Mailbag - Jan. 20, 2001

Why not use lobbyists to help us open the former El Toro Marine Corps

Air Station to aviation use (“Supervisors to hire El Toro lobbyists for

$1.16 million,” Jan 5)?

Just transferring ownership from the federal government to Orange

County is no guarantee that we will ever have an airport at El Toro. In

fact, transferring ownership before we have regular flights may be an

impediment to realizing a commercial airport there.

If ownership is transferred to Orange County without current aviation

use, this will only intensify the efforts of developers to gain control

of that valuable property.

For example, they and their paid consultants could whip up the

anti-airport frenzy, leading to the impeachment of pro-airport

supervisors and replacing them with puppets who would favor anti-El Toro

airport developers.

We must prevent such a scenario from happening. We need El Toro as an

Orange County airport.

DONALD NYRE

Newport Beach

Homeowner defends encroachment issue

After reading Steve Smith’s column (“It’s my turn to encroach on

Fairview Park encroachers,” Jan. 6), I feel that I must write in order to

defend myself and my neighbors with regard to the accusation that we are

stealing public land.

Here are some quick facts on this situation:

* These homes on Swan Drive were built in 1965 and originally sold

without a rear fence or wall. It was up to the homeowner to build one. In

most cases, the property line was located somewhere on a steep grade down

to a flood control channel.

* This land is a forgotten sliver of what is now called Fairview Park.

The state owned the land back when the first homeowners moved in. They

sold it to the county in 1973, and Costa Mesa purchased it in 1986.

* The property in question is a narrow -- about 30 feet wide --

dead-end strip of property bordered on one side by the flood control

channel with a very unattractive rusted, bent up, old chain-link fence.

Bordering the other side is a slope up to our rear property walls. The

majority of the land that is flat and usable is encumbered by an

ingress/egress easement to the benefit of the county and water districts.

Nothing will ever grow or can be built there because of the occasional

trucks that drive through there.

* The owners of this property have neglected it for more than 35

years, but several homeowners have been keeping it weed-free, saving the

owners thousands of dollars in maintenance costs. When we were served

notice in April, our maintenance was put on hold, which is why it didn’t

look so nice to Smith.

* The city has stated in print -- see the city’s Fairview Park master

plan -- and in public hearings that it has no intention of ever improving

the property.

Unfortunately, thanks to the recent publicity, I’ve seen several

families and young kids doing what Smith and his family did -- illegally

riding on the dangerous “no trespassing” county access road above the

channel to see what all the fuss is about.

Your “slow news day” story is now encouraging readers to trespass into

the channel, and it’s only a matter of time before a child falls into the

rocks and gets hurt.

Please remind your readers if they want to see this famous strip of

land, they should come in from Placentia Avenue instead of the channel

access road.

TIM CROMWELL

Costa Mesa

Editorial sends the wrong message

I religiously read the Daily Pilot and was appalled at the editorial

espousing the thought that noncitizens should have the right to

participate in our government (“Don’t dishonor those who fought to end

bigotry,” Jan. 13).

This thinking is endemic with the liberalism that is pervasive

throughout our country.

Today, there is no responsibility to do the right thing -- “If it

feels good, it is OK.” There seems to be no need for accountability and

the “rule of law” no longer is important, as evidenced by your suggestion

that it should no longer be required for a person to be a citizen to hold

an appointed office.

I understand and appreciate the tremendous influx of Latinos into the

United States and specifically Southern California.

This flight from poverty and the necessity to provide for one’s family

is basic. But we are a nation of laws and the thought that citizenship no

longer is important to participate in our government troubles me deeply.

I don’t understand your thought process, as suggested in the

editorial, that we, as a nation and as a community, should not screen

people to see if they are citizens.

Your editorial is evidence that we are slowly drifting away from our

Constitution and “nation of laws.” Have we become a feel-good people, no

longer accountable, no longer responsible for our actions?

I think the editorial does a disservice to those of us who are

citizens and sends the wrong message to those who are not citizens.

God bless those people who want to come to America for a better life

for their family. But they have a responsibility to obey the laws that

govern our country.

One of the requirements to enjoy this wonderful and prosperous way of

life is to become a citizen, be accountable and to make a contribution to

the well-being of our country.

To suggest that city appointees do not have to meet certain

requirements erodes our rule of law.

ROBERT SCHARNELL

Newport Beach