DeVore has a bigger responsibility While I...

DeVore has a bigger responsibility

While I disagree with Assemblyman Chuck DeVore’s proposal to keep

the mobile home tenants in place at El Morro, I applaud his candor

when he admits that to him “it’s entirely about the money and nothing

more.”

Entirely about the money. Nothing more than the money. Apparently

DeVore views it as his mandate to convert El Morro into a source of

revenue to fund the state budget.

True to his stripes, he cloaks himself in the garb of “fiscal

responsibility,” which in practice devalues any public asset that

fails to generate what he calls “a cash profit to the state,” and

dismisses the state’s obligation to hold and maintain parks in trust

for the public.

Somewhere along his path to the Assembly, DeVore reached the

conclusion that Californians don’t need a park at El Morro, because

parks aren’t financially self-supporting.

However, it seems to me that the more accurate assessment is that

Californians need state and local officials who respect their

obligation to establish a system of parks adequate to serve a growing

population and who demonstrate the leadership and courage necessary

to provide the funding to maintain those parks as a public trust.

JOHN BUTTOLPH

Newport Beach

Keep St. Andrew’s neighbors in mind

Just a short while ago, the city Planning Commission approved a

mega expansion of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church contingent upon

St. Andrew’s acquiring more parking in the Newport Harbor High

School.

This parking requirement was in addition to St. Andrew’s proposed

underground parking structure and building expansion. The reason the

city imposed this condition was the commission knew there would be a

substantial increase in traffic, parking congestion and street

congestion. That is the only reason St. Andrew’s is trying to acquire

parking in the school lot.

The project is so massive in its scope that it requires a zone

change, a conditional-use permit and a general-plan amendment. A

general plan is a government-imposed document designed to preserve

the basic qualities of life that a city and its neighborhoods seek to

preserve. The general plan helps to protect the residents with the

same quality of life they expected when they originally chose to

reside in the neighborhood. The general plan is not intended to be

revised each time a politically powerful applicant wants to grow.

As a parent of three students at Newport Harbor High School, both

recently and in the immediate future, I am concerned about traffic.

St. Andrew’s would lead you to believe that its parking proposal is

just about helping the school. It is really the other way around; the

proposal is about the school making it possible for St. Andrew’s to

overbuild the neighborhood at the expense of the community.

The last time St. Andrew’s expanded, church leaders said that

students would be allowed to use their parking lot. If one drives by

St. Andrew’s in the morning when the kids need the parking, more

often than not, one will often see St. Andrew’s posted signs that say

“No Student Parking Today.”

Did you know that many of St. Andrew’s membership consists of who

are not neighbors in the immediate area. Therefore, any expansion or

parking issues will not affect these people in that they live outside

the community. It is easy for the ‘out-of-area’ congregation to

gamble on a project when it cannot possibly have a negative effect on

them. Some people who are pro-church expansion tell me what a good

idea it is.

My questions are: Do you know the effects on the community, and do

you live in the neighborhood? Very few do.

FRANK ADLER

Newport Beach