District transfers

https://easyreadernews.com/letters-to-the-editor-4-4-24/

Dear ER:

BCHD’s allcove service area is only 8.5% the district’s residents and taxpayers. The other 91.5% are the non-resident/non-taxpayers of the LA County Health Departments SPA8 area.

BCHD is not planning to charge rent to the 91.5% non-resident allcove for the 30 years of the building’s life. The lot at Beryl and Flagler avenues has a fair market value of over $4 million and a fair market land rent of at least $250,000 per year. Residents of the Beach Cities Health District will be shortchanged $250,000 annually for 30 years.

Mark Nelson

Redondo Beach

Read the reports

https://easyreadernews.com/letters-to-the-editor-4-4-24/

Dear ER

The Beach Cities Health District (BCHD) has created an unnecessary controversy over previously disclosed, state-mandated changes to the General Plan Floor Area Ratio (FAR) in Redondo Beach (“BCHD Campus plan at risk,” ER March 28, 2024). These were presented to the General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) in at least three meetings in 2022.

For the Chair and some members of the GPAC claiming two years later they didn’t know this until last week is ridiculous. At best, it shows some GPAC members didn’t bother to read the agenda materials or attend meetings. The failure to be aware is on them, not on anything nefarious by the City of Redondo Beach. GPAC chair Nick Biro has been and still is a consultant for the BCHD. Does anyone truly believe Biro didn’t inform BCHD what was happening two years ago. 

The bitter truth is post-COVID BCHD realized they cannot secure funding for their project. It’s just too expensive and risky to lenders, even after BCHD gave away most of the ownership to outside entities. 

This latest PR effort appears to be a distraction to cover up for gross mismanagement. To date BCHD has spent over $12 million of taxpayer’s money developing this project and no lender appears to want any part of it. BCHD management and the District’s elected Board are frantically scrambling to find a scapegoat to keep their jobs. Time to blame the City of Redondo Beach.

Jessica Gonzales

Redondo Beach

Tear down that wall

https://easyreadernews.com/letters-to-the-editor-8-17-23/

Dear ER, As a Redondo Beach resident, I would like to applaud the City Of Torrance for hearing its residents, and not approving the bike path located at the end of Diamond Street. Diamond Street is a quiet, dead end street with a minimum amount of traffic. The obvious result of this half completed Beach Cities Health District project is an increase in traffic. The project was started without the approval of the Diamond Street residents. The building of a six-foot high wall is not in the rendering. The bike path will change from a wider path to a narrow path, which may prove to be a hazard for the bike riders. Some of the questions on Redondo Beach residents’ minds include why a six foot high concrete wall was built on BCHD property if it is not a part of the bike lane, and why was the project funded before getting the approval of the City of Torrance? Sincerely, Philip de Wolff #bchd #bikepathtonowhere