Seal Beach Daily

As we announced earlier this month, today is the last day for new postings at Seal Beach Daily. Donna and I send our warmest thanks to our community and our advertisers for making this an extraordinary year.

The site will remain available for a few weeks without updates. Our comment features will be closed.

We’d like to leave you with some useful links:
December events in Seal Beach
Local traffic and weather resources
Beach conditions dashboard

Shop Local! Stay connected with our community-minded advertisers via their websites:

Best wishes to all for a peaceful and prosperous 2010.

Photo above: November sunset at the pier by Duane Uyeda. See more of Duane’s work at photographicontent.com.

Chamber of Commerce President Seth Eaker writes to say that Seal Beach’s second annual tree-lighting event was “a resounding success.” More than 250 people gathered on Friday evening to enjoy hot chocolate, cookies and community. Local businesses donated food, trees and other holiday displays and Santa arrived via firetruck. The tree can be seen throughout the season at Eisenhower Park. It is lit with environmentally-friendly LED lights, he said.

Update, Nov. 30: See a nice gallery of tree-lighting photos at Duane Uyeda’s photographicontent.com.

The Rossmoor Homeowners Association has announced the opening of its annual holiday lights contest. Rossmoor residents can enter their decorated homes in the competition through December 12. Entry is free. Judges will visit the entries on December 13. Cash prizes are awarded to “stand out” homes, said event organizer Chris Marshall. Pictures and a map of winning homes will be posted at the homeowners association website. Click here to see last year’s winners. To enter, e-mail rossmoorlights@gmail.com with your name, postal address and phone number.

Photo above: 2008 winner, the Wind family home.

The Holiday Tree Lighting is at 4 p.m. today at the Seal Beach Pier. On Twitter, @sbchamber previews it this way: “Santa will be there! Hot chocolate and cookies! Snow! SHOP LOCAL on Black Friday!”

Brightest Space Station flyover today LBReport tips us to a great opportunity to see the International Space Station as it hurdles almost directly overhead today between 5:34 and 5:40 p.m. today. Spot it in the northwest sky. “If the sky is clear, this could be one of the longest, highest and brightest Space Station pass-bys of the year,” according to the site. Details at LBreport.

Stim helps Naval Weapons Station go solar A $4.4 million project funded by federal stimulus dollars will include the installation of solar panels on two NWS buildings. Weapons Station energy manager Rick Tiernay told TradingMarkets.com that the project is expected to save $86,000 per year in energy costs. More at tradingmarkets.com.

Thankful Kids Save the Beach. Eighty-nine people showed up at the first Kids Save the Beach cleanup on Wednesday. The day was a joint effort of Save Our Beach, This is Me – A Kid’s First Keepsake Journal and just-spotted.com. Picture Courtesy Duane Uyeda. Thanks @iDuano! More pix.

There are still three days left to use your SBD discount coupons! Seal Beach Daily coupons are good until Nov. 30.

Don’t miss these sweet restaurant deals:

• FREE sushi roll from Mahe (up to $12; with purchase)
• Buy one get one FREE burgers at Coach’s Grill (equal/lesser value)
• 10% off your order at Bogart’s Coffee House
• $5 off your pizza at the Main Street Zpizza

And look for these health, beauty, fitness and fun savings:

• $25 off at Play it Again Sports
• $5 off Nail Care by Karen
• FREE flat repair with bike purchase at Main Street Cyclery
• FREE telephone consultation with Spirited Child Therapy
• FREE Fitness sessions with purchase from Beach Fitness
• FREE a free mosaic starter kit valued at $20 when you sign up for a class at Mosiac Source.

Get more home and business discounts:

• Deep Savings on family media production services from Family Flix.
• $100 savings on business consulting services from Black Marble Consulting
• $25 off labor on any upgrade or out of warranty repair from Mac-Fusion
• Buyers and Sellers savings from American Realty Brokers
• Discounted services at Nautica Cleaners

Click here to get your discounts.

Orange County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested a man Thursday afternoon at the Sunset Aquatic Centern boat launch area for carrying a loaded gun and having a pipe bomb in his car. The man, identified as Stephen Michael Batick, was taken into custody and the bomb squad detonated the explosive device. Details at ocregister.com.

City Manager David Carmany sends word that the newly-designed 2009 Seal Beach map, which replaces the city’s antiquated 1980 visitor’s map, is now available:

This is a joint project of the City and the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce. A total of 22,000 maps were printed, with the Chamber taking half for distribution at the Chamber of Commerce office, Seal Beach real estate offices, hotels, frequently visited businesses, etc. The other half are for distribution at city facilities, including libraries, fire stations, Senior Center, Marina Center, North Seal Beach Center, Tennis Center, police pier sub-station, and City Hall. An electronic version will soon be available on the city’s website.

Maps are available at City Hall as well as by contacting the City Manager’s Office (562) 431-2527, ext. 1303. Kudos to City Clerk Linda Devine and the Chamber for their hard work on this project.

Previously at SBD: Putting Seal Beach back on the map.

The Los Alamitos/Rossmoor 90720 zip code took the number one spot in the OC Register’s third quarter “Zippy” real estate market-performance rankings. That’s up from its 27th place ranking in the previous quarter. Seal Beach is in the number ten spot, down from its first place ranking in Q2.

In the ranking system developed by Register real estate guru Jon Lansner, all 83 of Orange County’s ZIP codes are assessed in three market performance benchmarks: pricing, sales momentum (year-over-year change) and foreclosure density (per homes in neighborhood).

To take the top spot, the 90720 zip was ranked 21st for pricing, 5th for sales, and 6th in terms of foreclosures frequency in the community. Seal Beach’s 90740 was tenth overall; coming in 12th for pricing, 55th for sales and 4th in the foreclosure frequency category.

Learn more about the Zippy’s and the rankings of other Orange County cities at ocregister.com.

PS: Happy birthday Orange County Register! 104 years today. History.

Fresh and local for the Thanksgiving table The Seal Beach Farmers market continues until 1 p.m. today at the Seal Beach Village shopping center, at Westminster Avenue and Seal Beach Boulevard.

Seventy-six have already RSVP’d for the 30th Annual Seal Beach Thanksgiving Dinner, according to SeaCoast Grace Seal Beach Pastor Bryan Hardwick. The free dinner is organized by local volunteers and open to anyone who wants to share a meal on Thanksgiving. St. Anne’s Church on Tenth Street. Seating and entertainment begins at 11 a.m. on Nov. 26 and dinner is served at noon. Transportation is available for anyone who needs a ride. Please make reservations with the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce at 562-799-0179 or director@sealbeachchamber.org.

Getting away for the holiday? You can fly with that pie, but not the jam — and forget about that sno-globe, according to Transportation Security Administration guidelines. Check out the agency’s handy list of carry-on dos and don’ts here.

Flying out of John Wayne Airport? It’s in the middle of its big Terminal C construction project, so expect lane closures and reduced parking. Airport officials suggest arriving at least 90 minutes to two hours before your flight. More info at KPCC radio.

Seal Beach T-day forecast from the National Weather Service: Sunny. High 76, overnight low 49. Dry offshore breeze. Patchy fog expected Thursday nite. More info at the National Weather Service.

The Orange County Transit Authority will eliminate bus routes — including the Seal Beach to Westminster Route 164 — in a new round of service cuts aimed at making budget ends meet, according to the Orange County Register.

Since September 2008, including today’s cuts, the OCTA Board has reduced bus service hours by 20 percent, the Register says. Get the details at ocregister.com.

On Wednesday, Save Our Beach, This is Me – A Kid’s First Keepsake Journal and just-spotted.com have joined forces to give a big thank you for our beautiful OC beaches with the first-ever Kids Save the Beach Family Beach Cleanup. As with all our Save Our Beach Cleanups, everything is provided (free parking passes, garbage bags, gloves, etc.). For extra holiday fun, the first 200 kids age 12 & under, will receive a coupon for a free meal at Ruby’s in Seal Beach. All kids over 12, will receive a coupon for a free slice of pizza at ZPizza. All adults will receive a coupon for a buy-one-get-one-free dinner at Finbars. All kids who help pick up trash will receive a raffle ticket for an opportunity to win prizes.

The event is Wednesday, November 25th 10 a.m. – noon at First Street Beach, corner of Ocean Avenue and First Street in Seal Beach.Read more about Wednesday’s big event at just-spotted.com.

This weekend’s monthly Save Our Beach cleanup had 653 participants and collected lots of food for Interval House. Thank you Kim and Steve!

Update: Be sure to check out the comments on this post — Kim has added some more cool giveaways from Bogart’s Coffe House and the Aquarium of the Pacific!

Reader Irena Guilmette sent us this photo of a sailboat stuck on a sandbar at Seal Beach River Jetty on Sunday evening. She writes that the Harbor Patrol and Seal Beach Lifeguards attempted to rescue the boat before low tide at 7 pm. Thanks Irena.

This morning when my phone rang before dawn, I jolted awake. Any call that was coming in at this hour must be an emergency. But, it was a robo-call purporting to be from Farmers & Merchant’s Bank stating that my credit card had been suspended for unusual activity and telling me to call an 888 number for more information. Now, I don’t have a card with Farmers & Merchants and was sure it was a scam, and when I called the number it was confirmed: a fraudster was fishing for a credit card number from an unsuspecting F&M patron using a phony answering system that asked the caller to key in his credit card info.

The Long Beach Police Fraud and Forgery Department confirmed this morning that there is a scam using F&M being run in the 562 area code. They got several reports about it, but there is nothing they can do to stop the calls, which come from a constantly changing series of telephone numbers used over the internet. It’s a criminal practice called “vishing,” a telephone — or voice — version of the e-mail fraud known as phishing in which users are encouraged to go to phony bank or merchant websites and enter secure information.

Your only protection? Vigilence. Don’t call a number provided to you by such a call. If you are worried that there is actually a problem with your credit card, call your bank using the number provided on the back of your card or on your monthly bill.

Do you have senior relatives in the 562 area code? Today would be a good day to touch base and let them know about how vishing works and what they can do to protect themselves.

Orange County Register videographer Mark Eads offers a look at the Holiday Model Train Festival at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda. The Festival features 19 operating model trains – and includes a train and environment built of LEGO bricks.

Sustainable Surfing Rides the Waves “The $7.2 billion surf business has become the latest industry to ride the green wave. Call it sustainable surfing.” Read more in the New York Times.

1 clean truck program, 2 ports, and now 2 strategies “A year after the Clean Trucks program began at the harbor complex, the two ports in San Pedro Harbor are headed in divergent directions. The port of Los Angeles continues to fight challenges to pollution controls in court. In Long Beach, harbor commissioners are trying to end the same lawsuit.” Read more from KPCC radio.

Sales of big energy-guzzling TVs banned in California The California Energy Commission [Wedensday] unanimously voted to force TV manufacturers to build more energy-efficient big TVs by 2011…” Read more at ocregister.com.

Mayors ask Secretary of the Army to discontinue Los Al Base compost project “The mayors of Seal Beach, Garden Grove, Cypress and Los Alamitos and the board president of the Rossmoor Community Services District sent a letter today to Secretary of the Army John McHugh requesting that he immediately terminate the composting project at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base.” Read more at SBD.

Many oppose Seal Beach homeless shelter “Some residents voiced strong opposition to a proposal by a Long Beach pastor who wants to found a $1.1 million homeless shelter in Seal Beach, saying the plan was unorganized and poorly researched.” Read more at ocregister.com.

Keep up with all the area headlines throughout the week. Browse our hand-picked list of stories from the Orange County Register (left) and bookmark Seal Beach Daily’s “In the News” page to link to stories of interest to the Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, Sunset Beach and Surfside area.

From the office of Seal Beach City Manager David Carmany:

Mark Persico has been appointed as Director of Development Services for the City of Seal Beach. Mark has 18 years of experience as a public sector planner working for four California cities and served as Community Development Director for the cities of West Hollywood and Calabasas. For the past six years Mark has worked as the Principal of Persico Planning Partners in the private sector focusing on senior project management and management audits. He also serves on the Pasadena Planning Commission after previously serving on the Pasadena Recreation and Parks Commission.

Mark has a Master’s Degree in Planning from USC, a Bachelor of Science Degree in Urban Planning from Cal Poly Pomona and is certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners. Mark’s official start date is Monday, Dec. 7.

Photo courtesy City of Seal Beach.

It’s monthly beach cleanup time with a Thanksgiving twist: Saturday 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. join Save Our Beach at First Street Beach (corner of Ocean & First). Parking passes, garbage bags, protective gloves and community service certificates provided. Bring canned goods for donation to a local food bank. saveourbeach.org

Facebook fans can vote for Save Our Beach in the big Chase charity vote. The top 100 vote-getters will get $25K for good works in their communities. Read more about the Chase Community Giving: You Decide What Matters program at HuffPo. Click here to vote.

The Seal Beach trailer park, known as Seal Beach Shores gets its own web site. sealbeachshores.org

Free Wahoos: The fish taco chain celebrates its birthday with a free meal giveaway on November 21. Info.

Free Yoga: Every Sunday at 1 p.m. the Yoga Dude offers free classes at Eisenhower Park across from Bogarts Coffee House. “Bring a Yoga Blaknet or Mat and willing body, mind and spirit.” Info. (Thanks for the tip Bogarts!)

Winter classes start in December: Seal Beach Department of Recreation and Community Service sends out a reminder that lots of fun and useful classes start in December. Volleyball, Run Club, Jazzercize, Kids’ Fitness, Career Exploration, Self-Defense and much more. Also on tap: A Holiday Dance and Pizza Party and the annual Breakfast with Santa. Get all the detains in the winter recreation guide [pdf].

Extra wide load. ABC 7 takes a look at Orange County’s plans to widen the 405 and L.A. County’s plans to stand pat. See it here.

Save the holiday dates: Tree lighting at Eisenhower Park, Nov. 27, 4 p.m.; Holiday Parade Dec. 4, 7 p.m.; Holiday Dance Review Dec. 16, 6 p.m., Marina Community Center.

From the Orange County Register on last night’s homeless shelter town hall: “Some residents voiced strong opposition to a proposal by a Long Beach pastor who wants to found a $1.1 million homeless shelter [on 8th Street in Old Town] Seal Beach, saying the plan was unorganized and poorly researched.” Get details of the meeting at ocregister.com.

The mayors of Seal Beach, Garden Grove, Cypress and Los Alamitos and the board president of the Rossmoor Community Services District sent a letter today to Secretary of the Army John McHugh requesting that he immediately terminate the composting project at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base.

In the letter, the group calls on the Secretary to revoke the license of Oxnard-based Agromin and discontinue the composting project, which the mayors say has caused “adverse impacts” to communities surrounding the base.

“Those adverse impacts range from traffic impacts to our local streets from the heavy trucks delivering materials for composting to the JFTB, the air pollution impacts from such traffic, noxious odors from the composting activities themselves, and the lack of meaningful environmental consideration of the composting activities undertaken prior to the commencement of the license agreement,” the letter states.

The group says it is turning to the Secretary because the original project contract gives him the power to revoke the Agromin license before its scheduled end date in 2014.

The mayors write: “Revoking the license is the only meaningful way to mitigate the significant and on-going adverse impacts of these composting activities. To do so would be an appropriate gesture to each of the communities, particularly given the lack of transparency in the awarding of this license….”

The group also says that it has asked legal counsel to review the composting agreement and includes a previous letter written to the JFTB base commander, requesting him to contact the Secretary with a request to end the project.

In early October, the base put the composting project on hold after neighbors complained of foul odors, but at that time base spokeswoman Laura Herzog told the Orange CountyRegister that the base had not permanently cancelled the project or “changed its agreement with the contractor, Oxnard-based Agromin.” Once the source of the odor is found and eliminated, the project will resume, she said.

Previously at SBD: Los Alamitos base halts compost project

Long Beach Animal Care Services — which provides animal control services for Seal Beach and Los Alamitos — now offers information on lost and stray pets via PetHarbor.com. Users can search a database of impound data by entering a zip code or city name and a description of a pet. The information is updated hourly.

“We are constantly looking for ways to connect residents with their animals,” said Ronald R. Arias, Director of the City’s Department of Health and Human Services. “Pet Harbor updates information every hour so that people don’t have to wait an entire day to find information about their pets.”

The service also offers e-mail updates when a new pet matching your description is entered into the system and a fee-based lost pet postcard mailing service.

According to the Animal Services announcement, PetHarbor.com links directly to the City’s dispatch center, kennel and licensing database. Each year more than 11,500 animals are impounded at Animal Care Services at the Companion Animal Village.

More info from Long Beach Animal Care Services. Or, visit PetHarbor.com.

Huntington Beach will annex the Bolsa Chica Mesa ‘cogged stone’ site — considered sacred to Native Americans — and the area will be zoned for residential and other uses, according to the Orange County Register. Read more at ocregister.com and OC Weekly. Previously: Bolsa Mesa ‘Cogged Stone’ burial site gets national historic designation

Photo above: Hearthside Homes and public trail at the Cogged Stone Site. Photo by Michael Goulding. Used with permission from the Orange County Register.

ZPizza is celebrating five years on Main Street by sharing a slice of its sales with McGaugh Elementary School. Today and tomorrow (Nov. 18 and 19) from 4 to 9 p.m. ZPizza will give 20 percent of diners’ sales to the school when they mention McGaugh. Also on tap for the anniversary, a “$5 for 5″ special: 2 slices and a drink for $5.

“Doing a fundraiser for McGaugh is the perfect way to mark 5 years in Seal Beach since the school community has been such strong supporters of our business since the day we opened. Hopefully this occasion will create an even bigger turnout and we can break records of past fundraisers,” said store owner Alan Grant

No coupons, please. Offer good only at ZPizza 148 Main St. Seal Beach.

On Tuesday, the Orange County Health Care Agency posted a bacteria warning for the waters off the Huntington Beach Dog Beach. [map] The warning covers the area “150 feet upcoast and 150 feet downcoast of the projection of the ramp at Dog Beach,” according to the county’s beach-health website. Warning signs are posted when bacterial levels in ocean or bay waters exceed county health standards. ocbeachinfo.com

Get the latest Heal the Bay health info on area beaches at our Beach Conditions Dashboard.

Jamba Juice Freebie: Participating Jamba Juice locations will be offering free flatbreads to the first 150 customers to arrive after 2 p.m today (Nov. 12). The chain’s flatbreads are gluten free and come in four flavors: Tomo Artichoko^TM, Smokehouse Chicken, MediterranYum^TM Flatbread and Four Cheesy^TM. More info. Find a location.

Free Veteran’s Employment and Training Services The Pacific Gateway Workforce Investment Network offers veterans variety of no-cost services. “The Networks’ veteran program specialists are veterans themselves, so they understand the difficulties veterans sometimes face,” said Bryan Rogers, the Network’s Executive Director.“ We encourage veterans, or those who know a veteran, to find out how the Network can assist with employment, training and other services.” The Network is offering a free workshop on the its services on Thursday, Nov. 19, from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm at the Career Transition Center, 3447 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach. Workshop info. Program video.

Rossmoor Home Owners Association is touting benefits for 2010 members: eligibility for a scholarship and discounts at Rossmoor Village Square and The Shops at Rossmoor. More.

From the Press Telegram: “A major environmental project to help 16 cities capture tons of their trash before it enters the Los Angeles River moved forward when a regional authority awarded a $5 million contract funded with federal stimulus monies Thursday.” Read more.

Panel approves landmark curbs on Southern California fishing “In a move greeted with scattered applause and boos, a state blue-ribbon panel late [Tuesday] voted unanimously to approve landmark fishing restrictions for the Southern California coastline, creating a patchwork of havens for marine life…” Read more at latimes.com.

No criminal charge in junior lifeguard tragedy “Orange County prosecutors have decided not to file criminal charges against a decorated Marine Safety officer who drove the boat that struck and killed an 11-year-old junior lifeguard in July during a routine training exercise.” Read more at ocregister.com.

Council roundup Last week council members directed city staff to draw up a proposed ordinance that would limit individuals and groups to contributing no more than $250 in city elections. Citizen honors went out to Save Our Beach founders Kim and Steve Masoner, Orange County Fire Authority Captain Larry Bender and Engineer Bernie Nap and Junior Lifeguard Joey Callanan. Read more at SBD.

Also: ‘Band-Aid’ bandit strikes again, Coastal Commission requires permit for parcel in Long Beach wetlands swap, Protesting truckers snarl traffic on 710 Freeway and in downtown L.A., Man hit by car near Cal State Long Beach.

Veterans honored: Rep. Dana Rohrabacher joined local dignitaries, business and community leaders in marking Veteran’s Day last week. Speakers at the annual event included Mayor Pro-Tem David Sloan, Pastor Don Shoemaker, Chamber of Commerce President Seth Eaker, Cmdr. Jim Crowley, American Legion, Post 857 and Cmdr. Bill Thomas, Vets of Foreign Wars Post 4048. See the whole line up here. Photo courtesy George Banker, Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Keep up with all the area headlines throughout the week. Browse our hand-picked list of stories from the Orange County Register (left) and bookmark Seal Beach Daily’s “In the News” page to link to stories of interest to the Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, Rossmoor, Sunset Beach and Surfside area.

SeaCoast Grace Church Campus Pastor Bryan Hardwick fills us in on the details of Saturday’s big Impact Seal Beach community service event:

In partnership with the City of Seal Beach, over 120 members of SeaCoast Grace Church Seal Beach, Grace Community Church, Damascus Church and First United Methodist Church united to serve the city on Saturday, November 14. Through service projects that included painting, planting and park clean up, participants from each of these churches met at Marina Park in the morning for a brief rally and to gather for their assignments. From there, teams dispersed to clean and paint area Seal Beach signs, plant flowers in Eisenhower Park, plant 24 trees in Gum Grove Park as well as sweep many area parks for litter…

In addition to working with the city on various projects, Grace Community Church and First United Methodist Church opened up their churches to offer a place to pray for those wanting or needing prayer. Additionally, Brita’s Garden, Bogarts, The Crema Café, Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce and Bay Hardware all helped partner with Impact Seal Beach in various ways.

“The idea for Impact Seal Beach originated out of conversations with area pastors, out of our desire to serve together in tangible ways and give back to our community.” Hardwick said. “Impact Seal Beach is the church being the church where we live and we hope it is the start of something we can do on a regular basis.”

Photo above: volunteers (l to r) Grace Community church members Jason and Heather Goode of Huntington Beach and SeaCoast Grace member Sean McMullen of Santa Ana plant flowers near the Pier

Live blogging from the pier: Volunteers from four local churches fanned out across Seal Beach this morning on a community service blitz. They painted signs, beautified Eisenhower Park and planted trees in Gum Grove park. Here volunteers (l to r) Grace Community church members Jason and Heather Goode of Huntington Beach and SeaCoast Grace member Sean McMullen of Santa Ana plant flowers near the Pier. More coming on this good-works event.

The Register’s Pat Brennen points us to the cool web cam trained the on the Magnolia Wetlands in Huntington Beach. The $3.3 million project, funded with federal stimulus money, will “create meandering water channels lined with native plants and will open the wetland area to tidal flow from the ocean,” he writes. And we can watch! Learn more about the web cam at Brennan’s Green OC Blog. And get a great overview of the project with graphics in an earlier Green OC entry.

Thanksgiving Dinner in Seal Beach: St. Anne’s Church on Tenth Street hosts the community’s 30th annual holiday feast, organized by local volunteers and open to anyone who wants to share a meal on Thanksgiving. “We really feel that Seal Beach is a community that is blessed with strong fellowship and camaraderie, this really comes out in the Annual Thanksgiving Dinner,” says Bryan Hardwick of Seacoast Grace Church. “We make a point that no one is turned away, but please make reservations because seating is limited.” Seating and entertainment begins at 11 a.m. on Nov. 26 and dinner is served at noon. Transportation is available for anyone who needs a ride. To make reservations, contact the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce at 562-799-0179 or director@sealbeachchamber.org.

Coffee Bean Freebie: Today only from 4 to 8 p.m. Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf welcomes the arrival of the its holiday drink line by giving some away. Details from Fast Food Maven.

Parenting Magazine recommends Save Our Beach cleanups as one of its “Acts of Kindness: 5 ideas for giving” See it here.

Wetlands cleanup and a slice: Get a chance to see a little-visited area of the Los Cerritos Wetlands and get free slice of Z Pizza for joining in a Save Our Beach cleanup on Friday. The deets from Kim Masoner: “Just show up at 9 a.m. this Friday at 10 Pacific Coast Hwy in Seal Beach. Park diagonally along access road on 1st Street just N of Pacific Coast Hwy and walk to blue canopy that says “Beach Cleanup”. We’ll walk back to the Los Cerritos Wetlands that no one ever gets to see!” RSVP with Kim at kim@saveourbeach.org or just show up.

Impact Seal Beach: Local churches and other organizations join for a day of service to the community. There will be sign-painting and flower and tree planting at various locations. Meet at Marina Center, at First Street and Marina Drive, at 8 a.m. Saturday. SeaCoast Grace Seal Beach (@scgsealbeach) says via twitter that more than 120 people from four different chruhes have already sighed up.Info.

Los Al High fundraiser: Here’s the Craigslist posting: “Huge 40 family rummage sale to send our Los Al Choir kids to Nashville Showchoir Nationals.” The sale is Saturday, from 6 a.m. to noon at the high school, at Los Alamitos Boulevard and Cerritos Avenue in Los Alamitos.

Saturday night on Main Street: Stop by Gallery 212 for “Live Sculpting with Tess Israelson” from 6 to 8 pm. Info.

Old Town Open House: Lisa McHenry at Knock Knock Toys and Gifts on Main Street invites you to join her shop’s holiday open house on Saturday and Sunday. Back Porch Designs, Home by the Seashore and Old Vintage Cottage also will participate in the festivities, offering discounts and free raffle drawings.

Bolsa Chica Clean Up: Surfrider’s Huntington Beach/Seal Beach chapter holds a beach clean on Saturday, from 8 a.m. to noon at Bolsa Chica State Beach, Tower 21. Free parking. Info.

Checkpoint cash: Seal Beach recieved a grant grant for about $44,000 to conduct eight sobriety checkpoints in the city between now and Sept. 6. At least one is scheduled between Dec. 16 and Jan 3. ocregister.com

Holiday plant talk: Rancho Los Alamitos Historic Ranch and Gardens offers a lecture, “Legends and Lore of Holiday Plants,” at 10 a.m. Nov. 21. A wreath-making workshop follows from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Info.

Yacht Club series begins Sunday. The Seal Beach Yacht Club’s annual Sunday Sailors Series starts Nov. 15. Other races in the series Nov. 29 and Dec. 13. The Gazette newspapers say the venerable series “has hosted racers from all over San Pedro Bay for both good sailing and good times in their clubhouse afterwards.” The regatta is open to anyone belonging to a recognized yacht club. Details at gazettes.com and sealbeachyc.org.

Keeping up: The Press-Telegram is now on Facebook. Canalis Report.

A year ago this month, we started Seal Beach Daily as an experiment in hyperlocal community blogging. The response has been tremendous in Seal Beach and far beyond. SBD not only engaged local readers, but it has prompted other media outlets to pay more attention to our corner of Northwest Orange County. We hope that interest continues.

We began with an agreement to publish Seal Beach Daily for one year and then see where we stood. And here is where we are: With its warm community reception and a cadre of loyal followers and advertisers, SBD has grown steadily, but it doesn’t yet produce enough income to support the expansion — in staff or features — that is vital to its continuing quality.

This left us with a tough decision. Where should we go with this intriguing, demanding project? Careful analysis of traffic trends, growth plans, budget requirements, and our other work commitments pointed to a reluctant conclusion: It’s time for us to stop publishing Seal Beach Daily.

This was not an easy call. We are devoted to our community. We loved and sweated SBD into existence and we do not let it go lightly, but we are guided by practical considerations, especially concerning our ability to go forward with a publication of the highest caliber.

So, we will be winding down the site over the next weeks and will stop publishing on Nov. 30. Kate will return to her design, consulting and fine arts business and this month Donna begins a new job as managing editor at a major media company.

We thank all of our daily visitors for their extraordinary enthusiasm and participation during the past year. We are especially grateful to our advertisers who were willing to try something new, extending themselves and their businesses to support online community journalism when it was wholly untried in our area. Of course, there are standout people who deserve our special thanks for their contributions: Duane Uyeda, Peggy Morrison, Kim Masoner, JoAnn Adams, Maj Harmon, Erik Dreyer-Goldman and Seth Eaker. The dynamic Lani Beggs has our undying appreciation.

Our friends and partners at the Orange County Register on Monday rolled out their new website, which includes a Northwest Orange County community news page. We’d like to point you to those efforts and encourage you to contact the Register to let them know what you’d like to see covered in the community.

With sincere thanks,
Kate and Donna

From the ScienceDude: “The USS Sterett, who one of newest and most sophisticated guided-missile destroyers on the West Coast, has docked at the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station…” Learn more at ocregister.com.