Try on someone else’s shoes before...

Try on someone else’s shoes before judging

I was dismayed to read the letters written by the unhappy

neighbors of the family who takes in special-needs kids and wishes to

enlarge their home (“Building blocks,� Aug. 28).

As the wife of attorney Jack H. Anthony, whose offices are in

Santa Ana but serve people all over Southern California, I have seen

all kinds of children and adults who need care that very few people

can or will provide. Some of his clients are children who have been

disabled in accidents or tortured, abused and molested in foster care

or group homes. Many of these kids are special needs kids, who are

far more likely to be abused than the general population.

The people who actually do take care of these kids deserve our

utmost support. Otherwise, the kids could be scattered, left without

special services, and their lives put at risk, at a far higher

financial cost to taxpayers than a loving family setting.

Jack and I have been humbled by the challenges his clients face,

and by the devotion of those who care enough to take them on.

Perhaps the lives of these complaining neighbors would be enriched

beyond measure were they to leave their comfortable, “normal-sized�

homes and take one of these children for a walk down the street or

out for an ice cream cone. Then they might see why a family with nine

special-needs kids need three people to help out, and what the

parents actually “do for a living.�

CHRISTINA ANTHONY

Newport Beach

Make Costa Mesa skate park work this time

The front page news of thoughtful teaming between the Costa Mesa

City Council and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District (“Costa

Mesa skate park idea revived,� Tuesday) is exciting. Let’s hope that

an agreement can be established quickly and the park planning and

building set in motion quickly. Ten years have slipped away already.

A well-planned park will be an asset to the city as well as to the

avid skateboarders in our city. The park should be fit into an

overall recreational development plan that covers the area that

include the Farm Sports Complex, Orange Coast College facilities,

Costa Mesa High, Davis Elementary, the ROP school, TeWinkle Park, and

the possible annex of some or all of the Fairgrounds for city

recreational requirements. The skate park sounds like a great next

step.

BILL JORTH

Costa Mesa

Long Beach flights exist over Westside

I do not accept the Long Beach Airport spokeswoman’s position that

the increase in flights directly over the Mesa Verde area of Costa

Mesa are associated with an airport other than Long Beach (A Closer

Look, “Resident ask, ‘whose flight is it anyway?’� Monday).

They are not and [Long Beach Airport spokeswoman] Sharon

Diggs-Jackson knows it.

When JetBlue Airways began operating flights out of Long Beach

Airport on Aug. 29, 2001, the increase in total airplanes over Costa

Mesa rooftops was immediate and dramatic. Inbound routes to Long

Beach over the Westside that were once used sparingly became the

routine approach path for JetBlue. And once JetBlue had “reopened�

these routes, other carriers operating out of Long Beach shifted to

them as well.

The relationship between JetBlue launching and the total volume of

flights over Westside Costa Mesa increasing over the past year is

direct and irrefutable. Stating otherwise shows an in-depth lack of

knowledge of the situation and/or a desire to cloud the facts. I

strongly suggest the management of the Long Beach Airport put forth a

more reliable, candid and credible representative to work with Costa

Mesa and Long Beach residents on this issue.

TONY STALLINGS

Costa Mesa

Property rights still exist at Mesa Verde center

This is regarding the Sunday editorial (“Costa Mesa needs to add

some fun�).

The Mesa Verde center in Costa Mesa has seen the downfall of the

cinemas and ice skating rink, and the dilapidated bowling alley is on

its last leg. Yet your editorial is against the proposed Kohl’s

department store and favors entertainment uses at the site.

Entertainment uses have not been supported by the public at this

site and that is why the buildings stand vacant. Councilman Chris

Steel favors a skate park at the site. Who will cover the economic

shortfall, the city? Will Steel write out a check himself? Or is the

owner of the property expected to eat the difference for the benefit

of skateboarders everywhere?

The property is zoned for commercial uses such as the Kohl’s

project and will bring the highest value to the owner, yet a few feel

their wishes should override market forces. To them this sounds fine,

as long it is not their rights that are being violated.

If Steel is such a skate park fan and feels that property rights

should take a back seat to the greater good, why doesn’t he bulldoze

his own house and build a skate park? He will then get his dream of a

skate park without tramping all over the property rights of others.

MARK LES

Costa Mesa