Pier Pressure in Surf City

Comment on Pier Pressure in Surf City - Story by Jaimee Lynn Fletcher August 16, 2009 OC Register.

There's a new twist. Surfers looking for legal restrictions. Do we really want more regulation?

Great article and informative. As a surfer, scuba diver, and occasional fisherman, I especially appreciated the inclusion of Marine Biologist Camm Swift's accurate information regarding the types of fish in each of the areas of the pier.

There is a danger with hooks in the water to surfers. I'm always concerned about some angry fool trying to hook me as I paddle out or take a wave next to the pier or accidentally getting caught in a line I can't see.

I understand Stephen Stemmers anger at being followed, and I believe the fisherman should be punished for his aggression. I also believe the 'aggro surf-local posers' should be punished for their aggression to other surfers as well.

The real problem is not regulation. The real problem is aggressive behavior and a lack of empathy by a very few individuals on both sides.

Black Balling the beach was the regulatory solution to inconsiderate surfers who refused to wear leashes and watch out for swimmers. So now plenty of 'choice' waves go unridden even if swimmers aren't in the water.

Do we really want regulation to be applied to fishing and the pier? Restricting the fisherman to the outer section won't solve the problem on those rare epic days when it's breaking way outside and the only path out is through the pier. Who's to say how long a line they fish with? It will be even more dangerous when they feed their line to the surf zone without being within eyesight of it. And regulation may just backfire: The regulation may just be 'no surfing' near the pier.

A better solution is to enforce the laws in effect regarding aggressive behavior and leave specific regulation regarding the pier and fishing alone.

Surf City needs to clean up it's Thinking

Sunday August 16, Orange County Register - Surf City seeks to clean up party image. According to the article the city council plans to clean up the party like image of Huntington Beach. They are going to slap heftier fines on downtown restaurants that violate their entertainment permits and make certain residential areas permit-parking only. It states several on the council members claim to have already calmed down the area.

I'd like to know what planet these council members are on. First of all it's not the restaurants as much as the bars (that serve food): Hurricane's is right up there with the Chop House in creating the problem.

Not only do the noise, the bottles, the nuisances still rage, the council invites them in by inviting in special events that attract that crowd. It's not about the residents, it's about the money, and when it's all added up its the same short term thinking the council has used so often: the costs far outweigh the benefits to the city and the residents.

Not only will the problems continue, but with the plans to add more buildings, higher buildings, and remove parks, they are just exacerbating the crowd effect. Like rats in a cage, there is a breaking point where violence becomes the norm versus the exception.

Vision is required to look beyond the short term myopic fix. Huntington Beach is in a unique position to put into effect a master plan that protects open space and creates a sustainable environment that will raise the profits of the business they want to attract to this town.

For this to happen though, the council members have to re-enter the atmosphere that is called Huntington Beach.

The Inevitable

The US auto industry tried to control the market. They interfered with public transportation initiatives (Los Angeles and urban rail). They sacrificed safety, innovation, quality, and customer service to increase profits (NTMVSA, 1966). They used the courtrooms to steal ideas and put innovative auto companies out of business (Preston Tucker & Robert Kearns).

These executives, lauded and compensated in the short run (100 years), destroyed their companies in the long run (present day). Toyota is number one and Hyundai / KIA is number four and moving on number three. GM is now second and Ford is fifth and both are losing ground. With the way they operated, this is their legacy and this result inevitable.

Drive Thru's and The End of the World

Will Drive-Thru’s be the end of the world? Well, maybe.

The City of Los Angeles voted to lift a ban on drive-thru this week. The ban was in place because of the congestion it caused on the streets. The vote to lift the ban was because drive-thru operations bring in lots of revenue and the city needs revenue.

Leadership is about guiding an organization to a better place. Unfortunately, throughout the world (and the United States) leadership is failing because they have become shortsighted and the new vote is just one example.

The real drive behind the original ban was to stop the growth of unhealthy fast-food restaurants in areas of LA. The bill only passed because of the argument about traffic congestion.

In lifting the ban, not only is leadership ignoring the health consequences (come on down, unhealthy fast food), intelligence consequences (new studies show smog reduces IQ in children), environmental consequences (smog, gas, CO2 levels), and the traffic consequences (accidents, death, time delays). And why, because the shine of money today carries more weight than the costs that come three months later.
Will this vote end the world? Not likely, but the path is leading down a dark road toward a cliff.

A real 4th of July

In 1864, you could shake the president's hand. Since 1964, the president has been behind Plexiglas: sometimes it's real Plexiglas, sometimes it's political Plexiglas, sometimes it's donor Plexiglas.

On this July 4th, a day of declared independence and revolution, think of the Internet and twitter as your opportunity to break through the Plexiglas. Think of the facts that are devoid of politics and being re-elected: health care issues which lead to debt issues, which lead to IRS issues, which lead to freedom issues.

Ask - no demand - that our leaders quit being politicians and do their job. If they don't, let them know they will be removed from office. The Internet, Facebook, twitter, etc. - they change everything. No longer do you need millions of dollars to be heard and our elected leaders are about to find out leadership no longer needs to be elected!!!!!!!! We can change the world - and we need to realize it is up to us - because our leaders are politicians first and leaders of the greatest democracy in the free world second.

Call for Revolution

Change, change, change. All the politicians talk about change. Talk, talk, talk. They only tweak here and nudge there.

We don't need change. We need a revolution!

The State of California is a consumer state: Consume electricity, consume water, consume gas, etc. Homes are built with twigs and stucco and poorly insulated.

I call for a revolution! California needs to be turned on its head and become a self-sustaining state. The following are just a few ideas that could be implemented immediately.

Homes should be built to not require any heat in the winter or cooling in the summer. Electrical outlets should be smart or at least have power on/off switches to cut the waste to plugged in electronics.

We need to change the mentality of consume to conserve. Our water, power, and open space infrastructures are heading for disaster within the next decade.

For example, in Huntington Beach, they are building up the downtown and planning how to build it even more. All their plans are built around more consumption, even as the city struggles to balance the books. Even as Pacific City languishes before their eyes and could even fall into bankruptcy, the city plans on creating more overhead and maintenance.

And what will more buildings bring?: more trash, more crime, more cost. The wind blows nearly everyday and could generate enough electricity to sustain the entire public system, yet the city puts its money into intersection cameras to generate revenue.

With more buildings, Huntington Beach will become just another city with very little that makes it unique or special. If they focused on more open space and connecting parks with paths filled with trees and life, they would indeed create something special. These parks could be designed with self-sustainment in mind and be used to create a revolution in the way all of the United States operates (or at least just the state).

I don’t usually buy fish in the market and I’m a HUGE fan of Commercial Fishing

As a diver, I hunt my own game when I want fish – spoils of the hunt and all that.

So why am I a huge fan of commercial fishing? Because commercial fishing will be extinct by 2048, unless we do something about the way we handle our environment.

In a report, http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2006-11-02-overfishing-threat_x.htm , done by 14 ecologists and economists, analyzing fish populations for 4 years prior determined that by 2048 ninety percent of the fish and shellfish species that are hauled out of the ocean will be gone! Twenty-nine percent of the fish species have already collapsed (meaning no longer generating sustaining populations). The trend is clear and accelerating.

The plummet in fish populations isn’t just from commercial fishing, it’s from coastal area destruction, dredging of reefs and estuaries, and pollution. If the trend is going to be reversed, it will take cooperation from everyone.

I’m a fan of commercial fishing because I believe that 39 years is within their reality ‘vision’ and since they have the most to lose, might possibly fight the hardest to reverse the trend as soon as possible.

Strange Visitor from another Planet.

Meetings, meetings, and more bloody meetings.

No. It's not corporate America having meetings, meetings, and more meetings. They're on a diet...

Faster than a stimulus package. More powerful than a bank stress test. Able to create debt with a single pen stroke.

Funnier than an HBO comedy special. It's government. It's Congress. It's the White House!

Yes, it's President Obama, first President of Color, who came to this office with a vision far beyond those of other candidates. Obama, who can change the course of the country, bend the economy with his bare hands; and who disguised as President, government rethinker and speaker to greater metropolitan newspapers, fights a never ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way...

If you have any funny in you at all, you've got to admit President Obama rocked at The White House Correspondents' Dinner the other night. He even pushed the envelope with the material, and without jeopardizing the office.

Here's the only issue I have: He still hasn't cleared the path for corporate America to meet freely, yet it must have taken 99 meetings to put that dinner together. There were planning meetings, site inspections, meetings with writers, secret service meetings, meetings to change seating arrangements (couldn't you just tell that Demi Moore pushed to be at that table in that seat).

Meetings are good! That meeting was valuable. Wanda Sykes was an asset, and no, you can't calculate the ROI she brings, and trying too has contributed to why corporate meetings are in the mess they're in now!

All I'd like to see is the gloves taken off for corporate America - just a word of support given by President Obama - so they can get back to the focus of meetings and off of the focus on meeting.

And in case you weren't sure and needed clarification, The Washington Hilton isn't a budget hotel! Some might even describe it as a luxury property. And no, a sleeveless First Lady, doesn't save enough to justify it.


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Now is the time for ...CVB's to act. Now is the time for Leadership!

Leadership is a word thrown around easily. The fact is leadership is tough. Leadership is being the first to move into an unknown area, doing something never done before, and taking a chance because all the data shows it's the right thing to do. Leadership is taking a solid step forward in a sea of conflicting opinions.

Government is suppose to do the things private enterprise can't or shouldn't, and national government is suppose to do the things state government can't or shouldn't, and so on down the line.

Alexander Hamilton realized the best way to bond the states was by assuming state debts as part of the U.S. Congress. Abraham Lincoln realized that expenditures for growth, even during an expensive civil war, with Pacific Railway Act of 1862 to aid construction of the railroad, telegraph and postal routes from Missouri to the Pacific was the right thing to do. FDR understood the necessity for governments role, even after a misstep with the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, with his New Deal during the depression, as does President Obama with his stimulus package.

In the meeting and travel world, CVB's (City Convention and Visitor Bureaus) should be proactive right now. They should be investing in their marketing, sales, and operations. They should be using their inventory to bring in new business at their expense!

So why aren't they? Because they are caught in a political squeeze between spending money to support their members during a time when their main source of funding (hotel revenues) is dramatically reduced. This means standing up in front of city council and demanding to run an aggressive costly campaign that could (or will) put them in the red. This means putting their very political job on the line because it's the right thing to do.

And why should they do this? Because for a city, this economy isn't just affecting 2009, it's affecting 2010 and 2011 even more. If they play it safe, they will lose millions of dollars for their cities, cost hundreds of jobs, and put private enterprise further behind.

Which CVB leaders are willing to make the right call and make the investments necessary for their cities? Who knows?

For most, it's why even try, because city council, who are interested in their positions as well, will just reject it.

The one good thing about this is - the leaders will identify themselves. In times of crisis, leaders ask for the unreasonable and find a way to get it.

We don't need Meetings

Kerry and Obama wants to criminalize meetings?! Well, not quite. They are coming down hard on the meetings of companies that have received government assistance and sent a very chilling message to the rest of corporate and organizational America.

Do you have any idea how much it costs tax payers for the President of the United States to visit a foreign country? Now multiply that by 10 to visit a country with fighting in the streets. Just to run Airforce One is about $75,000 / hour (annual budget of Air Force One Air Wing is classified). Add in the transportation of his limo, the press, the Secret Service advance teams, security, etc, and his stop over in Iraq was conservatively $15 million.

$15 Million for two people to meet for a couple of hours, and they are on AIG's case for a sales reward for people that did a good job at what they were hired to do.

Why didn't he just pick up the phone and call?

Because it's not the same, and if the President of the United States feels it is a good thing to have a meeting, then by all means have it! Just get off the backs of the rest of the industry for making similar decisions for their organizations.

From the mouth of babes....

My mother, a teacher, was cleaning out papers and had the following in a file marked 'Suggestions for Teachers'. I thought the current political leaders should take note:

• Don't give me everything I ask for. Sometimes, I am just testing to see how much I can get.
• Don't keep changing your mind. Make up your mind and stick to it.
• Let me do as much as I can for myself. That's how I learn. If you do everything for me, I will never be able to do anything for myself.
• Don't tell lies in front of me or ask me to tell lies about you. It makes me feel bad.

What? Nothings happened yet after billions?

Patience - the capacity or habit of being patient.

We are an immediate gratification culture in many ways. Why should we be different in waiting for recovery?

Use this time to adapt to change, renew friendships, and prepare for the new world.

Tough Act to Follow, yet Gov. Jindal Makes Great Point

You have to give it to Governor Bobby Jindal and the Republican party. Americans are looking for a strong direction, and it's got to be tough to keep the dual party system full frontal in the face of the current economy. How do you follow an American President, giving an American Message, to the American Public?

Governor Jindal made some great points. Auto and oil companies should be the guiding forces to a cleaner environment and big government always makes mistakes. Banks and financial markets should be the guiding force to the economy - after all we are a free market.

I just have one question for Governor Jindal: What are these companies still waiting for?

If you can't lead, and you won't follow, then get the hell out of the way! That's the America I love. It's built on innovation and competitiveness. Congress members that can't get off their seat know this, the American public has their point man!

Attorney General Eric Holden calls 'a spade a spade'.

Attorney general Eric Holden used word choice to get attention. ‘Coward’ is powerful and negative choice from the platform. He could have used the words weak, timid, fragile, uncommitted, which would have conveyed similar sentiments about his opinions. Words have an impact and given the current situation the United States is in economically and politically, his choice had an edge that ruffled some feathers. Just as my choice for the ‘lead’ might have hit a nerve.

Although the term, calling a spade a spade ‘is thousands of years old and the etymologically has nothing whatsoever to do with any racial sentiment’ (Random House), it has become a sensitive statement that can be misinterpreted.

Only time will tell if Mr. Holden’s word choice achieves the result he desires. You’ve got to give the new presidential and administration kudos for understanding buzz. By using the words ‘a nation of cowards’, Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. achieved a result – discussion on race, which was the entire point. The shock appeal to the media has him getting press in the Washington Post six days after his comments.

On February 21, 2009, The Washington Post commented on the heated discussion still continuing. They mentioned the fact that a call for this discussion has been brought up before, by President Clinton in 1997, and it died. I’m sure that this fact was not lost on Mr. Holder as he prepared his speech.

It you want something changed it requires a great deal of attention. By calling a ‘spade a spade*’, he got that attention. I wish to believe that he made a good choice and his timing is right for open discussion, and I hope you believe I made a good choice in my lead to get a moment of your time to further this discussion.

Stanford's wherabouts unknown and smoker wins lawsuite

Source USA Today - February 19 - 1B: Federal regulators can't find billionaire banker R. Allen Stanford charged with a "massive" $8 billion international financial fraud. - Try an ATM!

3A - A Fort Lauderdale jury ordered Philip Morris to pay $8 million in damages to the widow of a smoker who died of lung cancer that could set a standard for 8,000 other Florida lawsuits. Should we sue smokers for a piece of their winnings as a result of forcing 2nd hand smoke on us?

Power and the Presidency

I get the point about the cost of the Presidential Helicopter. I don't care. I want my President to be presidential!

Ronald Reagan understood the image of power: He was always shown waving and walking to or from the helicopter. Jimmy Carter didn't: He carried his own bags.

Obama carried his own bags during his campaign. I think it hurt him a little. I don't want him to make the same mistake as President. It's a tough job and I want to know he's pampered with helicopters, trips to Camp David, and frequent short get-aways once he's settled in.

They said Jimmy Carter was our smartest president. I think Obama may be the new standard. He's going to make mistakes (that AIG comment during the campaign was a big one). I just hope he follows his mistake with a very presidential helicopter ride.

Why isn't the financial sector supporting the governments efforts?

You can do an FHA Streamline refinance without a credit, income, or valuation check. This gives some borrowers immediate relief by lowering interest rates for existing FHA loans.

The problem is the lenders are adding requirements in addition to the FHA requirements. Lenders are requiring credit checks and appraisals which could eliminate 80% of those that would otherwise be able to refinance. Doesn't make much sense for the current situation.