There’s room for both family-style markets
This letter is in reply to Greg Gieselman’s letter regarding the Olive Tree Market and Stumps Family Market.
There’s no need to set up competition between the Olive Tree and Stumps. They’re both family-owned, friendly places where customers are treated well.
They fill different niches. The Olive Tree is a small, fast, in-and-out store that sells a variety of deli items, meats, breads, produce and beverages. Stumps is a full service grocery store. Both carry quality merchandise. There’s room enough and clientele enough to keep both stores busy.
Alberstons’ closure will have the effect of exposing more people to the privilege of shopping at either or both.
Rhoda Bryan, Ocean Beach

Give the seals a break, sacrifice a beach
I am very impressed with the letter from Erika Mijuskovic, which indicates her anger concerning the seals issue. I am 100 percent in her favor and agree with everything she is upset about.
Why are these people so overly eager to constantly annoy the seals? Apparently the seals love this little area and is it is really a shame humans are getting their thrills by disturbing them.
I am also wondering why the federal government hasn’t done anything to protect the seals from ongoing harassment. There is a possibility the seals hog this very spot due to being safe from sharks. Beyond this spot, the human race has the entire freedom of the all the beaches. So why not just leave the seals alone and select another area for whatever you decide to do?
We are so fortunate to have the seals so close by and we need to appreciate our sea life we have available here in San Diego.
Pauline O’Malley, Point Loma

Don’t rewrite history for seal controversy
In response to Erika Mijuskovic’s letter to the editor (“Harassing the seals has resulted in pub deaths,” April 13), please, when we consider the seal issue, lets get rid of all the hanky wringing and the pathetic attempts to rewrite history.
First off, there is no such place as Casa Beach. It is the Children’s Pool. I know Casa Beach is so much less controversial, but your attempts to rename it make you look especially silly.
Before 1931, beaches in this area were minima. Then, a very wealthy philanthropist named Scripps who owned a home on the bluffs above the ocean (since converted into the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego) decided it would be a great idea to create ” at her own expense ” a beach pool for the public, and more specifically, for the children of San Diego. State land was deeded to the city and a concrete breakwater was built to tame the force of the waves.
A beautiful, safe pool and beach were the result. It was created especially for the enjoyment of San Diego children, not the San Diego seals.
Things were fine for about 70 years until two things happened: the National Wildlife Service decided to place the seals on the endangered species list and later the San Diego City Council decreed the nearby Seal Rock off limits to humans.
Seals enjoy human contact and when it was denied, they just moved south to the Children’s Pool where they proceeded to make a total nuisance of themselves. Because of government regulations, nothing could be done to discourage their presence on the beach.
Then the ugly “God of Unforeseen Circumstances” reared his head, and guess what? The seal population exploded to numbers never anticipated. By the most optimistic estimates, it continues to grow at a rate of five percent per year. The results are the seals have now become a major problem along the entire Pacific coast. They threaten the future of both commercial and sport fishing. They’ve taken over public and private docks and marinas, befouling everything, and in many cases, making it impossible for owners to access their vessels.
At the Children’s Pool, their constant defecation has resulted coliform bacteria counts that vastly exceed the Environmental Protection Agency’s standards. That alone is reason enough to keep them off the beach.
It is way past time for this disgusting situation be taken care of and it looks as though it has been, thanks to Judge William Pate’s decision.
One last observation: Whatever did the precious seals do to survive before the Children’s Pool was constructed? They went to the beaches along the coastline that are mostly only accessible from the sea, not the land. Common sense tells us that when it comes to going to the beach, the seals definitely have the advantage over us.
Let’s return the Children’s Pool to its rightful heirs ” the children of San Diego.
Larry Rasmussen, Pacific Beach

In absence of Block Party, neighbors have a good time anyway
It is now the morning after the cancelled PB Block Party. You know, the event that seems to have caused a feud in our community between the “partying public” and the “We’ve had enough and we’re not going to take it anymore” crowd.
A lot has changed on the PB party scene since the days when one could ride a bike down the boardwalk with a beer in his hand.
For me, I voted against the Block Party, but I still like to party! During the peak of my partying career, it was the “Upside Down Margarita” that got the party started. Now, it’s beer bongs and beer pong.
Yesterday, my neighbors across the street had a beer bong that started from the second story window and ran down the side of the house to bong the pongers in the front yard. By the way, I wasn’t invited.
These partiers ponged, bonged and yelled all day long, but they shut down earlier than I expected. The police visited them at least once and wrote a ticket for a guy and a girl. I couldn’t figure out what they did wrong.
During the day, I rode my bike around PB neighborhoods and on the boardwalk to see how the underground party movement was shaping up.
The news media were out in full force, desperately trying to stir-up the controversy. There was more partying than usual, with parties over here, parties over there and a few drunken idiots.
I would rate yesterday as a 7 out of 10 on the PB party meter. Clearly, the missing element was the destructive insurgents that invade PB twice a year for the Block Party and the Fourth of July. You know, those guys that pillage our neighborhoods, leaving a path of urine, trash, broken bottles and other broken things.
So, this morning I got on my bike again to assess the aftermath of the PB Party (without the Block Party). My neighbor’s front yard was already cleaned up, with the exception of a decapitated beer bong. Garnet Avenue was about as clean as it ever gets, which isn’t enough. The beach was cleaner than it usually is on a Sunday morning. Missing were the broken bottles and trash in the post-Block Party neighborhoods
It seems to me that our problem is not the PB partiers, nor the Block Party naysayers. Our challenge is how do we keep the party going without the party foul that occurs when the crashers arrive.
We now know that the crashers didn’t arrive yesterday when the PB Partying public had their day of partying at their homes and on the beach. Our community can keep things relatively well under control with our friends and the regular visitors that respect PB. We just don’t have enough bouncers for the Block Party and the Fourth of July insurgency.
To the Block Party promoters, I say, you blew your chances, several times. You can’t control the party fouls, so take your party somewhere else.
To the PB Partiers, I say, “Party on!” Just respect your neighbors and other beachgoers. You might even invite them!
Chris Olson, Pacific Beach