Letters to the editor

What’s up with the headline?

To the Editor:

After reading the headline about the recent tragedy, "School trip turns tragic" (June 24 — 30), I was a bit perplexed when I read "12-year-old girl drowns on day when no lifeguards are not on duty."

Isn't that a double negative? Wouldn't it have been adequate and accurate to write "no lifeguards were on duty"?

Regardless of the grammatical confusion, what a terrible tragedy. Shouldn't the school have secured a permit from City Hall when planning this trip? Chances are permission might have been denied since there were no lifeguards on duty. I extend my sympathies to the family of Nicole Suriel. I am so sorry for their loss.

Beth Rose Feuerstein

Long Beach

Open the beaches early

To the Editor:

The City of Long Beach and its residents are certainly not to blame for the recent drownings on our beaches. However, it’s time we step up to the plate and do our best to ensure no future drownings on weekdays between Memorial Day and the end of school, the period during which we lose people every year, this year being neither exception nor anomaly.

We do not have the manpower for weekday openings on all of our beaches during this period, but we should be able to open a limited number of them. Specifically, we should open one section each on the east, center and west ends of town, and defray the cost of these limited openings by charging admission.

In addition, we can and should aggressively issue $100 tickets to anyone other than surfers who goes into the water in areas other than open beaches. Regarding surfers, we can provide them a designated area during this period of time.

It’s simply not enough for us to bury our heads in the sand, to say we put up signs, and then to wait till full staffing, when the problem goes away until next year. We can do better than that, and we should start planning for next year now, before this year’s drowning victims become distant memories, like those of last year and every year before.

Tom Gorton

Long Beach

Long Beach train’s parking problem

To the Editor:

There are two parking meters at the Long Beach train station. When parking at the station on weekdays and weekends in the summer, a commuter needs to pay a fee to park in the marked stalls. You pay at the meter and receive a receipt. It seems simple enough, right? Far from it.

The parking meter’s time has been off an hour since daylight saving time begins in March, meaning that if you pay the meter at 7 a.m. it says you paid it at 6 a.m., making the expiration time incorrect. This forces you to pay for an extra hour so you do not receive the hefty $75 ticket. Guess we’ll have to wait until Nov. 7 to have the correct time again. Also, in addition to the wrong hours, both parking meters say they accept bills. They do not. This has been the case since I started commuting to the city back in 2007. I am not sure who walks around with $5 worth of coins in their pocket, but I surely don't.

I think we need to welcome the Long Beach Traffic Bureau to 2010 and get some new machines in those lots that accept this crazy new invention called the credit card.

You can also get a year-long parking pass on Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at City Hall. That is, if you’re not working between those convenient hours. And you better make sure you’re going to commute for the entire year, as the parking passes are non-refundable.

I understand that the City of Long Beach makes an abundance of money on parking tickets, but don’t you think they should at least give the patrons a chance to avoid them?

Jody Zorn

Long Beach

City needs to staff lifeguards earlier

To the Editor:

Another summer season is in full swing with the passing of Memorial Day. It’s been consistently hot and sunny with crowded beaches, children swimming, surfing and boogie-boarding every single day after shortened school days and the college kids, off since May, have well established tans. Yet absurdly, right up until the end of June, we did not have full-time lifeguards. Many are dumbfounded as to why.

Clearly, with the drowning of 12-year-old Nicole Suriel, wrong decisions were made by the legal guardians of the children who ignored the posted warning signs.