Community Commentary -- PAUL A. LESSLER

In the past few years, the county has made much-needed improvements on

MacArthur Boulevard in the Newport Beach area. However, it has done a

poor job in planning the traffic flow in the area of Harbor View Drive

and MacArthur Boulevard.

Harbor View Drive is used as a cut-through for some nonresidents to

avoid the traffic on Coast Highway. This cut-through traffic, along with

the many residents who live in the Harbor View Hills area, creates a very

dangerous situation on MacArthur. Drivers trying to enter MacArthur are

forced to negotiate heavy northbound traffic, as well as avoiding

southbound traffic trying to turn onto Harbor View Drive.

In addition, a new development containing at least 50 homes is about

to begin selling in this area. This will increase the resident population

even more.

There have been many near misses, and I believe it is just a matter of

time before we have a catastrophic accident. The solution to this problem

is to install a traffic light at MacArthur and Harbor View Drive.

Please let us do this before we have a disaster.

* PAUL A. LESSLER is a Newport Beach resident.