FEEDBACK

With reference to the recent editorial (“Unfairly tainted library

foundation deserves support,” July 15) in the Daily Pilot relative to the

Newport Beach Public Library, we want to make sure that the Pilot and the

community receive a clear, accurate and current message. Both the Board

of Library Trustees and the Newport Beach Public Library continue on a

course of action designed to build the library to new heights based on

cooperative activities of fund-raising, the province of the Library

Foundation, and operations--the responsibility of the Board of Library

Trustees.

Old misunderstandings recirculated by the Pilot misinform the

community and really are old news. The past is, and should be, behind us.

Further publicity and articles are inappropriate and destructive. The two

bodies are working on areas of activity that require mutual planning; we

are both moving in a positive and fruitful manner. Please help us pursue

that growth that our community has every right to expect.

PATRICK BARTOLIC

Board of Library Trustees

LAWRENCE SPITZ

Newport Beach Public Library Foundation

Resident disagrees with Badham’s views on the Dunes

I notice an interesting trend in the letters from readers that concern

the Dunes hotel project. Those of us who live within two miles of the

proposed resort are dead set against it, while the Newport Harbor Area

Chamber of Commerce and those politicians who are willing to issue an

opinion are very much in favor of it.

The letter from former Rep. Robert E. Badham is typical of the

thinking that drives politicians and developers (“Readers sound off about

Dunes project,” June 29).

He says “the benefits [of growth, development and expansion] have been

obvious in commerce, creating wealth and a magnificent way of life.”

He also says “We have been without meeting facilities adequate to

service the numerous charitable and business functions attended by our

own citizens.”

Has Badham forgotten the Marriott, the Newporter, the Four Seasons,

the Sutton Place, the Radisson, the Balboa Bay Club, the Pelican Hill

Golf Club, and all the yacht clubs and private clubs that serve the

community and the tourist industry so admirably?

Newport Beach is not a big city by anyone’s standards, and another 470

hotel rooms is something that will benefit no one but Tim Quinn and the

Evans Hotels people.

Badham says “Let’s not let a selfish minority ‘pull up the gangplank’

and shut our community down.”

He obviously doesn’t live near the Dunes project, and he hasn’t taken

a good look around Newport in a while if he thinks our community is

shutting down.

BARRY COLE

Newport Beach

Reader says Smith is wrong to complain about scores

As I read Steve Smith’s article (“Maybe test scores have improved, but

not enough,” July 8), I was struck by his almost condescending attitude

toward the Stanford 9 test scores at Newport-Mesa Unified School

District.

I am not a teacher in Newport-Mesa. I am someone, however, who values

the job these teachers take on with little or no support from the

community. These teachers are often attacked with irrational jabs by

Smith. Smith is entitled to his opinion, but he has not been accurate

with his generalizations.

First, he goes off about the board member who stated that the

district’s students need to score in the 50th percentile. There is a huge

difference between 50%--half right and half wrong--and the 50 percentile,

a statistical average. In Stanford 9 figures, 50 percentile is considered

scoring at grade level. So in fact, the board wants all students to score

at grade level or above, not at 50%.

Second, Smith just touched very briefly on the fact that many of the

students who are scoring below grade level “are limited in their command

of the language.” He goes on to complain that on the West Side the

language programs are not working. Does Smith honestly believe that in

two years these students are gong to acquire enough of a command of our

most difficult language? Oh, by the way, most of these students only hear

English when they’re in a classroom, so they don’t even have two years of

English language development.

The third error in facts that Smith made was the comparison of the

same grade level at a school two years in a row. In order to compare

statistics properly you must follow the students, not the grade. You

cannot compare 1998 second-graders at Wilson Elementary School with the

second grade in 1999. You must compare 1998 second-graders with 1999

third-graders to get an accurate result of how the same kids did during

the school year. Otherwise, you are comparing two unlike items.

My advice to Smith is if he is unhappy with the product the district

is putting out, then move. I for one am satisfied with the end result of

what Newport-Mesa does with our children.

KEN COOPER

Costa Mesa

The future really will have more traffic

There was an excellent article on this issue of growth in Newport

Beach (“The best-laid plan,” July 17) but I would like to correct one

typo in the article.

I am quoted as saying that because the general plan of Newport Beach

allows another 20% of growth in our city, we can expect another one

person for every one who is already here. The correct number is one more

person for every four people who live here.

Even this modified number is staggering. Imagine every traffic jam and

every bank teller line with another one person in it for every four who

are already there. Now add the growth and traffic which would be

generated by the currently proposed chances to the general plan such as

the Dunes hotel, a huge new building for Conexant and a new Koll Center.

The article is certainly correct in saying that the Newport Beach of the

future will be bigger, denser and trickier to get around.

SUSAN SKINNER CAUSTIN

Newport Beach