CHRIS MACDONALD NEWS FEB.22, 2021

2021 Newsletters

Hello Friends,

Huntington Beach Mayor Kim Carr Said: Residents can tune into our Virtual Town Halls every first and Third Wednesday of The Month at 6pm. You can catch the City's Facebook Page and You Tube Page. The next topic will be on how to get your vaccination.
From the desk of City Council Member Barbara Delgleize:

Our virtual city council meeting last Monday night we had a Joint Study Session with our Planning Commission and City Council to receive an overview on the 6th Cycle Housing Element process and public outreach plan. The plan can be complicated and the city plans to do more public outreach.

Mayor Kim Carr proclaimed the month of March 2021 as Women's History Month.

E-Bike Enforcement Practices on the Beach Pedestrian Path Presentation was provided by Sean Crumby, Director of Public Works.

A lot of comments were received on this issue especially since E-bikes have become so popular. With COVID-19 many people just seeking to get outside and enjoy the fresh air and provided a huge upswing in bicycle riding. Due to the high speeds attained sometimes on the bike path the safely of our pedestrians and slower riders must be considered. Mr. Crumby will bring back to council some solutions.

Orange County Transit Authority (OCTA) gave a insightful presentation on the status of the 405-Widening Project. It is really remarkable how much progress has been made. While some areas have gone just as planned there have been some delays as well. Due to reduced cars on the road over the last year with COVID-19 it is amazing how much work has been able to be done on a daily basis.

As requested by City Council the planning staff brought back a plan to establish Short-Term (STR) Permit Fees with the intention of covering the cities costs. By a 7-0 vote the permit fees to first two years $589.00 and permit fee year 3 - $306.00. An applications was made for Statewide Park Development and Community Revitalization Program Funds for Carr Park Renovation.

We established a Consolidated Comprehensive Citywide Master Fee and Charges Schedule for Group Homes and Sober Living Homes & Hourly billing rates for Code Enforcement Services.

There was a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Huntington Beach Authorizing the Sales of Taxable Pension Obligation Bonds to Refund all or a Portion of the City's Obligation to the California Public Employees' Retirement System, and Authorizing the Execution and Delivery of a Bond Purchase Contract and a Continuing Disclosure Certificate and the Preparation of the an Official Statement and Other Matters Related. Approved 4-3 (Peterson, Ortiz, Posey-No) as amended to refinance 85% of the overall UAL debt load; and, revise Ex A of Resolution No. 2021-19 (Unfunded Accrued Liability Pension Funding Policy) by increasing the first year POB debt service payment savings in the Section 115 Trust to 100%, and 50% thereafter (which would then continue in perpetuity, and would be adjusted annually by CPI)

Mark your calendars for our annual City of Huntington Beach & Kiwanis Easter Egg Hunt being held this year as a drive through event in and through our Sports Complex. Saturday, April 3rd, 9am to 5pm.

Spring is in the air may it sunshine into your hearts…Be well, Council Member Delgleize

Huntington Beach City Historian Jerry Person Presents Remembering When: Jake and Mary Reed
This week we'll remember a truly remarkable member of a pioneering Huntington Beach family and to some early residents the First Lady of Huntington Beach.

When Mary Reed came here Huntington Beach was just a tiny beach town called Pacific City had just been organized and we will be remembering the life of this remarkable woman.

Mary's father was born in Missouri and her mother in Iowa at a time when our country was growing westward in the early 1800s. These two families each crossed the plains in covered wagons pulled by ox teams and each struggled to cross the rugged Rocky Mountains.

They both arrived in California to settle in the Sacramento Valley where they both homesteaded the land and worked the fields. Mary's parents were married in 1858.

Mary was born in 1863 in Sutter County, but the family soon moved to the San Diego area where Mary's father farmed 160-acres of land. When I see school buses picking up children to bring them to school a half-mile away, I wonder how they would like to walk five miles to school and five miles back home. That is just what Mary had to do each day because all the horses on her parent's farm were needed to pull the plow. But through it all Mary received a fine and proper education.

During this time Mary met a handsome older man by the name of Jacob T. Reed and in a short time the two were wed in 1882. Mary and Jacob (Jake) farmed in and around Valley Center near San Diego for several years.

The Reeds moved to Fountain Valley in 1897 before the townsfolkes changed the name to Talbert. Three years later the Reeds pulled up stakes and relocated their home to Westminster to live on the old Edward's ranch. Jake and Mary operated a dairy for a short time on land where Westminster Memorial Park is located today.

On April 1, 1903 the Reeds moved to Pacific City (Huntington Beach) to live. They saw that the small town needed a restaurant and a good hotel, so they rented a two-story house on Pacific Coast Highway between 2nd and 3rd street from John N. Anderson.

They fixed up the house into Pacific City's first bed and breakfast, with the top half housing the rooms for the Pacific Hotel and the bottom half for their restaurant. Mary would do the cooking for the guests that stayed there.

At this time there were only about 12 families living here but when the town changed its name to Huntington Beach and with the backing of Henry Huntington, people began coming down in greater numbers on the old Pacific Electric red car. Business boomed and kept Mary busy at her restaurant.
In 1904 Jake Reed became one of the first five constables in Huntington Beach. Jake's revolver that he carried as a constable was recently donated to our police department and one of their officers in the department is working on a way to display both its history and the revolver in the police station

In 1905 Jake was also made manager of the Huntington Beach Company's ranch.

Clara Christianson, Pacific City and Huntington Beach's first schoolteacher boarded at Reed's hotel and so did H.B.'s first storekeeper and postmaster Walter Smith.

Before Henry Huntington built the Huntington Inn on the corner of Eighth Street and PCH, the men who laid the tracks for the red car stayed at Reed's Pacific Hotel.

Mary, along with a few ladies were instrumental in starting the first school upstairs in a building in the first block of Main Street. These ladies also cleaned and equipped a small wooden building near 3rd and Walnut that became the site of Huntington Beach's first library.

Mary relocated her restaurant in several locations in town and later operated a curio shop on the same site where years before she helped start the library. Mary became a charter member of the Huntington Beach Woman's Club and an officer in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union that tried to keep H.B. dry of the demon rum.

During World War I, Mary served in the Women's Relief Corps No. 110 and was still an active charter member during World War II. In 1943 the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce awarded Mary a Life Membership in its organization.

One of Mary's pastimes was taking old newspapers and used these to make things into different objects. Some of these artworks were exhibited in hobby shows all around Southern California.

Mary and Jake lived on Walnut Avenue and they were the parents of six children- Muryle, Martha, Eulallia, Grace, Minnie and Wesley. Minnie world later give birth Chief Lifeguard and Fire Chief Delbert "Bud" Higgins.

Mary's devotion to her town and family extended throughout her entire life in Huntington Beach.

Today there are no plaque or marker to this remarkable woman, but Mary Reed was a truly gifted woman and a woman that Huntington Beach can be very proud to have had a part in its history.
You can always e-mail Jerry your History questions at: hbnews@hbquik.com .

Many Thanks for reading this Newsletter, Chris MacDonald

Website: calcoasthomes.com

E-Mail: justlisted@yahoo.com