Mailbag: Two's a crowd with downtown minimarts

Well, here we go again! Yet another alcohol distributor is desiring to sell in downtown Huntington Beach ("7-Eleven seeks alcohol license," June 7). Your article quotes John Tillotson as stating that he "wouldn't deny you the right to have a drink if you go to a restaurant or another establishment that sells beer and wine."

I certainly wouldn't deny anyone that right either. However, apparently what Tillotson fails to realize is the fact that going to a restaurant and consuming alcohol is not the same as buying alcohol in a 7-Eleven and then proceeding to drink it in a vehicle parked in front of my home while partying loudly with the radio blasting and then proceeding to urinate, vomit and throw the empty containers in my shrubs.

The CVS down the street from my house on Pacific Coast Highway already provides my neighborhood with plenty of this kind of action. Is this what our enlightened City Council is referring to when they say that the downtown area is "very vibrant"?

Adding insult to injury is the fact that Tillotson clearly has little regard for the community with which he does business when he states that HB Neighbors' opposition didn't dissuade him. If the 7-Eleven receives its alcohol license (of which I have no doubt it will), I hope they experience the great joy that CVS had when they helplessly stood by and watched their store being looted of alcoholic beverages during the last U.S. Open of Surfing. How vibrant is that? Perhaps "Surf City" should be renamed "Saturated City."

Suzanne Hart

Huntington Beach

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Pink slips cost districts green

Normally I disagree with Assemblyman Jim Silva's positions. Yet I agree 100% with his commentary on the state's outdated pink slip process for teachers ("Pink slip process is in serious need of reform," Commentary, June 14).

Something Silva alluded to but didn't state directly is that it costs districts money to mail out all those initial notices — notices that often turn out to be a needless waste of funds. And he didn't mention the time and money spent by teachers who feel they should not have received a slip and appeal the notice. This is an additional disruption and distraction to their lives fighting to keep their job, when it may later turn out that the budget allows them to be retained after all.

Julie Bixby

Huntington Beach