TERRY MULLINS -- Community commentary

Congratulations to our honorable Newport Beach City Council members

for their fine work to mitigate the noise and chaos that are ongoing

problems for West Newport residents.

I’m not referring to their attack on “drug-dealer alley” (most

anywhere from 46th to 54th streets), which I believe is home to the

area’s most “in your face, move if you don’t like it” partying. That’s

clearly a lifestyle and property-value issue.

For sure, I’m not thinking of any neighborhood cleanup programs or

elimination of aboveground utility lines and extensive tree-planting

programs.

Nor even the rapid revitalization, a little farther south, of downtown

Balboa into a locals- and tourist-friendly commercial area, similar to

Marine Avenue on Balboa Island.

Surely the council is heavily behind the planned restoration of the

Balboa Theatre and any attempts to, say, offer incentives to

artists/galleries--which are being priced out of Laguna Beach--to come

add a little cachet to the vision for the theater and the surrounding

neighborhood.

Actually, none of the above seems to come under the council members’

apparently myopic vision.

But we are getting rid of those pesky, mostly low-key surf

contests--one of the more physically/mentally healthy pursuits for mostly

younger surfers.

I used to live near the jetties that attract these contests, and I

have never observed any rowdiness by these focused young Californians.

These surfers are less likely than many other groups I’ve observed using

our beach to leave significant amounts of trash on the sand.

It should be noted here that the surf contests held in West Newport

tend not to be publicized and are not oriented to drawing spectators.

True, other surfers -- and often beach runners and walkers or just plain

neighbors like I was--do sometimes wander over to watch for a few

moments.

Most of us would have been in the vicinity anyway. These contests are

so much a positive, natural, traditional part of that neighborhood.

Not to worry, though, the kids will have a little free time to shop

some of the aforementioned “home businesses” in the 40s and 50s blocks on

Neptune or River avenues.

Such an absurd way to govern.

But then we’ve all seen the council’s sitcom on public access

television.