Letter to the Editor -- Phillip B. Greer

Your Dec. 5 article (“Challenge to annexation tossed aside”)

concerning the annexation of Newport Coast into Newport Beach creates the

impression that opposition was limited to a single individual. I can only

assume that this was done to hide the widespread disenchantment that

exists in Newport Coast for the annexation.

The lawsuit you refer to as “mine” was filed by a community

organization called “A Simple Vote.” I was simply the attorney who

represented the group. A Simple Vote is an organization made up of

hundreds of Newport Coast residents from almost all the neighborhoods of

our community. More than 20 people took time out of their busy lives to

walk door to door in support of the fundamental concept of a simple right

to vote.

More than 1,100 people, representing registered voters, homeowners,

property owners and residents, signed a petition saying that they were

dissatisfied with how the process of annexation was proceeding. The group

fell short not because it lacked public support but because individuals

aligned with the city of Newport Beach prevented them from circulating

petitions in certain neighborhoods.

Newport Coast tax dollars will now go to support Newport Beach’s

effort to move air traffic from John Wayne Airport to an El Toro airport.

However, with the very real possibility that those same flights the city

finds unacceptable over established parts of the city will now travel

over Newport Coast, there is no guarantee that the city will fight to

protect our homes.

There are many more questions about parks, maintenance of streets and

the like that nobody from the city or the committee has been willing or

able to answer. This is why we believe that the city and the committee

were so afraid of a vote.

This is why we believe the city of Newport Beach and the

self-proclaimed Committee of 2000 could never answer our fundamental

question: If this deal is so good for the residents of Newport Coast, why

were they so afraid of a vote?

There is widespread discontent over annexation and widespread mistrust

of the individuals who spearheaded this adventure. It seems that, instead

of cavalierly dismissing the concerns of the people they will soon

govern, the Newport Beach City Council should realize that the Committee

of 2000 does not speak for a majority of the residents of Newport Coast.

The city should be seeking out residents who do not blindly follow the

party line and including them in the process.

All voices should be heard. When the members of the Newport Coast

Committee of 2000 Steering Committee spend their evenings walking door to

door, talking with the residents of the community, instead of having

private meetings with city of Newport Beach officials, then they can

claim to represent the people of Newport Coast. Until that time, the true

representatives of our community are the volunteers who collected almost

1,000 signatures in support of fundamental democratic principles. These

are the people the city of Newport Beach should be talking to.

A Simple Vote is not one person. It is hundreds of people, all

concerned about what happens to the quality of life in Newport Coast now

that the city of Newport Beach has facilitated its land grab.

PHILLIP B. GREER

Newport Coast