BLUE FOLDER ITEM
Blue folder items are additional back up material to administrative reports and/or public comments received after the printing and distribution of the agenda packet for receive and file.
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
AUGUST 8, 2023
J.1 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS
PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS
From: Mark Nelson (Home Gmail)
To: [email protected]; [email protected]
Cc: Communications; info; Jane Diehl; Martha Koo; Michelle Bholat; Noel Chun; Vanessa I. Poster; CityClerk; [email protected]
Subject: Comment on "Impact of an Elementary School-Based Wellness Initiative on Child Obesity Prevalence: LiveWell Kids"
Date: Wednesday, August 2, 2023 10:27:15 PM
Attachments: image.png
CAUTION: Email is from an external source; Stop, Look, and Think before opening attachments or links.
To: Dr. Kathleen Roe, Editor of Health Promotions Practices Christian Palacios, Lead Author
Dear Dr. Roe and Mr. Palacios:
I received a review draft of a submission from Mr. Palacios to Dr. Roe's journal via a California Public Records Request. As an expert witness in economic statistics, I reviewed the article and found at least 2 significant issues that require remediation in my expert opinion. First, the lack of a control group moots the very objective of the study to assess the "independent impact" of the BCHD program. Second, the study recognizes the importance of economics in obesity, yet, the study ignored the significant change in Redondo Beach's economic profile during the study time period. At this stage, I believe as a nearly 40 year expert witness that this paper requires significant revision including measure of economic shift throughout the time-series dataset analysis.
Additional detail on the issues is below.
Statement of Authors (page 2 of manuscript) "The
objective of our study was to assess trends in the
prevalence of child obesity in the RBUSD elementary
school student population following implementation of the LiveWell Kids initiative and to assess the independent
impact of the initiative."
Expert Witness Comment
BCHD failed to provide for a control group, and as such, the "independent impact" of the BCHD program cannot be assessed. The inference in the article is notional at best, and moreover, ignores every other potential explanatory factor as it seeks the answer that the BCHD program was the cause of the reduced levels of obesity. While trends can be assessed, there is no possible method available to assess causality of the BCHD program. As we all long been reminded in our research, correlation is not causality.
Statement of Authors (page 6 of manuscript)
"Further research is needed to assess the effectiveness of similar interventions in lower income communities."
Expert Witness Comment
It is very interesting that the authors recognize that income/economics are a potentially important factor in health outcomes, yet, the statistical analysis makes no attempt to include the massive upshift in economic well-being of Redondo Beach during the time period. Using readily available US Census ACS data from 2010 and 2019 there is a clear reduction in poverty and increase in high end income in Redondo Beach over the period. This movement is consistent with the substantially lower obesity levels in Beach Cities Health District territory of Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach. The failure to analysis this significant and unique transformation likely yields the entire analysis dangerously flawed. Given this significant change in Redondo Beach's economic profile of income, it is at least as likely that the changes in obesity levels resulted resulted from economics and not from any BCHD intervention.
Mark Nelson
Expert Witness
Redondo Beach, CA
Taxpayer and former volunteer at BCHD
Public Comment: LALAFCO, LA County Board of Supervisors, Redondo Beach City Council From: Mark Nelson (Home Gmail)
To: Communications
Cc: info; [email protected]; [email protected]; Jacki Bacharach; rbpta; [email protected]; CityClerk; CityClerk; Vanessa I. Poster; Jane Diehl; Noel Chun; Martha Koo; Michelle Bholat; [email protected]; Robert W. Lundy
Subject: Public Comment All Agencies: BCHD"s $1.8M Bike Lane Project was out of Construction Permit Compliance until 8/2/23
Date: Wednesday, August 2, 2023 2:27:19 PM
CAUTION: Email is from an external source; Stop, Look, and Think before opening attachments or links.
A few days ago I was notified that BCHD's contractors had been (and actively continue) hauling dirt without using covered trucks. I was provided with video/photos of a rental dump truck filling at the Diamond cu de sac and dumping loads at Flagler/Beryl without covering the loads. Based on the photos I was provided of the Flagler/Beryl lot, it looks like dozens of loads have been dumped.
I notified the City and they promptly took corrective action for the violation with the prime contractor.
One of the many hazards of allowing an inexperienced Health District to construct projects is it's lack of experience or expertise. This was a simple violation that any project owner/sponsor should have taken action on to assure that their project was not a hazard to traffic safety or health from fugitive dust.
It is far less of a problem than BCHD spending $1.8M ($1M direct construction, $0.8M overheads/consultants) on a 400-foot bike lane project that is fully 50% already paved City of Redondo Beach roadway and the related oversight failures of the associated government agencies on the project and Measure M grant.
Mark Nelson