City honors residents who helped build gateway to Newport Beach

-- Noaki Schwartz

LIDO ISLE -- Residents who spent three years raising money to beautify

the entrance to the city were honored Wednesday with a small ceremony by

city officials.

“[It is] intended to be a view, telling you where you are when you

drive into the city of Newport Beach,” said Deputy City Manager Dave

Kiff.

Lido residents Helen Japenga, Gail Rosenstein and Jim Thomson raised

$217,000 to buy what was once a gas station and convert it and another

lot into Gateway Parks, which announces the entrance to the Balboa

Peninsula and Lido Isle.

“One of the neat things about Helen and Gail is they’ve really taken

ownership of this,” Kiff said. “They were out there in their grubbies

helping to place bricks. The other day they were out there weeding.”

The three residents raised money through donations from community

members who bought bricks, which line the edge of the park. The project,

which was finished in December, cost $365,000, with the city making up

the difference.

The parks serve the dual purpose of providing a stately entrance to

the some of the city’s unique communities as well as covering up some

less attractive sites. The Balboa park blocks an unsightly view of the

community’s pump station.