Mailbag - Oct. 17, 2000

The new Bear Street bridge is a little disappointing. It’s a long walk

from one side of South Coast Plaza to the other, and a long walk back,

with shopping.

So why are there no people movers on the bridge, like at airports? It

would make the bridge a lot more shopper-friendly.

GRANVILLE KIRKUP

Balboa peninsula, Newport Beach

Not cawing over crow killing humor

Regarding Peter Buffa’s Oct. 6 column in the Daily Pilot about crows.

He has now contributed to the shooting of crows by kids with pellet guns

given to them by their families for sport target practice since thousands

read his weekly articles.

I do not find his humor funny, just irresponsible.

I do not like to hear the crows myself, as they are irritating, chase

other birds away, etc., and they drive me nuts. I absolutely do not like

that at all.

I understand that perhaps if some of them are actually killed, the

others will stay away since they are intelligent creatures. I do not like

that either.

I have never killed anything in my life, and hopefully by the time I

“kick the bucket” I can still proudly say the same thing.

I do not condone giving children guns for the sport of killing

something; it is barbaric in a civilized, educated society.

Now, some of his admirers will think it’s OK to let their kids target

practice on crows, since they are not valued according to his article. I

am certain kids with pellet guns killed geese, ducks and whatever else

they could practice on in 1999 and this year at TeWinkle Park. He is

condoning this behavior.

His article as a former Costa Mesa mayor shows a tremendous lack of

respect and irresponsibility to portray humor at the expense of others.

Wow, what family values!

PEGGY CALHOUN

Newport Beach

Letters clear up long time crow mystery

When I was a child, our next-door neighbor from Germany had shot a

crow and hung it high in one of the trees on his property. I never saw

any crows near our houses.

It wasn’t until I read the letters in the Daily Pilot that I realized

why.

CAROLYN CARR

Balboa Island

Art committee needs to hear whole story on open space

I was present at the Sept. 27 meeting of the City Council committee

meeting concerning the proposed arts and education center for the open

space site above the library. I did not see bias toward the group

proposing the center.

All the speakers in favor of the center were given all the time they

needed to expand on their views, to the point where the meeting went

beyond the two-hour time frame. When my turn came at 10:15, I was given

only two minutes and was not able to finish making my points.

I was trying to explain that the city had two agreements that made the

site open space: the 1991 library exchange agreement, and the 1992

circulation and open space agreement.

In addition, the city’s general plan identifies an 11-acre parks

deficiency in the Newport Center area, which would be rectified if the

open space above the library were turned into a park.

Also, if the arts center were to take 3.5 acres of this space, it

would be fair that the open space be replaced at another site, such as

the Lower Castaways, which still has development entitlements.

The Arts Foundation people seemed to say that raising $12 million for

the center would not be a problem. If this is the case, then it would

seem plausible that raising a few extra million to buy replacement open

space elsewhere, such as Lower Castaways, should also be possible, to be

fair to the citizens of Newport Beach.

If the arts and education center is built on the site, then perhaps

the foundation should also pay the park development cost on the rest of

the site, since they want nominally free use of the city’s land for the

center.

All things considered, however, it would be the best policy for the

city to abide by its previous two agreements and keep the site as open

space and make a park there.

The arts and education center can be built anywhere else, including

The Balboa Theater, the Corona del Mar High School campus, next to the

Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Center, etc.

The open space, when gone, is gone for good.

JAN D. VANDERSLOOT

Newport Beach