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.