mailbag - Oct. 24, 2000

Don’t forget, there is more to life than Greenlight

Voters need to put a red light on Newport Beach City Council

candidates campaigning on traffic issues.

This emotionally charged topic is easy to associate with candidate

forums and public statements, but the issue will already be decided when

they take office.

Yield to the need for emphasis from candidates to focus on issues such

as our precious bay, John Wayne Airport, aging infrastructure and

business districts, water quality and quality of life.

Stop focusing candidates on traffic issues that will be decided at the

same election. We need council members who don’t walk away from common

sense or merge with big developers.

We need a median approach that brings balance. Let’s not wish we could

make a U-turn after elections because we couldn’t hear enough of our

candidates’ positions on other campaign issues.

However near and dear the traffic and development problems are for all

residents, there is life after Greenlight.

NANCY KELLY

Newport Beach

Shedding light on the good work of the disabled

I want to thank the Daily Pilot and Alex Coolman for the very

thoughtful article on the disabled in the Sat., Oct. 14 edition of the

Daily Pilot.

Every time an article is written about Vantage or people with

disabilities, I hold my breath, worrying that the journalist won’t “get

it.”

Not only did Coolman capture the energy and excitement of the work

day, in very few words and no pictures, he captured the personality of

our organization and the people we support.

I hope this and his other articles encourage employers to hire people

who may not seem to fit the bill at first glance. Diverse workplaces,

like ecosystems are healthier!

DEBRA MARSTELLER

Vantage

Costa Mesa

Loss of watering holes bemoaned

Regarding the editorial in the Daily Pilot on Oct. 14, “The Day the Music Died,” I am still mourning the death of a few smaller, quieter

“neighborhood” bars.

Remember Aliso’s at the corner of Newport Boulevard and 17th Street,

and El Pescador at 17th and Tustin and Gino’s across the street?

They catered to an older crowd and probably ended up not being

profitable in this time of valuable property and expensive rents.

Gone like the buggy whip, I guess.

BETTS HARLEY

Costa Mesa