STEVE SMITH -- What’s up

It was something we never thought possible, but there they were. After

a wild dinner at an Italian restaurant in Tustin, Cay and I and friends

Kathy and Dave Miller and Jodi and Matt Coker wandered into the Starbucks

Coffee on Harbor Boulevard and Adams Avenue. Slouching there in the

store, the home of high-octane refreshments, were two people fast asleep.

How anyone could snooze after a cup of that joltin’ joe is beyond me.

***

Just around the corner from the Starbucks is the construction site for

Standard Pacific’s new, hard-fought Mesa Verde homes. I could not help

but notice how ironic it is that a mile down the street, residents fought

ICI Development tooth and nail to prohibit the improvement of Harbor

Center and the addition of a Home Depot. Yet, at Mesa Verde, these new

homes are being built so close to another busy shopping center that

anyone with a long arm could touch it. Here in the new Mesa Verde

development there is a waiting list for home buyers. What a difference

two years makes.

***

Here’s a special note to the citizenship screening crowd, whose

arguments include claims that our schools are declining and our property

values are falling because we are overrun with undocumented residents. A

friend of mine who is a real estate agent on Costa Mesa’s Westside sent

me a note about a listing on Oak Street in Canyon Park, only moments away

from the store on 19th Street where Cay bought last year’s exceptional

Christmas tamales. The home is a nice three-bedroom, one-bath place that

lists for $294,000.

My interest piqued, I e-mailed my friend and asked her how much the

home was worth a year ago. Here is her reply: “I sold a house [in the

same neighborhood] with the exact same floor plan, in similar condition,

about 1 1/4 years ago for $235,000. Some say it might have gone for

$240,000 in Jan. 2000.” So much for our declining property values.

And our declining schools? Sorry, screeners, those numbers are going

up too. In fact, it was just announced that the school district is

receiving $870,000 in state funds as a reward for their achievement on

the last batch of tests. Nineteen schools get money, including Wilson,

Whittier, Victoria, Rea and Pomona elementary schools -- all of which are

on the Westside.

So it now seems the only thing declining here in Costa Mesa is the

strength of the arguments of those who can’t seem to find anything good

to say about the county’s best city. When Ingrid returns from her

honeymoon, she’ll be a new resident of Costa Mesa -- you know, that city

that no one could ever want to live in because it’s in such decline.

“I can’t wait to live in Costa Mesa!” Ingrid told me.

***

Cay has rounded up the books that Wendy Leece has asked be taken off

the Newport Harbor High School reading list, and we are reading them. I

disagree with those who have said we have no right to comment on these

books. When it comes to the curriculum in the district where our children

attend school, we have every right. Just because others disagree with us

doesn’t forfeit our right to speak. That’s censorship.

I’m still having trouble with this concept that Leece is trying to

exercise some form of censorship. Funny, when a school district bans

books that explain creationism, it’s not censorship, it’s “separation of

church and state.” But watching out for unsuitable material for minor

children -- even, perhaps, to the point of erring on the side of caution,

well, that’s obviously censorship.

And how interesting that some chose the statue of David to illustrate

the point. The story of David is a biblical one, so if we’re going to

show children the statue, we must also explain who he is. But, alas, we

can’t do that because his is a biblical story, and we have to keep church

and state separated. Once upon a time, we didn’t have to. Cay recalls a

book in her public school in Placentia titled “The Bible as Literature.”

I’ll repeat one point. The school district has delisted books before

without anyone screaming about censorship So, please, can we move away

from censorship and go to the real issue, which is a difference in

standards?

***

One final note to those who wish to label Leece’s request as a move by

the “religious conservatives.” Sorry, try again. I am far from a

religious conservative, and I agree with Leece, as do many other people

who are not “religious conservatives.” Can’t we simply be “concerned

parents,” or is it necessary to label us with what you believe is a bad

name?

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and freelance writer. Readers

may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at (949) 642-6086.