The Bell Curve -- Joseph N. Bell

This is my third go at a column dealing with the current confusion

about the annexation of Santa Ana Heights by the city of Newport Beach.

The first was satire, and the second was irritation. Both were heavy on

emotion -- of which there is already too much -- and short on reason.

Then we had 10 of our Santa Ana Heights neighbors in for drinks over

the weekend, and I polled them to see how they felt about annexation.

They were unanimously in favor of it. They were also unanimously against

my giving Newport Beach officials any additional evidence that we are a

bunch of malcontents who would be mostly a burr under the Newport Beach

saddle.

So OK. There needs to be bridges built instead of destroyed. And the

best contribution I can make right now is to offer some perspective into

what has turned a done thing into confusion and uncertainty.

First, it’s important to understand where we are now. We all received

a letter from the Newport Beach mayor more than a year ago saying the

clock “was ticking” on the annexation process and it “should be complete

and become effective in December, 2001.”

Obviously, this hasn’t happened. So I asked Assistant City Manager

Dave Kiff why. He said the annexation proposal was filed on time, as

promised, with the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission, which must

approve it, and “the ball is now in their court.” He said action on it

was delayed because the commission wanted to consider an annexation

request by Costa Mesa at the same time, and that wasn’t filed until

October, thereby setting the process back several months.

The commission has now scheduled a public workshop on this matter from

7 to 10 p.m. May 16 at Costa Mesa High School, at which boundary lines

and services offered to the new community will be discussed. If

necessary, the commission may follow this session with a later public

hearing. It could approve the application at any time during this

process. Thirty days after the decision, a window will be opened for 45

days to receive objections to the annexation. If less than 25% of the

registered voters object, the annexation will be approved. If between 25%

and 50% protest, there will be an election. If more than 50% register

opposition, the annexation will be dead.

All of this was moving forward at normal bureaucratic speed until last

week, when Newport Beach held a workshop session on how, where and when

to provide a community center and fire station within the boundaries of

Santa Ana Heights -- and the whole process turned emotional. The chief

contributor to this change was Councilwoman Norma Glover, who responded

to some heated differences on these issues by telling a reporter

afterward: “If people don’t want to be a part of Newport Beach, why

should we push it?” A few days later, she amplified this by adding: “I’m

not in the mood to take on a group that doesn’t want to come in. Maybe we

should stop the process.”

This is not an empty threat. Right up to the time the formation

commission approves the annexation, Newport Beach can withdraw the

request for annexation and bury it -- as it has been buried for the last

30 years. Although observers said that other council members did not

reflect Glover’s anger, they did appear to go along with new member Steve

Bromberg’s desire to have another look at annexation.

Here the matter rests uneasily. So I called Norma Glover to ask her

why this procedure, previously discussed meticulously, should be hashed

out again by the City Council. Glover tends to begin and end every answer

with the assertion that if Santa Ana Heights people don’t want to join

Newport Beach, they shouldn’t be offered that privilege. She admitted

that this feeling was based largely on the performance of two members of

a small group who strongly questioned the positions of the city at the

workshop meeting.

When I invited her to come out and talk with residents like the guests

at our cocktail party, she said it was our responsibility to provide her

with a “consensus.” When I asked how many phone calls to her from

residents who support the annexation would qualify as a “consensus,” she

said that there were six other council members involved as well.

I asked her what changes have taken place since council approval of

the annexation that would make reconsideration sensible. She finally came

up with three: the dispute over the community center, the differences

over redevelopment funds and her visceral feeling that if Santa Ana

Heights can’t come into Newport Beach and “feel good about it,” we

shouldn’t be invited.

On Glover’s first two points, Kiff told me emphatically that he

considers the differences “negotiable.” On the third, I would urge my

fellow residents who feel strongly on this matter to call Glover and tell

her so. She wants a consensus; so give her one.

Another option is to register your feelings at Web site o7

opinion@city.NewportBeach.CA.USf7 . This will go to all council members.

If this doesn’t convince the council that Santa Ana Heights favors

annexation, then the machinery is in place for residents to register

their opposition after the commission rules. So let’s get on with this.

* JOSEPH N. BELL is a resident of Santa Ana Heights. His column

appears Thursdays.