MAILBAG - Dec. 9, 1999

Your editorial was well stated but too kind (“Newport Beach should cut

first, tax later,” Dec. 4). While the hand-wringing over layoffs at City

Hall was going on in 1994 to 1996, the head count dropped 13% while the

total payroll increased 5%. At the same time, the average salary and

benefits figures per employee increased 20%. It wasn’t the high-priced

dudes that took the hit, was it? No one at City Hall wants to take on the

expensive side of the ledger. Only the revenue side. We have the worst

performance in the county on privatization. Rather than privatize, we

bureaucratize the ambulance service. We talk about labor contracts for

summer lifeguards. We put marine safety personnel on the same incredibly

costly labor contracts as firemen. Fire personnel cost us more than

$105,000 per year, per person in salary and benefits, while police, who

get shot at and shop for groceries on their own time, cost no more than

$85,000. The last time I checked, the principal at Newport Elementary, a

PhD, cost us less than $83,000. The opportunity is on the expense side

and in the 65% of the operating budget that is allocated to employees’

salary and benefits.

TOM HYANS

Newport Beach

All they ask for is notice

Please note that we express our concern regarding the new development on

the North Ridge. When we purchased our property more than a year ago,

both the previous owner and the estate agent assured us that there would

be no development on the ridge and specifically on the slope facing us,

as this was a consideration in purchasing. We had no notice of any

pending development and we feel deprived of our rights as residents of

having no say over the issue. We are not antidevelopment, but feel that

the project should have been presented to us so that any concerns could

have been addressed. The local residents should have been a party to any

outcome with the intent of it being beneficial to all. It appears as if

no proper environmental impact assessment was carried out and there does

not appear to be any environmental management plan. Clarity is required

on these matters, as we are the affected parties and concerned residents.

We urge you to suspend any further development, particularly on the ridge

facing us, and have the developer do a proper presentation of his

intentions. This so we can understand the impact and to discuss our

concerns and be a party to an amicable solution.

RON and PETA PALADIN

Newport Beach

When the Duke came home

Your article “Cowboys and inspiration,” Nov. 27, wrongfully implied that

John Wayne and his wife, Pilar, were residents of Newport Beach during

the 1940s. For the record, they were married Nov. 1, 1954, on Kona, and

lived in Encino. In 1965, while Duke was on location in Durango, Pilar

purchased a home for them in Bayshores, where he lived until his passing

in 1979.

BILL THOMSON

Costa Mesa