COMMUNITY COMMENTARY -- Robert V. Barnes Jr.

This is regarding Byron de Arakal’s column (Between the Lines,

“Failure to yield foreshadows nasty Koll-Greenlight pileup,” Wednesday),

which I read with great interest.

While you make some salient points, and appear to come down solidly on

the side of the good folks of the Greenlight Committee, your judgment

that they should have been more involved in the approval process with the

City Council misses the point by a very large margin.

As the majority of Newport Beach voters are aware, the Greenlight

Initiative grew out of the frustrations with the City Council giving a

permanent key to our city to developers who have no conscience about

ruining our beautiful city.

The City Council is a group of politicians who campaigned for their

offices and, through the democratic process, are committed to the “will

of their constituents” for which they are paid. Greenlight was to have

alerted them to the fact we do not believe they’re serving us, but are

instead serving the developers. Civil servants and elected officials of

Newport Beach should have gotten the point by now.

Greenlight spokesman Phil Arst and the Greenlight Committee are all

volunteers, giving countless hours of their time to be of service to our

community.

By the vote last November, it is obvious they’re doing a very good job

of that. Nowhere that I’ve read does it state the Greenlight Committee is

required to be a continuous, ongoing part of the planning or execution of

the city plan. It is the fault of the insolent City Council that, again,

Greenlight committee members, well represented by Arst, must step forward

and spend countless more hours of volunteer time to exercise the will of

the citizens of our city.

What merit, if any, does the Koll project award Newport Beach? Even if

Koll paid the entire cost of making the Jamboree Road and MacArthur

Boulevard intersection -- a freeway-like interchange -- it does not, in

any way, mitigate the added pollution, noise and stress on those of us

traveling through there.

The revenue generated to the city by office buildings rarely, if ever,

covers the costs of services the city must provide. The citizens of

Newport Beach have every democratic right to limit and control

development in our city.

During our next city election, we can begin replacing the City Council

with members who represent our citizens rather than the developers. Then

the folks of Greenlight can take a breather. Until then, I hope they

remain diligent.

Please continue to see the development situation for what it is, but

let’s be fair to the volunteers.

* ROBERT V. BARNES Jr. is a retired Army colonel who lives in Newport

Beach.