Community Commentary -- Wayne Anderson

We poor, ignorant property owners have much to be thankful for. We

have five people (namely those on the Costa Mesa City Council) to tell us

how to live our lives -- what to do, why to do it and, praise God, how to

do it.

I agree with Rory Hughes (“Costa Mesa council moves RVs off the

street,” Dec. 20). Last year, we were told that RV street parking would

not be considered in the near future. So, when did the five choose to

consider it? During the Christmas holidays when we’re all at home,

kicking back, enjoying a lot of leisure time. A number of other people

have addressed the fact that it might be a novel idea to enforce the

existing law before passing a more restrictive one.

If a parked RV is a traffic hazard or if a neighbor has another

legitimate complaint, it should be discussed. An attempt should be made

to resolve the issue, but to ban it outright is intolerable. Police Lt.

Karl Schuler is quoted as saying that 24 hours is easier to enforce than

the 72 hours currently allowed. Heck, why not ban them outright? Turn

them away at the city limits. Do away with these unsightly and degrading

images to “our city.” What will they consider next? Ban all street

parking or just certain vehicles? The ones they don’t like?

Consider the term “our city.” A few months ago, I was contacted at

random. A very nice young lady had a questionnaire and wanted to know how

I felt about a proposed improvement to “our city.” It seems that the City

Council was considering rebuilding all of the fences along Harbor

Boulevard and Fairview Road. The object was to make them all uniform in

height and of the same material. Of course, after the city made this

significant improvement, the property owners would be expected to be

grateful enough to reimburse the city. Strangely enough, none of the

answers that I gave her matched any of the multiple-choice answers

available on the questionnaire. Thus, the City Council never really found

out just what I thought about that magnanimous concept.

My wife and I have lived in this town since 1957. We don’t have a

street-parking problem in this town; we have a city government problem,

and we always have. Look at the old areas of Costa Mesa. The lots were

wide and deep enough to park a boat or an RV in the backyard, and there

was still enough room for kids to play. Then the developers came into

town playing their broken record, “Unless we’re allowed to increase the

density, the project won’t work.” And they still say the same thing

today. Why? Because it works.

Look around this town. Where are the parking problems? Where are the

trash-in-the-street problems? In the medium- and high-density areas. Who

caused these problems? This City Council and most of the ones before it.

There are many homes in Mesa del Mar where you can’t even park a car in

the driveway and maintain the public way. The residents in this city

aren’t the problem -- the council is.

I’m 68 years old. I helped fight a war to live in a free country. Now

I hear that I can’t park a legally licensed vehicle on a public street

because those five don’t like its looks.

There is a business on the Costa Mesa Freeway that always has a

saying. Some time back, it said that “when everyone thinks alike, there

is very little thinking going on.”

Someone on this council apparently thinks that Costa Mesa should look

like our neighbors’ to the south. I have two things to say to the

council: Please leave our town, and go live in a place where everything

looks the same. Please do it soon.

* WAYNE ANDERSON is a Costa Mesa resident.