Community Commentary -- STEVEN E. BRIGGS

Your editors and reporting staff need to get over their misreading of

the public interest and sentiment on Greenlight.

On March 25, your editorial’s headline stated, “Lexus Stopped At

Greenlight in Newport Beach.” What followed was a slanted and at times

petulant editorial predicated upon the belief that but for Greenlight,

there would be a Lexus dealership in Newport Beach.

This editorial was preceded a few days earlier by another front page

article with the same theme.

A closer reading of that article, however, revealed a quote attributed

to David Wilson indicating that he had not found any land in Newport

Beach suitable for a Lexus dealership in the first place.

What followed were Wilson’s general views on Greenlight with

absolutely no reference to a specific site that he had considered for a

dealership.

These two pieces accorded such high priority in your paper during the

last several days and leave the clear impression that Wilson selected a

site for his dealership, considered the application process, including

the Greenlight requirements and then elected to abandon that project.

If that is true, how about telling us where the site was.

If it is not true, then why write articles and the editorials in the

manner they were written?

Wilson is a fine automobile dealer. I have purchased an automobile

from him and told him so.

Wilson also owns approximately 10 apparently successful automobile

dealerships. It is interesting to note that it is not claimed that Wilson

said he could not afford the application process including Greenlight. He

merely pointed out that he was not the size of the Irvine Co.

The Daily Pilot failed during the election process to sense the true

feeling of the community about growth and congestion.

You came out against Greenlight shortly before the election with an

editorial position timed for maximum influence.

As you know, an overwhelming majority of the voters approved

Greenlight.

It is time for a community newspaper to take the same positive

approach that most of the City Council is taking toward working with this

program and to stop publishing the laments of Richard Luehrs and Dennis

O’Neil on an issue that has been decided.

It would have been much more interesting, useful and appropriate if

you, as a community newspaper, had elected to accord the same prominence

to the achievement of Newport Beach resident Alan Fell, who ran 65 miles

on his 65th birthday on Saturday, March 24.

* STEVEN E. BRIGGS is a Newport Beach resident.