Mailbag - Feb. 17, 2000

Library user sides with foundation in dispute

Thanks to the Steve Marble column (“Shhhhh ... the library trustees are

fighting,” Feb. 2) and Lucille Kuehn’s article (“Clearing the air about

library foundation,” Feb. 3) in your paper, it has become very clear to

this “constant reader” and grateful user of our library that the Library

Foundation has the right of way in this unnecessary dispute with the

Library Board of Trustees.

When we first used the library in back of the Corona del Mar grammar

school on Dahlia Street, we never envisioned that our library would

become such a great asset to all of Newport Beach. It is a matter of

gratitude from us citizens that we have the privilege to use this source

available to all.

The few people who have brought this resource to fruition have done the

work for all of us. We want the monies used for content, not for columns

or arches or other exterior nonnecessities.

Thank you for keeping us informed.

IRMELI DESENBERG

Corona del Mar

Bond measures should require two-thirds vote

Joseph N. Bell (“Plain and simple, the majority’s will depends on Prop.

26,” Jan. 27) makes a case for changing the law on bond measures. The law

currently states that a 66% super majority is required to pass bond

measure, and Bell supports ballot Proposition 26 that would reduce this

requirement to a simple majority, or 51%.

I oppose this bond measure on the simple grounds that without the hurdle

of obtaining a super majority, the educational bureaucrats running the

government schools would make no effort to reform themselves or increase

accountability. One would have to live in a “fact-free zone,” as most

liberals do, to think that the educrats would deign to allow the public

to actually evaluate their performance unless we the people had a tight

hold on the purse strings. If and when we see that the educrats have

reformed, i.e., cut the bloated bureaucracy, focused on teaching English,

gone back to a basic education approach of reading, writing and

arithmetic, then a super majority will be happy to give the schools more

money. But to continue business as usual, no way.

CHRIS HAYDEN

Costa Mesa

Proposed arts center is at the core of library dispute

With regard to the dispute between the Board of Trustees of the Newport

Beach Public Library and the Library Foundation, an unemphasized point in

a recent Daily Pilot article (“Committee for arts center adds new

leader,” Feb. 8) explains the whole brouhaha.

The article noted that the foundation board strongly opposes the library

board’s proposal for a community arts center to be constructed on the

hillside land directly north of the library. This opposition apparently

has stirred Jim Wood and the library board to look for ways to criticize

and cripple the foundation, and attacks have proven to be false.

The idea of leaving the space above the library open with no more

development than a light pedestrian park is a good one, as that site has

one of a few remaining dramatic ocean views in Newport Beach, views that

should be left alone for everyone to enjoy, instead of being paved over

for an unneeded and unwanted project.

PETER J. and LINDA L. OETH

Corona del Mar