSPITAL
There used to be a hospital along Prospect Avenue just south of Beryl Street; the Beach Cities Health Center. The hospital was built from bond money approved by the voters. This sprawling complex now houses a Pilate's Studio, Pacific Imaging, Silverado Senior Center, and Little Company of Mary Research Center. Perhaps we, the residents, should be researching where all that bond money went to? Why don't we have a hospital and where did the money go? I say give people what they voted for in the first place.

REVISIT CITY CONTRACTS
Athens Services collects our trash. Not only do they make a pretty penny from our recyclables but they charge us to do it. How did they get that contract? Whose palms did they grease? Athens also has the audacity to proclaim our trash belongs to them, and is a misdemeanor punishable by law (City of Redondo Beach Code Article 5-2.501). I, as well as many residents and probably Pete the pelican, would like to see our trash turned into electricity. Many plants around the world already do. Plants like Baxter in Los Angeles. All possible through a public private partnership; an environmentally friendly move which would lower our tax burden in the process.

In short, "Give The People What They Voted For!"

Save Historic Redondo

Stop the Real Estate Tycoons

Vote Coleman March 5th, 2013

SAVE REDONDO

The most fundamental question is why. Why run? As my campaign manager and good friend Christopher Quain put it, people run for local office for basically one of a few reasons. Perhaps they are an individual who percieves their community heading in the wrong direction and wants to steer it back on track. Then there are a business owners who are tired of dealing with fees, fines, restrictions, red tape, and cumbersome oversight from the current officials. Still there is another group who pander to the people while pursuing their own vested interests. We can all agree, government is glut with the latter.

I consider myself part of the first group.

However, that's not all of it. I hope this campaign inspires others to run. Where the Civil Rights movement attempted to flood the jails, maybe we will be able to flood the ballot and finally remove this notion that elected office is only for the elite. In the words of Jello Biafra, "don't hate the media, be the media." This was the mantra of our long running cable access show Flippant, seen on Adelphia Cable. An institution really.

FRESH IDEAS

I grew up in Redondo, went to school here (attended RUHS and El Camino College), and have been a teacher here. I've also traveled a bit. I've been a double decker bus tour guide in Chicago, picked cherries in Canada, taught English in India. On these adventures I've seen a few things and read of others.

For instance, while working in Chicago I became aware of a rich tradition of throwing street festivals and block parties. People gather in the streets to enjoy local bands, artists, craftspeople, and culinary delights. Neighbors meet, mingle, and maybe even engage in the lost art of conversation. The few street festivals the city does host have, unfortunately, been overrun by corporate interests. It's very easy in our society of happiness sold in a box to forget something simple, like soaking in the sun while paying homage to some homegrown talent.  After all, scores of bands have come out of the South Bay; including 98 Mute, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Descendants, Jim Lindberg, and Pennywise, to name a few.

Now for those who think the word community sounds too close to Communism and being social a step away from Socialism, I refer you to what my friend the Squirrely Stefan Eichhorn said quoting Karl Marx, "Look I'm all for Socialism, but get all these freakin' people away from me!"

Here's an example of one street festival in Chicago I had the pleasure of attending. The band is Stop Making Sense; a brilliant Talking Heads cover band.

LESSONS FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD

It was while teaching English in India I noticed that dogs weren't giving chase to cats on the mean streets of Mumbai. Instead, the dogs, and cats, birds, even the cow in the road just sort of mingled. Suppression by the Leash created the chase, I later theorized. In addition, Mumbai's precocious pups have bigger and better things to do, like trying to stay fed. I turned to My Friend the Great Shakun Batra and asked amused, "So they just let the dogs run around like this?"

He put it very simply, "why kill them?" 

There are 66,000 people in Redondo. There are 14 parks, equaling roughly 96 acres, but we have only one dog park. Our furry friends and barking buddies deserve more. Dog parks, like street festivals, are a fantastic way to bring us out of the houses and together, sharing mutual interests and building a community. It's time we got to know our neighbors; human and canine.

LOONY LAWS & SILLY STATUTES

India is lawless place. I would not recommend reverting to such a society. Yet why are there so many laws on our books? How many laws does it take for you to know that you're free? More to the point; do more laws make us freer? Do laws exist to protect us, or to generate revenue? If so, can't we find innovative revenue generating techniques like turning our trash into electricity rather than target tax payers. Furthermore, these laws that are on our books are often selectively enforced and rarely reviewed for relevancy. Bergie Benz, former Mayor of Hermosa Beach, tried to do just that; law combing. But he is a rare breed indeed. A man of conviction and Wilberforce.

Many of these laws simply defy logic. Here's a smattering:

It is illegal to skateboard on walls "or other vertical surfaces" in Palo Alto.

Wearing a sweatshirt inside-out is deemed a "threatening misdemeanor" in Half-Moon Bay.

In Los Angeles, you cannot bathe two babies in the same tub at the same time. (Loony Laws" by Robert Pelton)

In California, animals are banned from mating publicly within 1,500 feet of a tavern, school, or place of worship. (Loony Laws" by Robert Pelton)

Peeling an orange in your hotel room is banned in California (Legal Lunacy)

San Francisco is said to be the only city in the nation to have ordinances guaranteeing sunshine to the masses.

In 1930, the City Council of Ontario (California) passed an ordinance forbidding roosters to crow within the city limits.

Redwood City has outlawed the frying of gravy.

In Blythe, California, a person must own two cows in order to legally wear cowboy boots in public.

In Los Angeles, a man is legally entitled to beat his wife with a leather belt or strap, but the belt can't be wider than 2 inches, unless he has his wife's consent to beat her with a wider strap. (Loony Laws" by Robert Pelton)

It is illegal to set a mousetrap without a hunting license.

In L.A. it is against the law to complain through the mail that a hotel has cockroaches, even if it is true.

It is illegal to drive more than two thousand sheep down Hollywood Blvd. at one time.

In California, it is illegal to trip horses for entertainment.

If you're like me, you know, enough is enough. And trust me friends the draconians in the city council are looming in the background, waiting for Mike Gin's exit, to pursue their C.A.V.E. man agenda. As in the Campaign Against Virtually Everything! We deserve better Redondo.

 

Vote Coleman March 5th, 2013!


To Volunteer please contact ericjamescoleman@gmail.com

Ban the Banning

Model airplanes. Leaf-blowers. Helicopter noise. What else can we ban? How about prohibiting fish from peeing in the water, ants within twenty feet of a doorway, or skunks from making that smell?

The foolhardy social engineers in the Redondo Beach City Council find it fitting to follow in the footsteps of other California cities like San Francisco that banned the picking up and throwing of used confetti, Redwood City which outlawed the frying of gravy, or Berkley where it is illegal to whistle for your lost canary before 7AM. All of this amounts to an absolute coup d'etat against nature and natural law.

Contrary to popular belief more laws on the books do not make us freer. In fact it shows contempt for growns-ups in a free country. And lest we forget California is a Republic. A Republic respects and protects the individual from the fanatical whims of the majority. The draconian world view currently being held by misguided members of the city council vying for the mayor's seat is an insult to the residents of Redondo Beach and the world community at large. It's evident their world view is one in which people are little more than cogs in a machine, where individuals are nothing more than cells in a larger organism called the State. In Aust, Brand, and Kilroy's bitterly bleak perspective the individual cannot be trusted and is in need of constant supervision, surveillance, and regulation. Thankfully there are still some of us left who don't share in this Hobbesian suspicion of humanity.

 

With you're help we will stop these C.A.V.E. people and their Campaign Against Virtually Everything. This madness has gone on for long enough and only serves to generate revenue in the most insideous, underhanded way possible, and furthermore does a good job of turning everyone into paranoid freaks who, instead of loving their fellow neighbor, are justified in spying on them. What kind of Redondo Beach do we ultimately want here, afterall? One where a bunch of whiney busybodies have declared War on Slight Annoyance reducing everyone to sub-human automatons; or a vibrant, festive, tolerant beach community? Trust me my friends, we are fighting for the very heart and soul of Redondo here; and with your support we will win and finally reverse this tide of lunacy. It's time to take back what's ours; to be treated like grown-ups in a free country and end this idea that everything we see or hear should be predicated on the fanatical whims of an eight year old. Keep Redondo from becoming Redundant Beach. It's time to stop the nonsense, end the madness, and ban the banning.

Floor it and Hope For the Best.

Vote Coleman March 5th, 2013!