COMMUNITY COMMENTARY -- Tom Moulson

There was a scent of Bolshevism in the Newport Beach City Council

chambers on Wednesday, as council members and the public debated a

Planning Commission proposal to review mega-house construction on the

Corona del Mar bluffs, consistent with a long-neglected 1988 council

ruling.

Protesters against house extensions, which could stretch from top to

bottom of the bluffs, seemed to think the interests of neighbors and

visitors stood for something against the property rights of existing

owners.

It’s true that many Newport Beach residents live in associations and

are accustomed to accepting limits on their uses of their own property in

the interests of their neighbors, but that’s not relevant here. For

people who own the lush properties on the bluffs, property rights are

absolute. Or should be.

One bluff-side property owner asserted -- and who can deny it? -- that

people who actually live on the bluffs care more about them than do the

people who only visit for an hour or two. Larger houses will be an

aesthetic improvement. Gaping visitors and aspiring artists who flock to

Lookout Point for the view will soon realize this.

I especially approve of the way Councilwoman Norma Glover castigated

the Planning Commission for its temerity in butting up against so-called

“policy.” In such touchy matters, they have no right to be doing their

job. She drew attention to the increased taxes the larger houses would

generate, and we all know Newport Beach needs every dollar.

Councilman Tod Ridgeway should be complimented for his perceptive

observation that since the city had made a mistake in neglecting to

implement its 1988 ruling, it would be a mistake to correct the mistake;

many lesser minds would have overlooked this truism.

Wisely, the council chose to put this issue on a back burner,

conscious that when one of the pending building proposals is approved,

the cat will be out of the bag and the whole issue will be moot. Smart

move.

All said, I am comfortable with this plutocratic council. May I

suggest a portrait of Ayn Rand be hung behind the council members’ seats?

* TOM MOULSON is a Corona del Mar resident.