Tag Archives: April 2016 El Segundo General Municipal Election

No more Tantrums and Disrespect – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Sue Capo

Posted on March 31, 2016 by Mike

No more Tantrums and Disrespect

Voters, now is our chance to remove the two rude, mean-spirited Council members and get five professionals to represent us.

Imagine council meetings where Dave Atkinson doesn’t storm off the dais using curse words when he doesn’t get his way. Or a meeting where Marie Fellhauer and Dave don’t roll their eyes and tell speakers they are wrong, or liars, during public comments. Seriously, would you let your kids behave that way?

Let’s not forget the time Dave and Marie ambushed Mike Dugan during his campaign event at the Moose Lodge two years ago. This behavior wouldn’t be accepted at El Segundo Middle School.

Time to be an example and tell our children why candidates’ character counts.

I know who I won’t be voting for.

– Sue Capo

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No on Measure B – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Jerry Wellfonder

Posted on March 31, 2016 by Mike

No on Measure B

Read the Argument Against Measure B and Rebuttal to the Argument in Favor of Measure B in the Sample Ballot. You can view or download it at the City website, ElSegundo.org.

Vote “No” on Measure B, the Bait-and-Switch tax hike. The City lured hotels here with a Business Attraction Program and lower hotel Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT). Now after the hotels are built, the City is trying to raise their TOT tax by 50%, from 8% to 12%. This tax, paid by customers, will increase room prices and reduce sales. The TOT is only 10% in adjacent Manhattan Beach.

Measure B will destroy El Segundo’s longestablished reputation as a fair and stable business-friendly city. We may ultimately lose more tax revenue than we will gain, by discouraging businesses from coming and expanding here.

The hotel operators, Councilman Mike Dugan, and former Council Members Mike Robbins, Jane Friedkin and Dick Switz all oppose Measure B.

Government must learn to live within its means. This cycle of handing out big pay raises to the safety unions and management, and raising taxes to pay for it, has increased both the funded and unfunded CalPERS pension liabilities. It has got to stop. Each pay raise increases the pension liabilities. El Segundo’s unfunded CalPERS pension liability – about $106,500,000 – must be paid over many years, as employees retire, over their remaining lifetime, which will average about 25 to 35 years per retiree.

Vote “No” on Measure B to stop this vicious cycle.

– Jerry Wellfonder
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Posted in California, Economy and Economics, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo Hotel Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), El Segundo News, El Segundo Tax and Fee Increases, Elections, Firefighter and Police Union Compensation and Pensions, Firefighter Union Corruption, Fraud Waste and Abuse, Government Employee Compensation and Pensions, Letters to the Editor, Police Union Corruption, Political Corruption, Politics, Union Corruption | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on No on Measure B – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Jerry Wellfonder

Too Big and Seriously Ugly – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Marlene Henneberg

Posted on March 31, 2016 by Mike

Too Big and Seriously Ugly

How pleased I was to read Mr. Fisher’s letter to your editor! I have been wondering for years, if there were any rules at all, in this city, regarding the appearance of these humongous houses going up. Not only are they way too big for their lots, but many are seriously ugly. They stick out like sore thumbs in this city.

To claim we need more spec houses is outrageous. That we should not have any control over the appearance of a new house being built leaves me nearly speechless. Councilwoman Fellhauer certainly just lost my vote. Please read Drew Boyles’ statement, which promises to protect El Segundo’s small town charm. Now that is something a 50 year resident can get behind.

– Marlene Henneberg

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Vote Out the Incumbents – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Marianne Fong

Posted on March 24, 2016 by Mike

Vote Out the Incumbents

Now’s our chance to vote-out incumbents Marie Fellhauer and Dave Atkinson. Both of them, and un-elected Mayor Bill Fisher, are the Gang of Three who staged a coup and ousted Carl Jacobson from the mayor position in the middle of his term, without any legitimate reason. It was a disgraceful, unprecedented, destabilizing power-grab to make Fisher mayor to increase his re-election chances, and advance their agenda.

Fellhauer and Atkinson voted for $1,850+ paramedic ambulance hospital transport fees charged to residents and nonresidents, and many big tax and fee increases, including Measure A – eleven tax hikes in one measure, on residents and businesses.

They voted to bring in CenterCal and TopGolf, and change the golf course driving range into a giant sports bar with the driving range as a back-end, rather than keep it family- and kid-friendly.

The driving range lease requires reconfiguration of the golf course in addition to the driving range. It will take considerable land area from the existing golf course to expand the driving range, making the golf course less challenging and less safe.

Fellhauer and Atkinson voted to extend the driving range lease for up to 50 years, at CenterCal’s option, for substantially less money than was determined using Mike Dugan’s research and analysis. Most voters will be dead before the 50-year lease expires.

El Segundo voters voted-out Bill Fisher. Now it’s time to finish the clean-up job and vote-out incumbents Fellhauer and Atkinson. They don’t listen and are not fiscal conservatives.

– Marianne Fong
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Knows Who She’s Not Voting For Council – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Donna Hooper

Posted on March 24, 2016 by Mike

Knows Who She’s Not Voting For Council

A little less than three years ago, Spring 2013, Marie Fellhauer and Dave Atkinson joined with Bill Fisher in the sleaziest operation I have seen in the 48 years I’ve lived in El Segundo. They pushed Carl Jacobson out of his position as mayor in the middle of his term and replaced him with Bill Fisher. This is not the way decent people act and therefore I will not vote for either Marie Fellhauer or Dave Atkinson to continue on the El Segundo City Council.

– Donna Hooper Continue reading →

Posted in California, El Segundo, El Segundo Election Coverage, El Segundo Herald Letters, El Segundo News, Elections, Letters to the Editor, Political Corruption, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Knows Who She’s Not Voting For Council – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Donna Hooper

TOT aka Anti-Visitor Tax? – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Edward Ryan

Posted on March 24, 2016 by Mike

TOT aka Anti-Visitor Tax?

The transient occupancy tax (TOT) might be called the anti-visitor tax and is a nasty although widespread trend. It is now proposed to raise El Segundo’s TOT by 50% with the tired argument that it won’t cost us permanent residents anything, just make those outsiders pay. Of course, we will likely be hit with another city’s TOT, promoted by the same churlish reasoning, whenever we travel. So the net effect is a tax against anyone who doesn’t just sit at home. If surrounding cities have a higher TOT, fine, but we are proud of our safe and pleasant city and should only encourage more travelers to witness it. It is especially true because the proximity of LAX brings many foreign visitors into the neighborhood and they may well leave with a positive opinion of the United States if they experience El Segundo. Probably those visitors patronize our local businesses more than some of our cheapskate residents. And they must pay the high local sales tax. I urge my fellow citizens to reject the proposed increase. Within our city limits is a refinery operated by a corporation one of the world’s ten largest, if not in the top five, with enormous profits; we needn’t cast about for revenue sources.

– Edward Ryan
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Likes Small Town Feel? – Letter to the El Segundo Herald by Charles Fisher

Posted on March 17, 2016 by Mike

Likes Small Town Feel?

I read with some interest the city council discussions in the March 3 issue of El Segundo Herald regarding mansionization and perhaps amending the City’s single family residence code. I confess I am not familiar with the details of the code but support the intent of the code.

Many of the reported comments seem to be from individuals with some financial interest in loosening of the restrictions. Alex Abad seems to feel we are falling behind Manhattan Beach in building “spec homes”. Alex, do we really want El Segundo to look like Manhattan Beach’s tree section with wall-to-wall homes?

Mr Rafiee reportedly said “it’s not about building big homes but useable ones”. However if it has to be big to be useable then it’s o.k.?

Mr. Glynn seems to feel that restricting mansionization would “hamper sensible design plans (can’t a smaller home be designed well?).

As to “damaging property values” how would restricting oversize homes
diminish the value of current homes?

Lastly, Councilwoman Fellhauer, while “government’s job isn’t to tell people what their homes should look like”, it should be o.k. to tell them what it should not look like. One of the many benefits of El Segundo is the “small town feel”. I feel that restricting property line to property line homes contributes to that atmosphere. I hope there will be more voices to support this opinion.

– Charles Fisher

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