Letter to the Editor

If Newport Beach were a house, it would have star quality . . . at

least for the TV series “This Old House.” The city’s circuits are

overloaded. The owners insist that the infrastructure is so bad they

can’t plug in any more big appliances like an expanded Koll Center. It

needs remodeling.

What really came through from the Greenlight supporters was their

anger over the city’s failure to address their needs.

Newport Beach’s underlying problem, I submit, is the same as Costa

Mesa’s: These two built-out cities have accumulated side effects from

urbanization that are already intolerable, and their citizens see little

reason to hope that their quality of life will get any better in the

future.

The need is the same in both cities: Roll back the side effects from

the carpet of urbanization that has been unrolled over us. Fix our

circulation systems so that going out to pick up a carton of milk is no

longer a major expedition. Restore the suburban look and feel of the

community . . . the more human scale of decades ago. In a word: Don’t

just accommodate the status quo, get proactive.

That Newport Beach is not more proactive about quality of life issues

is surprising. For a sandbox so full of heavy hitters, I’m surprised

there’s so little thinking outside of the box. Where are the high

concepts and follow-through on, for example, traffic?

Stupefying traffic congestion contributes to Newport’s reduced quality

of life: Coast Highway congestion drives away customers from Mariners

Mile businesses, Newport commuters fume over the inordinate time it takes

to get to and from the Costa Mesa Freeway. Need we mention summer season?

Here’s a high concept, Newport: Don’t build an aboveground freeway

that bypasses Mariners Mile and West Newport. Rather, build it

underground, under Costa Mesa. Be able to zip up to Costa Mesa -- beyond

Triangle Square -- in under a minute from entrances near Coast Highway at

Dover Drive, Newport Boulevard and Brookhurst Avenue. Or, when you want

to go up coast, enter at Dover and exit at Brookhurst without stopping.

Cost? About $45,000 per foot is a good rule of thumb . . . the amount

some Newport Beach frontages go for. Where to find the money? First of

all, fill 90% of the pot with grants from higher governmental levels.

Then exploit the talents of your doughty citizens and city staff who

recently were able to acquire the Sunset Ridge property from Caltrans at

its 1966 price.

And don’t forget the large amount of “other peoples’ money” that your

resourceful city staff found to help pay for the Arches rebuild, even

when the project didn’t qualify for the usual transportation grants. Of

course Goat Hill’s downtown would benefit, so Costa Mesans would want to

join their Mackerel Flats brethren in promoting the underground freeway.

And finally, don’t forget your lobbying power in Sacramento and D.C.

You were able to keep freeways out of Newport when you wanted to; you

should be able to put them back in -- and underground -- if you want to.

If you remodel your old house, maybe in the future you won’t have to

forego plugging in useful appliances.

TOM EGAN

Costa Mesa