COMMUNITY COMMENTARY -- Darlene Maxson

This is what I think Councilman Chris Steel should do. He needs to

leave now. His attitude and ambitions don’t meet the needs of the city of

Costa Mesa and its people.

We don’t have a right to decide to make Costa Mesa into a Newport

Beach at the expense of the people who have always been here. Sometimes

when a person feels he or she has “made it,” he or she can lose sight of

the reality of the less fortunate.

Steel finally gets his seat on the City Council -- any way he could,

it seems -- and immediately begins his plans to take charge of the

Westside of Costa Mesa. This involves the audacity of wanting to do away

with low-cost and multiple housing, thus the “undesirable elements.”

I think it was simply his ultimate agenda he had in mind.

And, appropriately right at Independence week, I must say I personally

think it’s incredibly shallow and arrogant to suggest that eminent domain

would be a good tool for cleaning up -- or is the word “out” -- a

neighborhood to accomplish his agenda. Everyone has the right to their

home and neighborhood and to feel safe, even the poor, even the renters,

even the predominately Latino people who live in this part of town.

If there’s a problem in a neighborhood, perhaps there could be an

agreement that if a majority of the residents of a street or neighborhood

sign a petition among themselves and present it to the city, then the

city can notify a landlord or resident that they have a certain amount of

time to clean up their place or the city will arrange to have it done at

the owner’s expense. At least this way, cleaning up the neighborhoods can

be accomplished through the will of the people and be less susceptible to

abuse.

I also believe people have a right to convert their garage into an

additional, and needed, bedroom. Some city codes are necessary, some are

not. Freedom is getting to mean less and less, it seems, and certainly a

person should have some leeway on what they do with their own house as

long as it doesn’t adversely affect the neighbors and neighborhood.

The city can make plans on cleaning up the business districts, take

better care of the streets and keep up the high visibility of the police

presence. And to encourage the residents to take better personal interest

in their own community, perhaps it can be done by friendly posters or

handouts.

Certainly the residents should take pride in their own neighborhoods

by not littering and by encouraging others they see throwing trash along

the sidewalk to keep their community clean. There does need to be more

trash receptacles along 19th Street and a more frequent emptying of those

receptacles by the city. More lighting, would be nice, especially in

front of the darkened Department of Motor Vehicles area.

I wonder if some people who have accomplished their ambitions to some

extent can look back to their more “humble” times, maybe when they were

younger and newly starting out on their own, or perhaps married with

small kids. Many of us had little homes in diversified neighborhoods.

Just average, middle- to low-income neighborhoods.

For many, the big lovely homes and beautifully landscaped yards and

great jobs and pay will never be realized no matter how hard they work.

That doesn’t mean they don’t have their rights. I often walk through the

neighborhoods behind and around Bethel Towers, where I now happily live

in my retirement.

I see a bustling community, heavy pedestrian traffic, happy, playful

children, some neighborhoods have a lot of apartments, mostly attractive

and appearing well-maintained. Other neighborhoods are rows of small,

“cookie-cutter”-style homes, but mostly well-maintained, and obviously

individualized by proud owners. I find the people to be friendly and

nice, and I enjoy seeing so many happy children playing games in the

streets like we all used to do, remember?

And by the way, how often do you see daddies pushing baby strollers

through town in other areas?

This isn’t like Corona del Mar or Newport Beach, where I lived most of

my adult life, but it’s real. It’s west Costa Mesa, and it could use

cleaning up, not cleaning out.

Oh, and, Steel, when you leave, could you please take Bob Graham and

his freeway hype with you. The last thing this busy community needs is

more traffic and more noise.

* DARLENE MAXSON is a Westside Costa Mesa resident.