Countdown begins for council to follow-through Just...

Countdown begins for council to follow-through

Just before midnight Monday, the Costa Mesa City Council, on a 3

to 2 vote, finally approved plans for a skate park for this city.

Despite the protestations of Mesa del Mar residents, including

Planning Commissioner Katrina Foley, and the veiled threats of

potential dog bites by supporters of the Bark Park, the council made

a decision to build a skate park at the corner of Arlington and

Junipero drives, at the edge of TeWinkle Park. Councilmen Allan

Mansoor and Chris Steel voted no.

Congratulations to all those in this community who have struggled

for so long on this issue. As I watched the proceedings from the

comfort of my living room, it was clear that the many supporters of a

skate park somewhere -- anywhere -- in this city have become worn

down by the battles over the years. Many veterans of the “skate park

wars” have become disenchanted by rejection after rejection of

potential sites in the past. This process has taken so long that some

of them have grown from children to young men before our eyes.

An amusing side bar was the rebuke issued by Mayor Gary Monahan to

Steel as he, once again, attempted to float some kind of a joint

venture with Newport Beach as an alternative option. Steel had not

done his homework on this issue, but Monahan had, so his wishy-washy

proposal was exposed as a smoke screen -- an attempt to thwart the

proposal at hand.

Thanks to our mayor for delivering the well-deserved verbal back

of his hand to our vacuous mayor pro tem. Voters in this city can be

heartened by the fact that his term of office ends in 12 months,

which may seem like a lifetime for some of us. Another moment of

levity occurred when Councilman Mike Scheafer commented, after the

vote, that residents in Mesa Verde and other areas of the city just

breathed a sigh of relief because the park was not proposed for their

neighborhoods.

While this may be true, studies show that we actually need more

than one park, so those “easy breathers” might give that some

thought. It may be their turn next.

So, the process is in motion. Skaters can look forward to specific

plans being proposed in the near future. It will be interesting,

indeed, to see just how long it actually takes before the first

skater grinds a rail or does an “Ollie” at the TeWinkle Skate Board

Park.

GEOFF WEST

Costa Mesa

An ax to grind about skateboarding picture

I think it was extremely irresponsible of your photographer to

take a picture of those boys skateboarding, and it was extraordinary

irresponsible of your editor to publish the picture. The boys, you

can make out the sign that says no skateboarding on the board walk

and you people continue to show pictures of people doing things that

they are not supposed to do. I would hope that you would publish

something in the paper that says skateboarding on the pier is

illegal. And I don’t think you should encourage illegal behavior in

children.

HELEN DINKINS

Newport Beach