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.
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