CORRESPONDENCE

It would seem to me that periodically the merchants in your Downtown

area would arrange to wash sidewalks in front of their businesses.

Coming from a small Michigan community, we made arrangements with the

local fire department to hose the sidewalks down. It’s almost disgusting

to see the caked-on filth.

ELLEN CARLSON

Huntington Beach

Stepping stones to fiscal sanity?

One has to wonder if the city of Huntington Beach will ever attain

fiscal sanity. Awhile back, they spent seemingly hundreds of hours

arguing about sign ordinances. Among other ridiculous nonissues, they had

the brainchild that we need an art form at the intersection of Beach

Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway to let visitors know they have

reached our city.

Anyone with an ounce of common sense and a driver’s license can

ascertain this when Beach Boulevard ends at the water.

First it was “Surf Henge� with huge stone surfboard replicas. Dumb.

Then it was huge stone replicas of dead whale bones (Mammal Henge),

complete with recorded ocean sounds, at a cost of tens of thousands of

taxpayer dollars.

Obviously, this was probably the City Council’s most embarrassing

proposal in recent times. Now they are back with the “Surf Henge�

boondoggle. Dumb and dumber if you ask me.

It is truly sad that they can’t come up with important decisions, such

as planning infrastructure costs without further soaking the taxpayers,

and stop piddling around with ceramic sea gull art and unneeded or

unwanted “Stone Henge� mockery, inviting graffiti and vandalism. That

would certainly welcome visitors.

I would like to suggest a compromise. At the intersection of Beach

Boulevard and PCH, a life-size stone replica of Mayor Dave Garofalo with

tears in his eyes. That would surely cost the taxpayers much less and

would better depict our current political posture.

When the dust settles, we might rightly call it “Conflict Henge.� And

if it were vandalized, who would care?

JAMES H. BRIDGES

Huntington Beach