Quality of life gets worse, little bit...

Quality of life gets worse, little bit by little bit

It has come to my attention that the City Council is addressing a

project of great enormity, the 161 apartments to be located at 1901

Newport Blvd. on a 3.6-acre parcel. This project is proposed to be

four stories high and will include a parking structure five stories

high in the center.

This, as I understand it, is to be part of our redevelopment plan;

however, when I have asked people what they think about it, very few

are aware of the proposal. I find it sad that Costa Mesa’s residents

have not been adequately appraised nor given the opportunity to voice

their opinion.

I am writing this letter because I am so concerned with the

direction the city of Costa Mesa is taking its residents. Every nook

and cranny will soon be filled with businesses, and more high-density

housing is on the horizon.

Please answer me one question: What are we going to do with all

the traffic? Anyone using the intersection of Newport Boulevard and

19th Street today sees a terrible traffic clog. What will happen if

this condo goes in? The projected amount of trips per unit per day is

six. To my simple calculations, this means 966 more cars per day.

And, of course, all you have to do is drive the streets of Costa Mesa

to realize the projections are extremely conservative.

I also have heard comments regarding “additional” high-density

housing along 19th Street. This will put the age-old topic of the

19th Street bridge back on the table. To mitigate the traffic, the

natural selection in my opinion is a bridge.

Some of you may remember the controversy regarding the IKEA

project. People were told the Gisler bridge was out of the question

and would be removed from the county’s master plan. Well, that is not

true. As a matter of fact, it is still very much alive, with our

sister cities more in favor than not. With the opening of IKEA in the

near future, and the congestion of our streets unbearable, what then?

I think our city should slow down and consider that each step it

takes impacts us all. Where do we want to be in 10, 20 or 30 years?

Realize that one high-density project here, one more business there,

doesn’t seem much, but the accumulation is great.

ARLENE JONES

Costa Mesa

Costa Mesa needs to get serious about CenterLine

This is a message I delivered to the Costa Mesa City Council:

This is an urgent appeal to you City Council members, the audience

here and those at home for you to make a phone call or calls.

The future of the CenterLine light rail system is hostage to a

vote of Irvine residents on June 3.

CenterLine, planned to go from Irvine (at UC Irvine), through John

Wayne Airport, Costa Mesa and ending in Santa Ana’s transportation

center, initially, is hostage to the vote in Irvine. CenterLine can

be a tremendous benefit to Costa Mesa -- to business at South Coast

Plaza, Metro Point and South Coast Metro; to reductions in traffic

and parking for the tens of thousands of employees in the area’s

multiple office and retail buildings; to patrons of the several

present and future arts centers; and for concurrent reduction in smog

and asbestos dust, hence cleaner air for us all. To the above, add

the benefit of a reduction of all the vehicle traffic merely passing

through our city to these destinations.

My appeal to each of you is to call all your friends in Irvine and

urge them to vote June 3: Yes on Measure A and No on Measure B. Your

calls can make this be a win-win for all of us, and especially for

our children and grandchildren.

Our Costa Mesa City Council voted 5 to 0 in support of the

CenterLine light rail system. If we don’t ensure approval, we may not

get another chance for a decade or two.

FRANK FORBATH

Costa Mesa

Newport needs to find places for affordable housing

The city of Newport Beach should support the state of California’s

Department of Housing and Community Development’s housing

requirements. The Housing Element law has set forth these standards

several years ago.

The city has an obligation to not only address the question of how

it will provide affordable housing for low-income people, but should

facilitate the building of these units in the city. The city should

create a fair share of this type of housing.

The definition of low-income as presented by the Daily Pilot

article is 80% of county median income, or $60,500. This would

include police and fire personnel, teachers, clerks and others who

work in the city providing services for our community residents. This

group of people would like to choose to live here as well as work

here.

The City Council must exercise the political will to implement

housing policies that will enable developers to create this type of

housing.

The Orange County Grand Jury made a study and report on the need

for affordable housing two years ago. It gave suggestions on how the

county of Orange and the city of Newport Beach could bring about more

affordable housing. Where there is a will there is a way.

JOSEPH BOYLE

Corona Del Mar