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.
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