Community Commentary -- Ron Hendrickson
In response to your May 9 editorial, “Costa Mesa Needs a Unified
Face,” you are proposing a laudable goal but, in my opinion, going about
it in the wrong way. Good architecture is certainly desirable, but in
private development, this is difficult for a city to control and I think
properly so.
You state that Costa Mesa is still destined to be a hodgepodge because
the 17th Street Promenade, Harbor Center and Triangle Square don’t look
alike. Thank goodness they don’t look alike, for I believe diversity in
architecture is a positive thing for a dynamic city. Universities are not
unlike cities in this regard. The leaders at UC Berkeley, Harvard and UC
Irvine have purposely utilized different renowned architects for their
buildings to create diverse architecture, which adds real interest to the
campuses.
In Newport Beach, which most people consider an attractive city, the
architecture of Mariner’s Mile, Newport Center Fashion Island, Balboa
Island, Lido Isle and Corona del Mar is all different.
To suggest that East 17th is a street that people just drive through
and don’t stop and spend money is ludicrous. My wife and I and many of
our friends here in Newport Beach find that we utilize the many varied
commercial resources on 17th Street several times during the week. We
think it’s a great shopping street and easy to navigate. With the likes
of the 17th Street Promenade, it is only going to get better.
While the city has little or no control over the architecture of
privately developed buildings, it does have control over the public
spaces (i.e. streets, sidewalks, etc.). This is where the real
opportunity lies for doing something about providing your “unified face”
for Costa Mesa. All it takes is an expert urban planning team and money.
Unification is not achieved with the likes of red tile roofs, but by
the street scape (i.e. landscaping, street lighting fixtures, street
furniture, public signage and standards for private signage) where
economically feasible under grounding of utilities makes a huge aesthetic
difference.
Of course many of these features have been provided in the South Coast
Plaza area, so now let’s just stretch the street scape over the rest of
the city and, in time, with this as a goal, it will bring about the
beautiful unified Costa Mesa that you hope for, and the residents will be
more proud of their city.
* RON HENDRICKSON is a Newport Beach resident.
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