Bulldozing wildlife in a blitz,
Hitchcock don’t need no permits!
“No restoration of land!”
Says Burnham, Dean’s fan.
It’s time for an appeal and a writ.

Soccer is my least favorite sport.

I rate soccer-on-ice, AKA Hockey, as my second least favorite sport.

Dear Sunshine,

We started getting calls as soon as esteemed jurist John Fentiss opined on the LB Post. That was huge. What a resume he has for protecting the environment and doing good work. Let's hope that he files an Appeal, as a citizen, about the flawed zoning ruling which erroneously seekes to ratify this wanton destruction of a well known, zoned, designated ESHA ( Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area)

Men like him, and Jim McCabe, are awesome. They are from the system, and know the system, and they are intellectually honest enough to advocate for fairness, equity, common people, the coastline, and the rule of law, despite the system. This takes courage.

Bless them both, continuously. These two men can, and will, make a meaningful difference.

They are not malcontents, nor turncoats. Yes, some will try to call them harsh names, impotently. The truth is, they are a symptoms of a system in need of reform. The are part of the cure, not part of the pathogens.

Gentleman, pick up this file, and help us plead the people's brief.

Thanks John, and Jim. You matter.

"John Fentis: As a former prosecutor for the City of Long Beach, I can state, without hesitation, that there should have been a misdemeanor prosecution for grading without a permit. Virtually any violation of the Long Beach Muncipal Code can be prosecuted as a misdemeanor under Section 1.31 of the Code. I should know as I prosecuted dozens of Code Enforcement cases during my nearly 25 years in the office. Another example of no enforcement under politically motivated circumstances. I could really get into a discussion about a lack of environmental enforcement by the City of Long Beach, but I'm sure the response would be "there's no money in the budget"....the truth is that there is no commitment to ensuring environmental compliance for the benefit of the citizens by the Long Beach City Prosecutor's Office....there hasn't been for 4 years now and there won't be until you, the citizens, elect a prosecutor who is environmentally sensitive.

John Fentis a former prosecutor for the City of Long Beach posted the following in LBPost, commenting on Mr.ZumMallen's article on the zoning hearing decision:
"No Action Taken In Ruling Of Wetlands-Area Destruction
by Ryan ZumMallen 10/12/09

"John Fentis: As a former prosecutor for the City of Long Beach, I can state, without hesitation, that there should have been a misdemeanor prosecution for grading without a permit. Virtually any violation of the Long Beach Muncipal Code can be prosecuted as a misdemeanor under Section 1.31 of the Code. I should know as I prosecuted dozens of Code Enforcement cases during my nearly 25 years in the office. Another example of no enforcement under politically motivated circumstances. I could really get into a discussion about a lack of environmental enforcement by the City of Long Beach, but I'm sure the response would be "there's no money in the budget"....the truth is that there is no commitment to ensuring environmental compliance for the benefit of the citizens by the Long Beach City Prosecutor's Office....there hasn't been for 4 years now and there won't be until you, the citizens, elect a prosecutor who is environmentally sensitive.

John Fentis a former prosecutor for the City of Long Beach posted the following in LBPost, commenting on Mr.ZumMallen's article on the zoning hearing decision:
"No Action Taken In Ruling Of Wetlands-Area Destruction
by Ryan ZumMallen 10/12/09

Mr. Hitchcock’s excuse for razing 9 acres:

Purportedly, Mr. Dean verbally relayed the order to clear brush as needed at the property line of the Mobile home park.... There was no written order handed over.

Sean Hitchcock, a very successful contractor/developer, performing HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS work for the city of Long Beach and others boasts this on his website:

"2H management's "hands on" approach and proactive involvement with all aspects of the project lifecycle is another important factor to the accomplishments of the company.”

Source: 2H web page: http://www.2hconstruction.com/company.asp

Let me try to understand this...

Mr. Dean, a very intelligent developer/negotiator/trader did not discuss the status of the land use, with regard to future development of the property with Mr. Hitchcock, a very intelligent/successful, contractor/developer?

This transaction is described by the offending parties as casual as buying a burger at the drive through across the wetland. No discussion, nothing. By two big time Long Beach players… Right.

Time and time again, all around the United States, this very thing is done, the owner claiming she didn’t know the rules, or did in fact, know, but proceeded anyway. They know that the fines or repercussions will be acceptable losses, compared to what end results are desired.

These methods are commonly used at large multinational corporations, such as: “How many wrongful death lawsuits can we pay for, and still be ahead, without having to recall our product, because a total recall would be a huge loss”. This is just good business. Any method necessary for a profit.

And in this case, profit is especially easy with the blessing of the City.

Mr. Hitchcock relayed to me: " The property is NOT a part of the wetlands (check the wetlands map). This property is a landfill over an old city dump (same property as the mobile home park next door).
We were merely clearing the overgrown weeds in order to replace with grass to make the area nicer for the community. It takes large equipment to effectively clear weeding over such a large area.
".

There was no mention of an "order to weed". He claims here that he knows the history of the property, and that there is a dump on the site.

Thanks City of Long Beach. I do love living here, but am becoming increasingly embarrassed by city management. It's not about doing the right thing by the residents that have elected them (I'm talking about the public that actually cast their votes, not the dollars thrown at them by their other "constituents").

FYI: Here is a link to Google Satellite imagery of what this parcel looked like before the “weed pulling” began:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=33.767179%2C...

Rumor has it that Tom dean's latest venture, is attracting investors and partners to place a full fledged, mass marketing idea for Medical Marijuana salons, or shops, all along the Shore on 2nd Street.

This should start another interesting debate.

How will uber conservative Derong view this? He may have another nice issue to duck, ignore, parse, obfuscate, etc.

But if you think about it, he must have signed on since he and dean are close buddies.

The neighbors ought to love this debate.

Stay tuned

If this happens, let's open up a head shop and sell our latest product,
''The DeLong Bong''.

Guess it would have to be Gold plated, and very exclusive. You might have to be part of a special click to get one. But it could be purchased for a high price.

It probably should has a set of earplugs attached, to tune everybody else out.

Oh yes, and a logo with a Bulldozer smashing the nests of endangered species.

We might also market soccer balls for the wetlands soccer field that he is helping come about. We can put logo's on the soccer balls, of egrets, and herons,and racoons, and brown burrowing owls, and squirrels. Then the kids can kick and kick those balls, and think of Hitchcock and DeLong ??

What would the California Integrated Waste Management Board say about all this? Doesn't it seem their regulations might apply to this situation? Would the City of Long Beach really have the final say in this? Read the state regulations here, some interesting things (vegetative covers, erosion, required slope and drainage, depth of cover):
http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Regulations/Title27/ch3...

For the Appeal to the Planning Commission-against the Zoning Administration decision yesterday. Indeed it is $50.00 per person. However,if you appeal with an organization--you can be on the Organization's appeal.
Example: "The Green Dream Team Org"--put 10 people on as appealents--and they would only pay $5.00 per person. Checked with city....
Correction: Subarea 23 was bulldozed on March 19 and 20

Your idea about appealing as an "organiztion" may have some merit, BUT the last I knew, an "organization" is limited to naming not more than three (3) persons that will be allowed to speak to the issuue AS APPELLANTS. AND those one, two or three people must be named on the appeal form at the time it is submitted (no additions or substitutions) with the $50 fee. As far as I know, more than one "organization" can appeal. That works out to about $17 (minimum) per person wishing to have appellant status.

This is tentative and I am attempting to get precise info to post later.

Dave, were there any residents in attendance who supported Mr. Hitchcock?

No,although one guy got up there and said he could see both sides.

Not one. It was 100 to 3. Mike Murchinson was there for Dean, watching, Hitchcock had his Attorney, and biologist.

Not one resident spoke on behalf of hitchcock, or his idea to put plastic turf over wetlands

It appears he didn't need any. It appears there were not 100 people there as was indicated in the article. Perhaps a selective rounding error.

According to his profile, the anonymous SOCCER FAN is actually MIKE PILSTER, whose daughter plays on Greater Long Beach Speed Demons, the soccer team coached by wetlands destroyer Sean Hitchcock. You can read some of Mr. Pilster's articles and see a picture of Sean Hitchcock on the soccer team website at the below link.

http://www.greaterlongbeachsoccerclub.com/page/...

Due to his relationship with Sean Hitchcock, it is obvious Mr. Pilster has a bias. However, what is interesting is his choosing to remain anonymous when commenting in apparent support of his buddy.

Let me summarize:

1. Person A may know Person B
2. Mike Ruehle does not agree with person B
3. Therefore Person A is biased.

Absolutely brilliant.

My turn to summarize:

1. Mike Pilster's daughter plays soccer with wetlands destroyer Sean Hitchcock's daughter.
2. Mike Pilster's daughter is coached by Sean Hitchcock.
3. Mike Pilster refers to Sean Hitchcock as coach Hitchcock in numerous postings on the soccer team website.
4. Mike Pilster's profile was created when he began posting comments in defense of his buddy Sean Hitchcock and not before.
5. Mike Pilster (Soccer Fan) uses an anonymous name when posting comments in support of his buddy Sean Hitchcock.
6. Mike Pilster is biased.

This has nothing to do with wether or not I agree with Sean Hitchcock. It's about him or anyone knowingly doing something against the law with the assistance of crooked Councilman DeLong and not being forced to pay for their misdeeds.

If you want to see what MIKE PILSTER, who posts as the anonymous Soccer Fan, looks like, you can see his picture at the below twitter link.

http://twitter.com/mpilster

And for those of you who forget what MIKE RUEHLE looks like :

http://www.presstelegram.com/portlet/article/ht...

Touche. You can see by my ugly picture why I could never be a soccer coach. Would scare the kids.

OK boys, time to kiss and make up. Ruehle has a smart and pretty girlfriend, that says a lot.

The issue is, 8 days to Appeal, and evidence.

Please make sure that you cite the 2 Biologist Reports which prove that this area is an ESHA, and Wetlands.

A link to one report is on the Wetlands Land Trust Website, click the link.

Objectively, this is just one more dispute that would have never errupted if we had a real Councilperson.

This District has to send this dirty dealer home !! These disputes are wholly political, you know, keeping the friends happy and upsetting the majority. Raping nature again.

He is going to have a well funded, well laid out race on his hands ! And he is going to face a thorough cross examination in front of thousands of citizens, from day one.

Prepare to sweat, country club boy.

Nice job COLUMBO !! It is so nice to have smart investgators with.....guts. Thanks Columbo for dedicating so much energy to your friends and neighbors.

So soccer fan, are you trying to help teach our children that killing animals, and smashing burrowing mammals, and destroying habitat for endangered species is acceptable?

That destroying species is a fair trade off for a ball game?

Any kid who choses to play there choses to play on graves.....to play on decompsing dens, with pups, and the death zone for thousands of living things? What about the largely devastated range of animals?

Any parent who condones this in essence sponsors Wetlands development too. Is that what we want our kids to learn??.

Our kids would run from such infamy. From such senseless, selfish destruction.

And also, there will be big news, supporting the preservation claims, soon.

Dave got a call, as did the Attorney teams

good find mike, now i can completely disregard everything he says.