Community Commentary -- Gerald Bradley

So, Byron De Arakal takes pleasure that, once again, Newport city

leadership -- in this case our good mayor, spits in the face of residents

who are concerned that Newport Beach is sailing an ill-advised course

(Between the Lines, “Real Leaders Don’t Wear Bedroom Slippers,” Feb. 13).

It’s so easy, isn’t it? To write off those who oppose pointless

overdevelopment as whiny trust-fund babies, wealthy newcomers, fueled by

their stock market earnings.

The mayor has it backward. Those of us who question and often oppose

pointless overdevelopment are not newcomers. We’re not all wealthy

either. But over the years we, the wealthy and the moderate, have dwelt

side by side and shaped a community. The old money that Mayor Tod

Ridgeway chooses to insult was worked for by the people who accumulated

it. They didn’t have a powerful stock market to speculate with. Rather,

they had hands, backbone, grit and a little bit of luck. And they built a

city: a desirable city, with character.

And that’s the rub here. Character. De Arakal makes fun of the “vocal

minority wishing the city back to the days when Bogey was hanging out at

the Bay Club.” What does he think Newport Beach is? What does Mayor

Ridgeway think it is? When Bogey was hanging out, the city at least had

some character and identity.

If I’m like most people I know around here, I’m not against

development, I’m against stupid, pointless, pretentious development at

the expense of Newport’s lengthy and historical heritage. I’ve asked this

question before: Does Newport not measure up somehow?

A good case in point would be this hotel they want to put on the

Balboa Peninsula. Why? It’s not enough to bulldoze and displace a noble,

long-standing neighborhood to erect a private commercial development, but

on top of that, this proposed “resort” is designed in “Mediterranean

Villa” style. Putting aside all other arguments against doing the project

at all, what in the world would be wrong with designing something that

fits? They could at least design it after the Girl Scout house they

intend to tear down.

Does Mystic Seaport, Conn., have this problem? How about Monterrey or,

for that matter, Dana Point, Carmel or Key West? I haven’t been to Genoa,

Italy, lately, but I don’t recall anything erected there resembling the

Cannery Restaurant or Cape Cod. What’s so frightening about being Newport

Beach?

I think what we, the “vocal minority” (and we’re not as minor as de

Arakal and the mayor may hope) are most afraid of is the loss of the

real, historical, enjoyable, pleasant, fun Newport Beach.

We’re tired of hearing so many quack the mantra about “quality of

life” only to turn around and support those projects that add to the

congestion and detract from the ambience (anybody seen the Balboa Bay

Club lately? Ugh), all under the guise of feeding the city’s tax base and

providing jobs. Of course, those jobs are filled by people who couldn’t

afford to live in Newport in 100 years, thereby adding more traffic.

All I am saying is that those of us who pay our taxes and mortgages to

live here kind of like things the way they were when we, the wealthy and

the moderate, chose to stay here. That’s what we’re paying for, and it is

an arrogant slap in the face for Ridgeway to imply that there’s something

wrong with us for trying to protect it.

* Gerald Bradley is a Newport Beach resident.