From: MEG ROBINSON
To: [email protected]
Subject: No on 24-020
Date: Friday, January 12, 2024 4:08:39 PM
Item 24-020 rears the ugly head of homophobia by leaving Gay Pride off the June calendar. Of course, I’m not surprised. That’s what the flag resolution and Measure B is all about, blocking any recognition of the LGBTQ+ community.
Don’t use the identity politics argument. It doesn’t fly in the face of other calendar recognitions.
Vote against this polarizing item.
Meg Robinson
Resident
From: Barbara Richardson
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Subject: City Heritage Calendar and Restricting Access to Adult Library Bookshelves Date: Sunday, January 14, 2024 10:34:15 PM
My name is Barbara Richardson and I am a 51 year resident of Huntington Beach. I have questions about two recently passed proposals; the City Heritage Calendar and restricting access to the adult library bookshelves for those under the age of 18. For 32 years until I retired in 2020, I created all the monthly displays for the Central Library Children Department’s large glass case. I created hundreds of monthly displays. Not once in my 32 years working at the library did I ever have anyone complain about the displays, nor did I have to get permission for what monthly themes I wanted to feature.
When the council first passed the City Heritage Calendar, it was stated that this calendar was created so all city departments would be on the same page. It would create uniformity when it came to displaying and featuring various holidays, cultural events, and celebrations. Now there is a newly revised city calendar. The revised calendar states that one of the criteria to be listed on it as a secondary acknowledgment is to be a "Federal Holiday or National Law." However some of the holidays listed on the new calendar are not federal holidays. There are also cultural events listed on the new calendar, but many more are not. My questions are about the holidays, cultural events and celebrations not listed on the city calendar. Will city departments still be able to create displays, feature books or posters, have special programs, or create department calendars or flyers mentioning these unlisted holidays, cultural events, and celebrations?
Examples: April is Poetry Month. Can the library or any other city department create a Poetry Month display if it is not listed on the City Heritage Calendar? Cinco de Mayo is not listed. Could Oak View Library hold a special celebration and promote it? Pride Month is not mentioned. Can a city department create a display or hold a program featuring Pride Month? Going forward, will all city departments need to get approval from the City Council and/or City Liaison if they want to feature any holiday, cultural event or celebration not listed on the City Heritage Calendar? Would this include Halloween, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Chinese New Year, Chanukah, and Easter? None are currently listed. What happens if a department does feature a cultural event or celebration not listed on the city calendar? My second list of questions concerns the moving of all the children and teen library books deemed to be unsuitable into the adult book stacks. When are you planning to start moving these books and when will the public know what titles will be moved? Is there any date as to when the book oversight committee will be formed? My main concern is how to restrict those under 18 from having access to the adult book stacks. The Central Library is a four-story building designed as an open concept building. There are very few interior walls. There are adult book shelves on three floors with hundreds of adult books on each floor. How is the council planning to prevent minors from accessing the adult bookshelves? You cannot block exits or put up blockades without breaking fire and safety codes and regulations. Because of the building’s architecture and design, I cannot see how it will be possible to close off access to the adult book sections without having to redesign the building.
The only alternative would be to hire people to continuously patrol the adult bookshelves. However, with the current budget shortfall, will the city be able to hire extra staff? You could try to recruit volunteers to patrol the bookshelves, but how will they be selected? What are the requirements? Will they be professionally trained on how to handle confrontations and how to de-escalate tense situations? What happens if teens under 18 are found among the adult bookshelves without their parents’ permission? Who would be held libel and what are the consequences? Could staff be sued for not allowing teens access to the adult book stacks or vice versa? Could staff or volunteers be sued by the parents of underage teens if those teens got into the adult book stacks and looked at one of the restricted book titles? Could librarians sue if the book oversite committee refuses to order their book suggestions? What are the liabilities to the city? How much money could city stand to lose? Is this really how the city wants to spend its money during the time of city-wide budget cuts? If the council really wants to spend a lot of money, I would suggest trying to fix the Central Library's outside water fountains.
Thank you
Some of my past library displays
From: Carol Daus
To: [email protected]; CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) Subject: 24-020-In Opposition
Date: Monday, January 15, 2024 10:15:04 PM
Hello City Council Members (directed at Council Members Gracey Van Der Mark, Casey McKeon, Pat Burns, and Tony Strickland),
I realize that you revised the original monthly Calendar from the December meeting after so many residents complained about obvious omissions, such as Black History Month, Women's History Month, and others.
I appreciate the fact that you added such an eclectic array of events, celebrations, historic events, illnesses, etc for this current version of "2024 City Celebration Calendar Program." But there's one omission that's quite disturbing. For the entire year, there is no celebration of our community's LGBTQ community, not even during June, which you know is Pride Month.
I hope that this was just a mistake and not a blatant example of anti-LGBTQ bias. Even Governor DeSantis knows you have to include the queer community to some degree in order to attract tourist and corporate dollars!
A 2023 Gallup Report shows that in 2022, 7.2% of U.S. adults identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual. One in 5 GenZ adults identify as part of the LGBTQ community.
Please add Pride Month to your celebrations in June. If not, I'll just assume you are forcing an anti-LGBTQ agenda down our throats, which is highly likely given the other policies you've enacted this year.
Sincerely,
Carol Daus
Huntington Beach resident, 29 years
From: Diane
To: [email protected]
Subject: Agenda Item 6
Date: Tuesday, January 16, 2024 1:47:58 AM
I watched the December 19, 2023 City Council Meeting when the council clearly voted to do away with the monthly celebrations (many of which are federal designations) that have been observed in the past and only observe the new ones that were designated at that meeting or will be designated using a new process with a new committee. When asked about continuing to observe the heritage months such as Black History Month, Women's History Month, etc, it was stated from the dais that those could be observed in some future years, but this year we would only observe the items put on the new calendar of observances.
With that in mind, I don't understand how the staff has been able to interpret the vote from last month in order to continue the traditional observances. While I don't understand how the staff is threading the needle to retain the heritage months we have always observed, I am grateful they are proceeding in this way.
As for the calendar that is being presented, I'm wondering who is developing the materials for these monthly observances.
January is halfway over already and a full curriculum to understand the origins and history of Huntington Beach seems like something that would and should take a full year just for that topic.
For February, it seems rather ironic to title the month, "We Love our Libraries" when this council is establishing policies to restrict access to books in that very library. Are we only celebrating our commitment to reading books the mayor approves? How do we learn, when we can be restricted from access to new information? In March, we are to learn about California's history, a subject that is taught for an entire year in school, but the city is going to cover it in a month? Again, who is going to compile this information? The City Historian resigned. Is there a replacement? In April, we are to learn about the history of HB's railroad. That seems like a small enough subject to handle in a month, but since it's new information to me, I don't know.
I am concerned again about who will present this information without the City Historian In May, we are going to learn about the Bill of Rights. Is there a constitutional lawyer that will be presenting those constitutional amendments and maybe providing some cases so we can learn how they really affect us in our daily lives or will we just get a handout or a website page (that we can find easily ourselves) with the list of amendments?
In June, I am again concerned about who will be creating this presentation. The history of our Independence Day should be pretty straightforward, but who is going to tell us "what it means"? That can be very subjective and open to many interpretations.
In August, I am grateful that the city is acknowledging that slavery was the key component of the Civil War, considering the difficulty we have seen recently from some presidential candidates.
Lastly, it seems very odd to me to "honor" the discovery of oil back-to-back with appreciating HB's Ecological Legacy. The exploitation of our natural resources, primarily oil, has created risks for our local ecosystems. Just in 2021, an oil spill off our coast put our wetlands in jeopardy and cost the city millions.
There is a lot of work to be done to move forward with such an ambitious calendar, particularly without an historian. Many of these topics have incredible depth and simply doing a cursory presentation is no better than me doing a google search.
I hope you will properly document your discussions and acknowledge the mistakes that were made from the dais on this issue and do these topics justice, along with all of the heritage months we have been observing for years.
Sincerely,
Diane James
From: Tim Channel
To: [email protected]; CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) Cc: Tim Channel
Subject: Opposed to Charter Amendments and Other Comments Date: Tuesday, January 16, 2024 7:54:56 AM
I am a 34 year resident and homeowner in Huntington Beach.
First I’d like to congratulate the City Council majority on the establishment of Founder’s Legacy Month. This is going to make everyone’s life so much better. \s
Well, you did accomplish something. I think the House of Representatives may have followed your leadership by agreeing with the establishment of a new lapel pin recently. Job well done.
In seriousness though:
What is the purpose of rushing Charter Amendments A, B & C to the primary election ballot at a huge cost to tax-payers? I strongly oppose this.
Why does this council continue to waste our tax dollars on non-problems? Is it to make a name for yourselves in the news? Someone recently forwarded me an article from the Guardian U.K. about our book banning. It has become an international embarrassment.
Why are we messing around with city services like libraries, beach bathrooms, park patrols, homeless solutions, and business building? Is it so we can pay for fighting our own state as in:
CITY ATTORNEY'S REPORT
24-042 Update on the status, post-judgment, of the City’s lawsuit in State Court - City of Huntington Beach v. State Department of Finance involving Redevelopment Reimbursements
24-043 Update on the status involving the City’s Appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals - City of Huntington Beach v. State of California involving the City’s challenge to the State RHNA mandates
OR is it so we can pay for secret lawsuit settlements such as Code Four? Or both? I know the City Council majority only pretends to listen to the public speakers but I urge them do the right thing for a change and cut out the obvious grandstanding and trying to outdo each other in who can divide our community the most.
It is simply shameful.
From: Tim Channel
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF); [email protected] Cc: Tim Channel
Subject: Opposed to Charter Amendments and Other Comments Date: Tuesday, January 16, 2024 7:59:32 AM
I am a 34 year resident and homeowner in Huntington Beach.
First I’d like to congratulate the City Council majority on the establishment of Founder’s Legacy Month. This is going to make everyone’s life so much better. \s
Well, you did accomplish something. I think the House of Representatives may have followed your leadership by agreeing with the establishment of a new lapel pin recently. Job well done.
In seriousness though:
What is the purpose of rushing Charter Amendments A, B & C to the primary election ballot at a huge cost to tax-payers? I strongly oppose this.
Why does this council continue to waste our tax dollars on non-problems? Is it to make a name for yourselves in the news? Someone recently forwarded me an article from the Guardian U.K. about our book banning. It has become an international embarrassment.
Why are we messing around with city services like libraries, beach bathrooms, park patrols, homeless solutions, and business building? Is it so we can pay for fighting our own state as in:
CITY ATTORNEY'S REPORT
24-042 Update on the status, post-judgment, of the City’s lawsuit in State Court - City of Huntington Beach v. State Department of Finance involving Redevelopment Reimbursements
24-043 Update on the status involving the City’s Appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals - City of Huntington Beach v. State of California involving the City’s challenge to the State RHNA mandates
OR is it so we can pay for secret lawsuit settlements such as Code Four? Or both? I know the City Council majority only pretends to listen to the public speakers but I urge them do the right thing for a change and cut out the obvious grandstanding and trying to outdo each other in who can divide our community the most.
It is simply shameful.
Tim Channel
Huntington Beach
From: Fikes, Cathy
To: Agenda Alerts
Subject: FW: Public Comment Items 5, 6, 12, 22, Tuesday, January 16, 2024 Date: Friday, January 12, 2024 9:35:00 AM
From: qw <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2024 9:31 PM
To: CITY COUNCIL (INCL. CMO STAFF) <[email protected]> Subject: Public Comment Items 5, 6, 12, 22, Tuesday, January 16, 2024
Good Evening City Council,
Ben Pickens here, longtime Huntington
Beach, California, United States, resident &
citizen
Item 5 - To vouch for, the Huntington Beach
Interfaith Council has walked the line & I'd
like to see them able to be invited to give
invocation at the city council at their free
will. Everyone, believe it or not, has different
religious & philosophical beliefs that they
manage to not change the 1st amendment
with. This quasi-law is
an unconstitutional show of force & is
preferentially not in accordance with not
respecting or not prohibiting in the 1st
amendment by limiting the prayer to be from
a designated-ly preferred religious leader or a
police chaplain only from this city.
Item 6 - CITY MANAGER'S REPORT; I support
finding a qualified city manager who has the
time & resources to thoroughly manage the
city in the city manager employment. There
are plenty of qualified & unbiased city
manager recruits in the college system who
have studied in hopes of this rewarding job
position. Not having a dedicated city
manager to manage the city, its finances &
correlating to all standard procedures is
unacceptable. The City of Denver has
executive directors & the City of San
Francisco has a city administrator & both do
their jobs well.
What you might not be thinking about is that
folks are unwilling to participate in an array
of extremely important matters in a city
council with a mayor who demonstrates bad
leadership. A simple, important suggestion I
can provide is a math, science & intergalactic
technology convention in Huntington Beach
& a large, state of the art convention hall.
Item 12 - Community & Library Services -
Thus far, I'm impressed with the new math
building design at Golden West College & a
aforementioned design compared to other
designs & I applaud the city council efforts to
likewise find a list of qualified professionals
for the design review board of major
projects.
The city has a history of having some very
bad math & chemistry teachers who were
rebuked for their lack of education & effort &
these schools also shut down undoubtedly
because of this. An identifiable system of
unqualified teachers is a coercion of
developing students. This shouldn't be a
thing & ergo I have a longtime suggestion of
reforming the school board. I don't think the
school board meetings have a history of
doing their jobs correctly for students.
Item 22 - I support Item 22 Expedited Plan
Check for Development - Not being able to
clearly apply for commercial business
development with the City of Huntington
Beach & a commercial license with the
county, all the way in downtown Santa Ana,
in a timely fashion is a major problem that
I've experienced myself & this is
unacceptable for the professional business
community. Economic development is a
sound initiative. Interesting fact; New York
City also features Gordon Ramsay's Fish &
Chips, Zazzy's Pizza, Imperial Steakhouse,
Gallagher's Steakhouse, Crab House, The Jolly
Goat Coffee Bar, 99 Flavor Taste, Deli 52 & a
very extensive undergarment & shoe
selection. I'd like to see these types of
establishments in uptown Huntington Beach
& I think the very limited commercial
selection in uptown Huntington Beach is still
not up to par & not fair to the good legacy of
the city.
Not getting involved in the opinions of really
bad music artists, Heil Avenue is divisively
reminiscent of the evil "heil Hitler" phrase &
living in hell. I humbly suggest renaming Heil
Avenue to something like Candy or
Süßigkeiten Avenue to stop the confusion.
I'd also like to suggest a statue of Harrison
Ford & other iconic folks in this fine city.
And not getting involved in any political
connotations in the city council, I want to
clearly thank Councilman Kalmick &
Councilwoman Moser for their scrupulous
leadership & decision making in this city.
Standing up to Putin & other totalitarians,
dictators & tyrants -
"Hit hard, hit fast and hit often." ~ Admiral
William Halsey
"The hard part about playing chicken is
knowing when to flinch." ~ Captain Bart
Mancuso USS Dallas, The Hunt for Red
October
From Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Q-ship: an armed ship disguised as a
merchant or fishing ship to decoy enemy
submarines into gun range
Sometimes folks have to sit in the corner but
life goes on.
“You are an aperture through which the
universe is looking at and exploring itself.”
~ Alan Watts
“*Only if you reject all the other paths can
you discover your own path.”
~ U.G. Krishnamurti, Mind Is a Myth
"The imagination is the golden pathway to
everywhere." ~ Terence McKenna
Thank you & Sincerely ~ Ben Pickens