EL SEGUNDO HERALD July 30, 2015 Page 15 Letters from page 3 Film from page 4 El Segundo Roty Club Presents SSAATTUURRDDAAYY,, AAUUGGUUSSTT 11 Gates Open 4pm • Movie Starts at Dusk Giant Movie Screen • Entertainment • Train Rides • Moon Bounce Face Painting • Food & Drinks • Kettle Popcorn Please support our non-profit vendors for your refreshments! At Chevron Park, El Segundo - corner of El Segundo & Sepulveda Blvd. Admission: $4 (kids 2 and under are free) bring blankets & beach chair - no high-back chairs - no drop-offs permitted - no pets Tickets available now at Industrial Lock & Security, Big-5 El Segundo & the El Segundo Chamber of Commerce. For more information contact: information@movieinthepark.info. Or visit: www.movieinthepark.info Like us on Facebook! Supervisor Don Knabe County of Los Angeles |Fourth District Bonilla Family • El Segundo Firefighters Association • El Segundo Police Officers Association • Shiela Fowler, Shorewood Realtors • The Lakes at El Segundo Dr. Michele A. Rogers • Bill Ruane • SAGA • Seligman Wealth Management • SJM • Kevin Smith, Fire Chief, El Segundo Fire Dept. 1-800-GOT-JUNK? ® THE WORLD’S LARGEST JUNK REMOVAL SERVICE No Outside Alcohol Permitted Beer & wine for sale at event. Dress Up in Your Frozen Costume for our Costume Parade! McDonald's INDUSTRIAL LOCK & SECURITY The Reimann Law Group Good Ideas. Good Work. Solving Problems. EL SEGUNDO POWER LLC A Fun Outdr Family Event! Firefighter and police managers received the following pay raises during the Great Recession, to avoid “salary compaction”, approved by City Council on 12/2/08 in Consent Agenda item E8: Fire Battalion Chiefs, 16.9%; Deputy Fire Chief, 14.9%; Fire Chief, 32.3%; and Police Chief, 23%. Facts are stubborn things. – Mike Robbins Disappointed in City Council I am extremely disappointed in City Council’s lack of concern for our community that was demonstrated when they voted to pass the Richmond Street project on the 300 block. Our elected officials’ top priority should be for the safety of our streets and children, not how many parking spaces they can squeeze into one block. The Council seemed to come to the meeting with their minds already made up. Other alternatives could have been explored, but none were. Instead, they chose to change the 300 block of Richmond Street to diagonal parking and widen the street. They could have voted to repair the damaged sidewalks and make them ADA compliant without adding diagonal parking or widening the street. They could have voted to only take back one foot of land from St. Michael’s to make the sidewalk ADA compliant. Instead, they voted to take six feet away just because they can. Compelling data was shown that diagonal parking has an increased risk over parallel parking. In fact, there were two accidents on the 300 block within two weeks of installing the previous diagonal parking. But Council chose to ignore this fact. Council already voted last year to change the 300 block back to parallel parking when diagonal parking was installed citing safety concerns and negative feedback from the community. So now the same design is somehow safe and functional? The city should spend its money on projects that actually solve a problem instead of creating new ones. – Amber Terins Not Once, But Twice Marc Rener’s letter to the Editor on July 16 is 100% correct! “Something has to change now.” As property owners and taxpayers we should not be billed twice for the same service. And to charge $1,853.75 to transport a person 5.3 miles is nothing short of filthy Al Capone gangsterism! It seems to me the El Segundo Fire Department has a vulture mentality - they lay around like buzzards, until someone needs help, then take advantage of the situation and pounce on the poor victim’s bank account like a deranged vulture adn then claim “that’s our policy.” Just who invented that policy? Who is responsible for that policy that whack El Segundo taxpayers in the wallet not once, but twice for the same thing? – George Hoopes Op-Eds are Opinions Op-Ed pieces are just that “opinions”. This weeks El Segundo Herald has one that confuses me - perhaps the writer needs to remember. 1. Sports are optional not a right- choose a program, team, organization that suits you and your schedule, accommodates other activities, finances and talent level. If you don’t like the rules, don’t play for that team. 2. Teams are not individual endeavors they are about the group as a whole - no travel/high school or rec team is comprised of all “top-tier” players (except maybe in their parent’s view). 3. The vast majority of those who play sports will not become professional - most player’s dreams will be crushed at some point. 4. Coaches/ leagues do not implement rules to discourage their players from reaching goals - they do it for the integrity and safety of the sport, player and team as a whole. In the words of Mike Kryzewski “In any organization, trust must be developed among every member of the team if success is going to be achieved” When trust is broken by a player any good manager/coach/ program will invoke consequences - that is the only way he/she can maintain their leadership. And that’s my opinion. – Nancy Bell Believes in Choices I was a bit surprised by the commotion relating to my article “Making unreasonable demands of gifted players”. The point was that high school student-athletes (your kids) deserve choices and I don’t support high school programs that punish their players for participating in club baseball activities after the High School season ends. It happens every day to kids in communities all over the Country. Kids deserve choices and punishing or shaming a kid for electing to also play in club sports in the off season is wrong. Our record for supporting the community demonstrates our commitment to the kids better then I can say here and we will continue all such support. We absolutely do not believe that kids should opt out of little league for club play and we have never encouraged anyone to do that. We just believe that high school age kids should have choices and options and should not be told they must play exclusively for the one organization sanctioned by the local high school or be punished by being benched or prohibited playtime in High School. The article was not meant as an attack on any particular high school program or coach. – Richard Murad Can’t Two Co-exist? As a twenty year baseball coach at all levels of El Segundo baseball through Little League, Babe Ruth, High School, and American Legion, I strongly disagree with Mr. Murad’s assertion that current high school programs “hold back” top tier players. El Segundo has developed and produced literally hundreds of college level players and over fifty that have played pro without the “help” of the emerging “academies” or travel teams Mr. Murad should know that the CIF and City high school teams do play a rigorous winter schedule that supplements the regular season with the express purpose of identifying and developing high potential players. My biggest concerns with the “academy and travel ball mentality” are first raising expectations by the for-profit organizations of parents and players that have no serious chance making it to the college level let alone getting a scholarship, and second the creation of an “elite” mentality in participants. I personally witnessed this during my time with the high school and American Legion Programs. These for-profit organizations have their place and contribution to player development but I would argue not at the expense of the local community leagues. I see no reason why the two cannot co-exist without interference. – Dick Croxall • everyone expresses for how things unfolded is powerful. Looking back, we can spot so many chances for her to turn her life around, if only there was someone strong enough to tell her “No.” How could no one have prevented this? The signs were there all along, as clear as they could be. Of course this is all in hindsight, which makes watching her rise and fall in the public eye all the more disturbing. The reaction in the screening room was unlike anything I have experienced before. I lost count of the number of audible gasps coming from the people around me. The older man sitting next to me was discretely trying to wipe tears from his eyes, but his uncontrollable sniffing gave him away. The room literally shook when she sang, but you could hear a pin drop when she stopped. Fans of the singer or not, it would be hard to leave the theatre without being emotionally moved and distraught when thinking about what could have been. Amy Winehouse is a once-in-a-generation talent, and this documentary confirms it. The film runs over two hours, but I would have gladly sat for longer. A majority of her music is autobiographical, and after understanding the context of her lyrics and what went on behind the scenes, it will be hard to listen to her songs in the same way. What were once fun radio hits and karaoke choices, “Rehab” and “Back To Black” are just some of the songs that are heartbreaking for me to hear now. However, for as heavy-handed as this film comes across, we are left remembering a brilliant artist. It’s been a little over 4 years since her untimely death at the age of 27, but with each passing year her musical legacy only continues to grow stronger. Amy is now playing at the ArcLight Beach Cities and other select theaters. •
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