READERS RESPOND -- What are your thoughts about the possible school

donation?

Hmm, the Segerstroms are “donating” $2 million to high schools if the

city approves its development deal?

According to my Webster’s: “Donation: donating, giving, presenting; a

gift or contribution.” Nary a word about getting something in return.

I agree that it sounds like they are trying to buy their way into the

deal.

I can understand the schools’ desire for this money, but it is

extremely important that public officials be careful in how they handle

situations like this that indicates an attempt to “influence.” Citizens

have become cynical because too many politicians at all levels have too

often done this kind of thing.

I hope we are not becoming to the Segerstroms what Anaheim has become

to Disneyland. Every time Disney says “jump,” it seems to me Anaheim asks

“how high?”

DOLORES M. MINERICH

Costa Mesa

Smell the money. That’s what the current debate about the merits of

the Segerstrom proposal for Home Ranch is all about.

More’s the pity because that proposal ought to be evaluated strictly

on the merits instead of recast in a debate about whether the City

Council should approve the proposed Ikea store because failing to do so

might be viewed as a vote against excellence in education.

If the proposed $2-million gift to school endowments was not

sufficiently controversial, events at Monday’s Planning Commission

meeting have catapulted the smell of money to the top of the heap.

Commission Chair Katrina Foley asked the city staff to continue

“negotiations” with C.J. Segerstrom & Sons with an eye to raising the

school endowment ante to $10 million.

Why don’t we just have an auction for developers to see who will pay

us the most to clog the streets on the north end of Costa Mesa with

traffic and the smell of exhaust fumes?

If you don’t think the smell of money pervades these events, read on.

Why does the city staff endorse the Segerstrom proposal? The staff is

aware of the negative impacts of traffic and noise and air pollution, as

well as the fact that the city’s housing imbalance will grow. But are

those matters to be swept under the rug when one has visions of how the

bureaucracy at City Hall will grow and flourish when fed by additional

sales tax revenues from the proposed Ikea store? Sure, it will be dressed

up as improvements because the city’s budget will grow, but at what

expense to the lifestyle of the people who live in the city and try to

navigate the streets without protracted delays?

One more whiff of the smell of money is in order.

South Coast Plaza, the Segerstrom flagship, is reported to have

generated revenues of nearly $1 billion in 2000. These figures are not

made up. Just do an Internet search on your computer and start looking.

Do the “fortunes” of the Segerstroms merit an undesirable development in

Costa Mesa?

Does the phrase “wretched excess” begin to stir in your thoughts? If

it has, let the City Council know what is on your mind.

DAVID J. STILLER

Costa Mesa

Costa Mesa Planning Commission Chairwoman Katrina Foley is soliciting

comments on the Segerstrom Home Ranch project. Here is my opinion.

Like all Segerstrom projects, they are only interested in commercial

projects that will yield recurring revenue year after year. This is

understandable, but the Planning Commission should not let it happen to

the detriment of existing and future residents of Costa Mesa. The Home

Ranch offers a small number of townhomes stuck off in a corner of the

master plan layout. Segerstrom is hoping that this “carrot” will, like

the $2-million school “carrot,” pacify the commission and Costa Mesa

residents.

If the commission and residents were looking ahead more, they would

realize that this last piece of land is pretty much the end of the road

for Costa Mesa growth and, if approved as is, we are already at the end

of any significant residential development. Costa Mesa and other coastal

cities need to take a lesson from cities like San Diego, Long Beach and

Santa Monica and start thinking vertical. We have no horizontal space

left. Time to move up.

Segerstrom should be forced to build a few high-rise condominiums on

this land to house some of the existing Costa Mesa residents looking to

scale down in space and the new residents that will be needed to operate

Segerstroms’ new commercial ventures. Without any significant residential

development on this land, hundreds of new people are going to have to

commute into Costa Mesa and further clog an already clogged area. The

ongoing redesign of the San Diego Freeway-Harbor Boulevard intersection

isn’t going to help.

BOB GRAY

Costa Mesa

Two million dollars sounds like a lot of money, but how much really

would be available to the schools and when? A check for $400,000 per year

would be divided between Costa Mesa High School and Estancia/TeWinkle, or

$200,000 each. Is this money available for immediate spending each year,

so that after five years the schools have received and spent their money

while Ikea traffic goes on and on?

If this principal is to be conserved and only the interest spent each

year, then a return of perhaps 4% calculated with a simple interest

formula would net each school an amount that would increase each year,

beginning with $8,000 at the end of the first year, roughly twice that

the next year, etc., to a maximum of about $40,000 in five years.

A better rate would, of course, generate greater interest, and I know

that in real life interest is compounded daily, but unless I am mistaken,

this is indeed a bargain price for the endless impact such a huge project

would inflict upon Costa Mesa.

I urge the City Council to be firm and support the general plan, which

exists today to protect our community. Do not pollute our air and congest

our streets for such a pittance. Please do pay attention to the man

behind the curtain.

LAURA J. RAKUNAS

Costa Mesa

I don’t want the Segerstrom $2-million school donation; it’s not worth

suffering the impact of this project as it has been proposed.

ROBERT BRADLEY

Costa Mesa