Community Commentary -- Michael A. Glueck

This started off as a travel blurb but degenerated into a commentary

when we attended an event dealing with parks. What we heard is of

interest and relevance to Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, El Toro and any

future parks.

So why did we schlep off to New York City at the end of July when the

temperature and humidity were tied at 99? It is one of those undeniable

inexplicable facts of life that when you move your family to the West

Coast, your kids will wind up on the East and vice versa. So a few weeks

ago, we headed to the Big Apple to see Jeffrey, who works in the city,

and Jennifer, a graduate student at Columbia University. At least now we

get one-stop-visitation rights.

They had arranged for us to attend the Park Council’s Forum on Parks

held at the Downtown Athletic Club for all the New York City mayoral

candidates. Parks are a hot issue there, too, as the city’s parks are in

financial crisis. Even the 840-acre Central Park -- which El Toro

opponents hold up as a jewel to emulate -- would be in crisis if not for

generous donations from the benefactors who live across the street on

Fifth Avenue, Central Park West and South.

Money for the city’s 1,700 parks has been diverted by Mayor Rudy

Giuliani to pay for more police and firemen. The budgets have been

slashed by $740 million. About 70% of the employees have been fired and

45% of the allocations cut.

The cost for parks already in existence, including capital

expenditures, maintenance, repair, employees, energy, water and insurance

has become too great.

There is no doubt that parks provide wonderful things for many people.

But when neglected, because of lack of funds, they can become hubs of

decay, robbery, rape, murder, gang hangouts, drug distribution and deadly

disease.

We in Newport-Mesa love parks as much as the next guy in South County.

But if we consider El Toro -- or anywhere else -- for a great park in

the future, we must look and see the good and the bad. What some see is

not what you would get. This, plus Judge James Gray’s recent decision,

should prompt all of us to search for a practical common usage of the El

Toro land.

Meanwhile, I still love New York in June -- er -- the July sauna in

Central Park.

* MICHAEL A. GLUECK is a Newport Beach resident.