Hide Article Text (OCR)
BOATSFrom page 1million to $8 million deficit for 2004-05.Even public safety isn’t immune. Said City Administrator Ray Silver, “.lust because police is police, it doesn’t mean it’s sacred.”The council balked at the recommended cuts Monday, a day after Ramos’ body was found near Bolsa Chica State Beach. The drowning, said Councilwoman Cathy Green,“is what’s giving me this nervous, awful feeling.”Rather than cutting all three boats, the council eliminated just two. Each boat uses as much as 60 gallons of unleaded gasoline every day, and two lifeguards must man the boats.To pay for one boat in the summer, the council eliminated the City Administrator’s intergovernmental travel and voted to remove 10 of 22 Port-a-Potties from the North end of the beach.“There is a reason we’ve had at least one (rescue boat) since 1961, and why every other agency has a rescue boat,” said Marine Safety Lieutenant Mi-chael Baumgartner. “When a lifeguard is swimming out from the beach, his eves are six inches off the water, and even a small wave will impair his ability to see.“From the boat, (the lifeguard) is eight feet off the water. From the back of the wave, the sun is behind vour back, the water is smoother. It’s fast, effective, we can go way inside the surf line and get people to shore quickly.”Baumgartner operated the rescue boat for eight years. A few years back, a rip current that extended a quarter-mile“There is a reason we’ve had at least one (rescue boat)since 1961, and why every otheragency has a rescue boat.” MichaelBaumgartner,Marine Safety Lieutenantout to sea left dozens of swimmers helpless.“We didn’t even do record-keeping, it was so chaotic,” Baumgartner said, but estimated that both of the two rescue boats used that day rescued about 20 people.No branch cuts Three support groups for the Huntington Beach library system have pledged $360,000 over the next two years to prevent anv library branch do s 11 res.The Main Street and Banning Street libraries were poised to be trimmed from the budget, leaving just two branches and Huntington Cen-trai Library open.The Friends of the Library, though, will give $120,000 'a year to keep both branches.The Friends of the Children’s Library will donate $30,000 for children’s books.The Library Patrons Foundation will contribute $30,000 for part-time workers.About $100,000 in part-time labor was to be cut in Silver’s proposal.“It’s so important to have those branches there,” said Friends President Dorothy Boesch. “Every author that comes to our libraries has saidFourth of JulyAll the way from Nantucket To Huntington Beach And everywhere in between, This is the greatest nation We have ever seen.So celebrate with parades And fireworks bright, Knowing for certain That we got this one right.Lois Riley Starbuckhow important it was to them as a child to go to the library. That’s where it began. Some of them read almost every book.”Fire cuts reducedThe council won’t cut a paramedic engine company from the fire department, opting instead to raise money with two fee increases it hopes will offset the $865,000 cost for the company.Councilwoman Pam Hou-chen proposed increasing the voluntary FireMed fees some residents pay to about $51 a year, a $ 1.25-per-month increase.The hike brings Huntington Beach more in line with countv averages, she said, and could raise about $300,000 annually.The fire department will also restructure its inspection fees, charging more to inspect bigger buildings.Cutting the paramedic engine would have eliminated nine positions.Fire officials worried that it would increase response time to fires, because the move would have reduced fire staffing to below 1970s levels, when the city’s population was about half what it is now.Contact Sam Miller at (714) 445-6692 or at sammiller@ocre-gister.com.
Newspaper Details
Huntington Beach Wave
Huntington Beach, California, US
Thu, Jul 03, 2003
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Mike M.
USA 12 Apr 2022
Other Publications Near Huntington Beach, California
Huntington Beach Wave
