CHRIS MACDONALD NEWS FEB.22, 2021

2021 Newsletters

More 2021 Huntington Beach Happenings

Hello Friends,

Ingrid Ono, Assistant to Interim Huntington Beach Police Chief Julian Harvey: Said she has no new Items to mention. The HBPD is pleased to announce the swearing in of four new employees next week. We will welcome:

Community Relations Specialist Hayley Yantorn

Communications Operators Kelsey Williams

Cori Reynolds Lateral officer from Orange PD

Ryan Wills

We are very happy to have them join our HBPD family. Congratulations!

Kirsty Bacon from HB Public Works said: Sunset Beach Waterline Replacement Project: This project consists of the installation of approximately 2,350 linear feet of 6-inch and 12-inch diameter potable water pipelines in Sunset Beach between Anderson Street and Warner within eleven (11) streets and alleys, and one location in downtown Huntington Beach. The pipelines are predominantly located within City right of way; however, at two locations, the new pipelines will connect to an existing 14-inch diameter City-owned water main, located in Pacific Coast Highway within the CALTRANS right of way. This construction activity will likely further degrade the existing pavement condition, therefore, the project will also include asphalt, and concrete surface improvements in the alleys and streets where the water pipeline installations will occur. At four of the alleys, the project will fully replace the pavement. Two of the streets will receive a slurry seal, and one street will be rehabilitated with asphalt grind and cap. This is the third and final water main construction project located within Sunset Beach. The goal of all three water main projects were to replace existing any old asbestos cement pipelines installed in the 1950s and provide better connectivity between the pipelines located in Sunset Beach to the pipeline within Pacific Coast Highway and the Huntington Harbour. The net effect of these projects will increase the connectivity, fire flow, water quality, and reliability of the water system in the area between the Huntington Harbour and the Pacific Ocean. The project was estimated to complete in May 2021, but should finish early in April 2021.

From the desk of Council Member Barbara Delgleize: Hope you and your families had a good President's Day weekend.

At our recent city council meeting on February 16th: Mayor Carr recognized American Heart Month during the month of February 2021. Mayor Carr presented the Mayor's HB Excellence Award to Catherine Lukehart, Homeless Outreach Coordinator, Huntington Beach Police Department. Many thanks to Cathy Lukehart for dedicated and committed service to the City of Huntington Beach over the last six years. Cathy really got our Homeless Task Force off the ground and over the years since she started Cathy has created a real network to help the city solve its homeless problems. Wishing you the very best on your next adventures. Be well and be safe. With Gratitude.

Presentation on the Safe and Sane Fireworks Stand Application and Lottery Process for 2021 …in a future meeting our city clerk Robin Estanislau will bring forward to school who will be viying for a spot. The Mayor accepted the appropriation of $150,000 donation from the Friends of the Huntington Beach Public Library during the fiscal year 2020/21 for use to expand the collection.

Update from City Manager, Oliver Chi.

OVERALL VACCINE PROTOCOLS CONTINUE TO BE REFINED IN ORANGE COUNTY, AS CITY HELPS TO VACCINATE 900 OF OUR MOST VULNERABLE RESIDENTS

During the past week, there have been increasing questions regarding vaccination protocols as new Federal programs start to ramp up distribution channels, and as State guidelines and local health officer decisions create uneven rules across different jurisdictions. To help provide a bit of clarity regarding where we're at, the following overview has been put together for your reference

How many people in Orange County have received the vaccine?

• To date, more than 300K people have been vaccinated in Orange County, meaning that we have ~10% of the population who have had at least 1 vaccine shot.

Who is eligible for the vaccine now, and why can't teachers and food industry workers get the shot here in Orange County?

• The State has opened up eligibility for those that fall into Phase 1B to get the vaccine (education / child care workers, food / agriculture industry workers, and all emergency services workers), however, not all health departments have shifted to allowing the Phase 1B population with access.
• In Orange County, the plan is to open up to Phase 1B when 50% of our 65+ population have received at least 1 dose of the vaccine, which will likely happen in the next 2-3 weeks.
• However, other jurisdictions, such as Long Beach (which has its own health department), have already made the change to allowing Phase 1B eligible individuals to get the vaccine.
• This has created some confusion regarding eligibility requirements, which will continue to persist given the decentralized vaccine distribution processes that currently exist.

What vaccination efforts have the Federal Government engaged here in our region?

• There are two primary Federal Government vaccination efforts that are helping us here in our region.
• The first is that a Federal pharmacy program has been initiated, and the Federal Government will be providing direct allocation of the Moderna vaccine to 21 national pharmacy partners. Right now, however, only CVS and Rite Aid are rolling out the vaccine partnership program, given limited vaccine supplies, however, more will come online in the coming weeks.
• The other Federal Government program that will be opening next Tuesday is the creation of a massive Super POD site at Cal State LA.
•  

 

Amidst all of this vaccine news… here in HB we continue to develop and roll out programs to get our most vulnerable populations vaccinated. As the City Council may recall, this past week, our team worked with our partners at Hoag Hospital and Huntington Beach Hospital to vaccine 900 residents who either live in the Oak View area, or belong to our vulnerable senior population. The events were well coordinated, and we are continuing to work with those that may have access to the vaccine to see if we can obtain additional supplies for future distribution programs.

LATEST UPDATE:

New guidelines regarding COVID-19 vaccination protocols at the Super POD sites in Anaheim and Aliso Viejo! As of February 3, here's what we know:

– Vaccinations will only be administered to those who have SECURED AN APPOINTMENT.
– Please DO NOT ATTEMPT TO WALK-UP to any vaccination or Super POD site – without an appointment.
– There are NO WALK-UP APPOINTMENTS at any of the vaccination PODs or Super PODs.

Be well and be safe… All the best. barbara

From Patrick Brenden, Bolsa Chica Conservancy CEO... DID YOU KNOW? The Adopt-A-Channel program in Orange County is a community stewardship-based program designed to improve the physical appearance of flood control channels and enhance the environment through trash and graffiti removal. The program started in 2011 when the Disneyland Resort reached out to OC Public Works with a desire to adopt a section of the Anaheim-Barber Channel that's located just downstream of their theme park. The Disneyland Resort hired a contractor to regularly remove trash and to paint over graffiti, as part of a two-year pilot adoption program. The program went county-wide when the County Board of Supervisors developed and approved the Adopt-A-Channel program in December 2014. Shortly thereafter, the program caught the attention of world renowned marine life artist, Wyland, who created and donated a logo for the Program which remains in use today. The Adopt-A-Channel Program has resulted in direct cost-savings in channel maintenance costs for OC Public Works while also allowing County crews to focus limited resources on more problematic reaches of the channels. Since the formal adoption of the Program in December 2014, many miles of channel have been adopted by local businesses, agencies, organizations, and individuals including THE BOLSA CHICA CONSERVANCY and 13 other organizations. The section of channel adopted by the Bolsa Chica Conservancy runs parallel and just to the north of Warner Avenue, from east of Gothard to about halfway between Golden West Street and Edwards Street. If you'd like to help us maintain our adopted section of the channel or you'd like to volunteer in some other way, please visit our website at bolsachica.org where you can find a volunteer interest form under the "Get Involved" tab.

Huntington Beach City Historian Jerry Person Presents Remembering When: Celebrating George's Birthday

Washington's Birthday will be next Monday, February 22nd, and celebrated with little fanfare these days, but that was not always the case here in Huntington Beach. How many of you remember the old saying about your never to old to learn something new.

Since my days in elementary school I was taught that George Washington's birthday came after Lincoln's birthday, but I chanced to read that his birthday was really on February 11th, a day before Lincoln's birthday. But how could that be?

At the time of Washington's birth, England and her colonies were still using the old style calendar started by Julius Caesar while the rest of Europe had adopted the Gregorian calendar. To make this new calendar more accurate eleven days were dropped and in so doing so Washington's birth date was moved to Feb. 22, 1732.

So what has all this got to do with this week's Remembering When, nothing, just like George's birthday these days. Today we have lumped his birthday together with many nondescript former presidents under President's Day.

This week we are going to remember how Huntington Beach in past years really celebrated George Washington's birthday.

After the end of World War I Americans felt pride in their country and what better way then to celebrate the birthday of the "Father of our Country."

Throughout the 1920s it was a major holiday for everyone and it was in 1928 that the American Legion's Auxiliary gave an impressive gala for old George in the Legion Hall at the old civic center. Part of this wonderful gala included a program which included Alma Schafer giving a reading about Washington's life followed by musical numbers sung by Betty Jo Skeney and Marguerite Markas with the music supplied by Bobby Olsen on the violin.

There was a dedication of a picture of George Washington to be hung on a wall in the hall. Yes Americans admired George and not want to tear down monuments to him or rip up pictures in schools or government buildings.

The Girl's League from Huntington Beach High in 1938 stood in its hallowed hallways selling cherry tarts to fellow students to help raise funds for a George Washington dance to honor George on his birthday. These small tarts cost the students all of five cents, a bargain even in those days.

As Feb. 22nd came, the girls gathered in the school gym to decorate it with paper hatchets and pictures of our first president all around the gym. There were red, white and blue colors throughout the gym and the girls had cherry pies made with an American flags stuck in the center of each as their refreshments.

For two hours that afternoon the students danced to the recorded music of the big bands that were supplied on Vern Nelson's phonograph.

How many of you remember sitting in class and up on the wall of the classroom hung a portrait of our first American hero?

A patriotic tableau was the event that was held at the Joseph Rodman Post of the American Legion also in 1938 inside Central Elementary School's auditorium. This program was divided into six parts or as they called it, six spirits.

The first part was the Spirit of '76 and began with a reading of the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence by Loren Mitchell, Donald Goetch, A.C. Marion and Donald Mitchell.

In Part Two, the Spirit of '78 Florence Dale dressed as Betsy Ross and sat on stage sewing the American flag.

Next came the Spirit of '61 with John Overmyer reciting Lincoln's Gettysburg address.

The fourth part or the Spirit of '17 depicted Charlene Rimel as a Salvation Army nurse and Kathryn Washburn as a Red Cross nurse with Lyndon Wells as a soldier.

A group of Girl and Boy Scouts stood as the Spirit of the Future and included Hildreth Clark, Shirley Rampton, LaRae Fullmer, Mary & Barbara Chamness, Eddie Renfro, Buddy Swift and LeRoy Jauman.

A closing prayer concluded the final seventh spirit of the program and this was given by Alverda Arthur followed by thanks by school principal Agnes Smith to Kathryn Allen, Frances Lyon and Anita Washburn for bringing such a wonderful tableau on Washington's birthday.

George's birthday was also celebrated in style befitting this great man at our Methodist church. In the Sunday school auditorium there were arranged baskets of flowers and lamps all around the room to lend that special atmosphere. A large American flag was placed on one of the walls as befitted the great man.

Ralph Turner wearing a light green satin suit, frill laces and a powdered wig portrayed the "Father of our Country." One of the ladies in the program wore a gown that had been worn at a reception at New York's Mayor's mansion honoring General Lafayette in 1784 and Myrtle Barks dressed that evening as Betsy Ross and she would welcome the guests to the party.

There was an impromptu skit of everyday live in colonial times on Washington's large plantation and this was followed by refreshments of cherry pies served to the guests by May Overbury, Sadie Harris and James Williams. The program ended with everyone singing "Auld Lang Syne."

It was at our nation's capital of Washington DC that a young man in military service met a young secretary and fell in love. On the day after celebrating Washington's Birthday in 1952 that this couple, Patrick Williams and Mary Thelen, were married in the sight of the Washington Monument.

This couple would later come to Huntington Beach and in 1967 Mary would open a small café at 213 1/2 Main Street called the Sugar Shack and which today like George Washington is known around the world, surfing world that is.

It's such a pity that we don't celebrate this great American hero's birthday more in schools and much of this is because of the unAmerican attitude of many schools boards and school parents today who know nothing of the sacrifices made by this great American. You can't use the norms of today with the norms of the past. It's like bringing an iPhone or laptop computer into a 1799 classroom.

His "I Cannot Tell A Lie," his chopping down the symbolic cherry tree, cherry pies and tarts and his heroic deeds on the battlefields, which helped create these United States, should be a living symbol to future generations and not a put-down. But to the past generations of Huntington Beach residents George Washington's birthday was celebrated with great pride otherwise we would be sipping English tea and not Starbuck's coffee in the morning. You can always e-mail Jerry your History questions at: hbnews@hbquik.com .

Many Thanks for reading this Newsletter, Chris MacDonald

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