A Serious Man

Along the Campaign trail I bumped into Steve Shoemaker; a notable character. He has been butting heads with the City for years now. Here's a recent article from the Easy Reader:

And here's a letter I wrote in response, which was published:

"The residents of Redondo Beach have had enough of this sort of bullying by

the idiot bureaucrats and monied interests entrenched in City Hall. I ran

for Mayor of Redondo Beach for precisely this reason, and I assure you that

the fight is long from over. The City wants Shoemaker to install special

bike racks to the tune of 500 dollars. I wonder where that money goes, and

what kind of backroom deal lead to these magic bike racks? And how are they

so much more superior to others? the simple answer is; follow the money.

Leave business owners, who actually bring revenue into the City, alone and

allow them to operate free of unnecessary restrictions. And ultimately

what does it even matter what bike racks are bolted to a sidewalk which

will soon be ripped up to make way for Centercal's version of Disneyland

now with 20 percent more Goofy."

But don't take it from me. Here's Shoemaker in his own words, talking about the treadmill the City has had him on...

Then again, I suppose society needs scapegoats.

A Diatribe

It was at some point during the last ice age, crammed in caves together for generations, that Homo erectus developed the ability to communicate beyond grunts, groans, and primal screams. Due to deprivation, hallucinations, and general boredom human beings discovered something called language. What started out as crude onomatopoeia- a buzz, hiss, or a clink- soon made a much bigger splash in the Verb Age. Associating words with objects gave way to associating words with ideas and, eventually, objectives. And it was in these words that men found power. As they began sharpening their words even more carefully than their spears, dundant became redundant.

The baffled cave dwellers called out to the infinite sky asking who had bestowed this marvelous gift of cognition upon them. The theologians were quick to reply, a deity who has thousands of names all of which are unutterable. At the same time early politicians advanced the art of rhetoric and confused language with jargon, semantics, and sloganeering. The tribal elders found themselves ousted in droves in favor of the ruthless and silver tongued. Empathy became pity.

In the interest of cohesion, control, and civilization a common language was established. And while some nomenclature was meticulously preserved and catalogued, other words were robbed of their authority and legitimacy through slang. Still others went searching for the perfect word, losing sight of the ideas behind those words.

And it seems, to some degree, we are all searching. Searching for a thing that cannot be attained. Human’s shoulder an unbearable burden, a Faustian bargain made with the devil in exchange for higher levels of consciousness. The more we know, the more we know we don’t know. This insatiable thirst leaves people silently screaming out for something that defies definition. A single moment-enhancing, life-affirming connection. A lasting impression that slows the idle wildling of father time. A great story to tell others.

At present there are thousands of languages and innumerable dialects, accents, and idioms, but this is not enough. Questions have become familiar and answers routine. The Tower of Babel has been replaced by the Tower of Good, How Are You?  

A Mediterranean Beach in Redondo?

Let's face it, Redondo is broke. Rather than making up for discrepancies in the City's bloated budget by turning Redondo's residents upside down and shaking out every last cent from their already threadbare pockets; let us find some truly innovative ways to generate revenue. A adult beach in Redondo is an idea whose time has come...

Most People Ask Why, I Ask Why Not?

Coleman's Message to the Youth: Fight! Resist! Endure!

    This week the Redondo Beach School Board voted, in a 3-2 decision, to allow drug sniffing dogs on campus at Redondo Union High School.
R U High Principal Nicole Wesley hiccuped, “I believe this will be a strong deterrent on campus if students see the dogs.” 

    Then Laura Emdee chimed in, “I didn’t think it was right to do it to the kids, but, we have a district committee and we gave them the task to look this over and if we aren’t going to take their recommendation, then what’s the point of having the committee?

    Ostensibly this is about the War on Drugs. Is it? Has there been one overdose? Is there really an epidemic? Or, as I suspect, this is just one more road sign on the path to adulthood that reads; we own you out right, and by the way, you have no rights. The Constitution is no longer taught in Civics Class. Try History. It's down the hall, next to the dogs sniffing lockers. Just like a Pier can double as a mall, High School is becoming a Maximum Security Day Care Center. If anything, it's a War on Youth. 

    When we were kids we had toys with sharp edges to play with. It wasn't the rounder Redondo of today, a less redundant Redondo. Welcome to Redondo Beach; the town that fun forgot. A big pat on the back and then back to bed for all of you. Our benevolent overlords passed a curfew ordinance when we were thirteen years old. Lights out by 10pm. We were right on the back of that wave and, as you can imagine, the arbitrary curfew didn't stick. We went out any way. Our mentality; so let me get this straight, a year ago, when were younger, we could stay out later? I mean, if the cops caught us we would have had our parents woken up but we wouldn't have gotten a ticket. Their experiment in social engineering failed. Bad wiring, faulty programming, I reckon. These kids today though... God help 'em.

I suppose some day we will all be sitting on our porches in curbed rocking chair reminiscing about the good old days; before the street cameras had guns.

Freudian Slip or Belated Confession...

The Horseshoe Pier had a broken water main. At the request of Old Tony's the Pier was allowed to remain open over the weekend, despite this fact. Then on May 27th 1988 a short circuit started a fire. When the Fire Department went to hook up a hose they were met with the water pressure of a squirt gun. The Pier burnt down. Pat Aust was the Fire Chief. Now Councilman Aust wants to build a mall on the Pier.

The plot thickens; this clip is from a September 2012 City Council meeting...

I wonder where Aust was when JFK was knocked off?

Redondo Beach: Town Without Pity

Something is rotten in the state of Redondo politics. The New Future Super Pier Mall Lifestyle Center Living Machine is, evidently, too big to fail. 

Here's what Community Activist Jim Light had to say about the details of the nefarious deal;

Decades of free rent!

1. Yes, you read it right.  First CenterCal would be free of rent until it gets a certificate of occupancy from the City.  That means they don’t have to pay a dime until they are done building the first phase of their mall.  That means taxpayers are footing all the costs of operating the 15 acres.
2. From that point until year 20, yep 20 years AFTER the mall is built…  The city doesn’t get one dime until CenterCal makes 10% profit.  They get off scott free for 20 years until they get over 10% profit.  And then they pay 25% of any profit over 10% in rent for 15 acres.  So if CenterCal shows they made 10% profit + $1, they only have to pay $0.25, one piddly quarter, for 12 months rent on 15 waterfront acres. Are you kidding me?
3. From year 20 on, CenterCal gets a credit for further investment.  So if they invest to improve their business, they get a discount on any rent they may have to pay for the 15 acres of waterfront property.
4. 31 Years after CenterCal starts running its mall, finally residents and taxpayers are guaranteed at least $1Million in rent.  Excuse me for being underwhelmed... $1M for 15 waterfront acres is a miniscule $5,555 per acre per month.   31 years after the mall opens, the city would get less revenue than the current pier parking lot. Woo-hoo.  Great negotiating.
5. Finally 55 years (two generations from now) after the mall starts (and ready to be replaced) the city might reduce the rent to 20% of the profit over 10%.

Does anyone really believe CenterCal won’t hide the profit in creative bookkeeping?  Our City was too dumb to set aside harbor funds to replace aging infrastructure for 50 years, do we really think they will be smart enough to evaluate CenterCal’s profitability?

So in summary, if the Council is dumb enough to approve the MOU, the City of Redondo would be:

• committed to over $25M in investment to support the new mall
• at risk to get ZERO rent for 15 acres of prime waterfront real estate for 31 yearsafter the Mall-By-The-Sea opens its doors
•  finally guaranteed a measly $1M in rent per year for 15 waterfront acres after 31 years of mall operation.

What's worst; the International Boardwalk, home of Naja's, Gambrinus, Kegs, Quality Sea Food and the Fun Factory are to be bulldozed to make way for a road. A ROAD!!! Then again these shrewd City Manager rubber stamping developer backed City Council hacks (Bill Brand excluded) might just be practicing the old door in the face technique. A second option will surface which will seem reasonable in comparison. After all, it's pretty easy to put out the fire when you start it...

Build it and they will come

and if they don't

we'll retire on a fat pension 

anyways.

New Leaked Video

  February of 2013; an interesting time to be alive.