COMMUNITY COMMENTARY

Jim and Jan Garmon

We are opposed to the sale of the Balearic Park property for purposes of

real estate development. Our first choice is for the property to remain

with the Newport-Mesa Unified School District because it may well be

needed as a future school site, and once sold, it will be lost forever.

As the community population inevitably grows, space for additional school

classrooms will become increasingly difficult if not impossible to find.

If the only option open to the Newport-Mesa board is to sell the

property, then let negotiations begin immediately with the city of Costa

Mesa to purchase the property to retain it as a recreational park, since

for many years it has served well in that capacity.

There are other large issues. The Balearic property is an integral part

of its surrounding community of homes. It was a plus factor for those who

have chosen to buy homes and raise their families in the Mesa Verde

community. Residents did not buy their homes with the vision that

Balearic would eventually be covered over with more houses and streets,

more auto traffic, reduced safety and forever-lost space for adults and

children to enjoy.

It is simply not ethical nor in the best interests of the school district

or the community to open this land to development. Development would do

irreparable harm to quality of life as well as property values. That

these are not easy times for public education is an understatement. The

one-two punch of Prop. 13 and the Serrano-Priest bill are only two

factors among many which have narrowed the financial options and choices

of the school board and taken away much of local control.

At the January discussion meeting at the Balearic Center led by board

member David Brooks, it was clear that the residents of the Balearic

community don’t really want to hear a review of this sad legacy but

simply to know the bottom line. Additionally, over at least the recent

several years state legislation bills proposed to “fix” public education

in California seem to far outnumber any other single area of legislation.

It appears that almost everyone has an opinion about what is wrong with

public education and yet another remedy. The Newport-Mesa board,

administrators, teachers and staff are certainly to be commended for

their dedicated performance in the face of a steady stream of often

confusing, conflicting and ever-changing directives.

The board faces a tough choice, but should not yield to a short-term

quick fix. It should make every effort to save the Balearic property for

school or recreational use, which is the only rational option for the

best interests of the community in the long term.

* JIM and JAN GARMON are 35-year residents of the Mesa Verde area of

Costa Mesa.