Latest news with #CatheyRyder
Los Angeles Times
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Mailbag: Huntington Beach City Council instigating political agenda, not solving city problems
Cathey Ryder got it right in her letter (Daily Pilot, May 18), that Measures A and B in Huntington Beach are about control. Vote 'no' on both if you think the City Council or a committee appointed by the council — not parents — should decide what is appropriate for children. Vote 'yes,' if you feel parents should retain the right to decide what is appropriate for their own children. The council has brought this costly and unnecessary election upon the city by voting to establish a committee to censor or ban books from the children's section of the library before they had even considered what qualified one to be a committee member, how members of said committee would be chosen and what guidelines would be used to determine unsuitable books or material. Isn't voting to establish a committee without knowing how it will be appointed, and how it will function tantamount to deciding to build a house without blueprints? It seems our current council does not know how to govern the city or try to solve its problems. So they choose to be busy fomenting a political agenda, to make it seem as if they are actually doing something. By the way, one wonders what the committee would do with the Bible and its stories of violent murder, adultery, rape and incest. Mark WimbishHuntington Beach The opponents of Measures A and B would have you believe that their opposition is about protecting children and being fiscally responsible. Nothing could be further from the truth. To scare voters about Measure A, they cite passages from books that are not even in our library and books that are in the adult section to try to make people believe children are being exposed to inappropriate materials. They fly in a book banning agitator from out of state. They claim their opposition to Measure B is about fiscal responsibility. These are the same council members who gave away millions of taxpayers' dollars to the promoter of the Pacific Airshow for a cancellation that was not the city's doing. And then tried to hide the settlement from the public. They are the same council members who voted to spend an extra $1M of taxpayers' money to have this special election for these two ballot measures. This election is not about protecting children and it's not about fiscal responsibility. It's about control. They want to control what books are in our library and they want to stifle resistance from our library staff. They want book selection in the hands of political appointees and library operations in the hands of a company where they control the terms of the contract. Does this sound familiar? It should. We all learned about this when studying the world history of the early 20th century. We all saw it happen in real time in Turkey and Hungary in the last several decades. They are running the authoritarian playbook and we're seeing this happen across our country at all levels of government. It's death by a thousand paper cuts. You've probably heard the story of how to boil a frog: you don't put the frog in boiling water — it will immediately hop out. You put the frog in tepid water and slowly raise the temperature, bit by bit, so the frog doesn't notice until it's too late. Don't be a frog. Let's stop this right now: Vote 'yes' on Measure A and vote 'yes' on Measure B. David RynersonHuntington Beach I am a longtime resident of Huntington Beach and I'm also proud to say a retired public school teacher. Please vote 'yes' on Measures A and B in the current special election. A 'yes' vote on Measure A protects parents' rights by letting them decide what their children read instead of a politically appointed committee. It also protects against government overreach by maintaining the current system of educated and trained library staff managing and curating our book selection. Measure B protects public operation of our libraries by requiring a vote by the electorate to make a change to our current system which has operated effectively and freely for over 100 years! 'Yes' on A and B is what is best for our H.B. community and parents' rights while also protecting our children. Thank you to the 'yes' on A and B voters in H.B. who have helped to preserve our freedoms! Laura SireHuntington Beach
CBS News
28-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Huntington Beach sued over Symphony of Flowers light show
A group of Huntington Beach residents hopes to stop a multimedia light and music show planned for Central Park. The lawsuit filed by Protect HB claims that city council members deliberately misled the public. "We are not happy about the idea that they want to close off several acres of the park for up to 6 months a year with unknown real damage that would happen if you build bleachers and walkways and temporary structures," Protect HB member Cathey Ryder said. "There's going to be an impact." The Symphony of Flowers includes the installation of 500,000 LED Lights and 12 speakers playing classical music. Opponents said the fixture would disrupt the sensitive wildlife habitat where bald eagles, migrating birds and monarch butterflies live. Protect HB members said there was overwhelming opposition to the city council proposal, with hundreds of people sending emails to express their objection. When the contract was approved, council members aid the money brought in from the Central Park light show would generate much-needed income for the city budget. Council members unanimously approved the light show last month, but the details have not been solidified. City spokesperson Jennifer Carey said she hasn't seen the lawsuit and could not comment on it.
Los Angeles Times
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Library petition proponents cry foul after Huntington Beach sends out survey
The battle over the library system in Huntington Beach took a new turn Friday, as the city emailed surveys to residents asking them if they were misled into signing petitions that would put the proposed children's book parent/library review board, as well as future outsourcing of library services, on the ballot for voters to decide. Volunteers worked for months to circulate the petitions, which asked only for a signer's name and home address, not email address, according to Protect Huntington Beach co-founder Cathey Ryder. Following signature counting for both library initiatives by the Orange County Registrar of Voters, the City Council voted last week to order studies before deciding on an election date. But now, after receiving the emailed city survey, volunteers fear that the council is trying to stomp out the petitions before they even get put on the ballot. Ryder was a proponent of the review board petition. She said she put an attorney who specializes in elections, Long Beach-based Richard Rios, on retainer in December. 'In his history of working with ballot measure initiatives, he's never known a city to do this kind of thing,' Ryder said. 'Is the purpose of this because they want to file a lawsuit to invalidate our ballot petition? 'We're not taking any legal action at this time,' she added. 'We just don't understand why they're afraid of democracy.' Ryder said she's heard from at least 100 people who signed the petitions but did not receive the survey. Additionally, some who didn't sign the petitions have said they did receive the survey, she said. Huntington Beach deputy city manager Jennifer Carey said the survey was sent to people on the city's email newsletter distribution list. Anyone who signed the petitions can email librarysignatures@ The survey asks residents who signed the petitions to discuss their experience. It inquires if they were incorrectly told the petitions were to prevent the library from being shut down and/or sold, or to prevent children's books from being banned. 'The city has a duty and an interest in ensuring local election integrity and compliance with all election laws,' Carey said in an email. 'This city effort is in response to concerns raised by community members to city officials that they signed the petition(s) because they were told something that was not true.' At last week's council meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Casey McKeon and Councilwoman Gracey Van Der Mark said that residents had raised concerns that they had signed the petitions because they were given bad information. 'People are not happy because they feel we were tricked, so why should we ignore that?' Van Der Mark said Monday. 'I do not think there is anything wrong with asking the community to participate, or how they felt about something.' She added that depending on the feedback received, the council will consult with the city's legal department on how to move forward. Some, like Huntington Beach resident Cooper Carrasco, have expressed surprise to receive the survey from the city. He responded indicating that he didn't feel he had been misled. 'I just didn't think the city would ever be emailing me about that, you know?' Carrasco said. 'Then I read it and I was like, holy crap, they're trying to get me to snitch or something like that. I don't want to exaggerate, but it's like an interrogation.' Carrasco and Barbara Shapiro each spent time last year collecting signatures for the petitions. 'We had to go through training to learn how to speak to people,' Shapiro said. 'Part of our training was [that] every person was given an opportunity to read the entire petition before signing. No one was coerced into signing that petition.' Receiving the city survey sent a chill down her spine, she said. 'I felt like I was being harassed,' she said. 'I have a right to privacy. If I'm signing a petition, the city doesn't need to know I'm signing a petition. The only one who needs to know is the Registrar of Voters, and the only reason the Registrar of Voters needs to know is to verify if I'm eligible by making sure I'm a registered voter.' Dom McGee, who was recently appointed to the Huntington Beach Planning Commission by Van Der Mark, has been a vocal proponent of the children's book review board. He shared a video time-stamped from September, which contains an eight-minute interaction between him and a signature-gathering volunteer. In it, McGee asks several times about removing books from the library, with the volunteer responding in the affirmative that books had been banned rather than simply moved. 'It speaks for itself, really,' McGee said Monday. 'She couldn't name a single one of them when I asked her.' Carrasco, though, said the city's survey seemed like an attack on its own residents and their efforts. 'You have to respect the people in your city a little bit if you're going to be in charge,' Carrasco said. 'It's so disrespectful to all of the people who got all of these signatures and spent a whole year on this. It's crazy. I don't think they understand the implications of what they did.'
