Mailbag - June 9, 2002

I certainly agree with the Pilot’s April 28 editorial about garages

that were converted to bedrooms years before the current owner bought the

property (“Let converted Westside bedroom remain intact”). The plight of

Dave Morley, in being cited for a code violation for having a garage that

was converted to an extra bedroom when he bought his house 38 years ago,

will be shared by many homeowners in Costa Mesa if the city continues to

enforce code violations retroactively.

Since the city apparently was unable to resolve the matter, by grand

fathering this very technical infraction, it was instead handled as a

routine code enforcement problem, in other words as criminal infraction.

This means that Morley, through no fault of his own, was charged with

a crime that was committed 38 years ago, the day the garage was converted

in the first place. This seems not only unfair, but ludicrously so.

Every crime committed in the United States has a time limitation

within which prosecution can be brought. The only exceptions to that are

the most serious violations such as murder, treason and tax fraud. Even

rape, robbery, arson mayhem and crimes of that serious magnitude cannot

be prosecuted more than six years after their commission. How, for

goodness sake, could anyone justify prosecuting Morley 38 years after the

so-called crime was committed, and by someone else.

I think I have the answer. It’s because Costa Mesa city planners have

unrealistically and very unfairly embarked on a program of enforcing code

regulations against persons who may not have committed the violation in

the first place. The legal rationale for statutes of limitations is not

only to be fair to the defendant in requiring timely prosecutions, but to

preserve a certain level of tranquillity in society in not having to deal

with matters that may have occurred many years ago. This type of code

enforcement in Costa Mesa with so many older houses has the potential to

stir up more citizen outrage than motor home parking ever did.

Had they consulted with someone thoroughly versed in a matter of this

kind, it would seem unlikely that Morley would have been cited, required

to hire counsel and presumably spend sleepless nights worried over that

matter. Everyone knows it’s hard to fight City Hall.

The Pilot article piqued my interest because of my background in city

government experience spanning 20 years as a full-time city attorney of

two California cities. I recall on several occasions having to rein in

city planners in my cities when they proposed to do something not

permitted by law. This occasionally led to confrontations, but as one of

my mayors used to say: “That’s why we have a legal department.”

I once delivered a paper on this very subject to the City Attorney

section of the League of California Cities. I can’t recall any city

attorney taking exception to my views on the subject.

Unfortunately, some city officials leave their common sense behind

when they leave private life. The term “badge-heavy” is one every

contractor is painfully aware of. It’s usually associated with building

inspectors -- and also these days with city planners -- who roam the city

to look for something technically awry to raise the devil about.

DON OLSON

Newport Beach

Pastor agrees with columnist on sex education

I want to thank Joseph Bell for his excellent column about the need to

have a much more comprehensive sex education program in our schools and

especially the concern with all of the pregnancies happening in Costa

Mesa (The Bell Curve, “New studies tell troubling tale,” May 16). I agree

totally with him that it’s very naive today to teach abstinence only to

the children in our schools. We need to tell them about different means

of birth control and tell them about the options. We are becoming an

overpopulated community and country and world. I appreciate his column

and hope especially that the Newport-Mesa Unified school board will have

a much more enlightened approach to this important issue.

DENNIS SHORT

Newport Beach

* EDITOR’S NOTE: Dennis Short is the pastor of Harbor Christian Church

in Newport Beach.

Mature trees are needed to replace Marguerite palms

I am sad to read that the city is removing the beautiful palm trees on

Marguerite Street in Corona del Mar, and replacing them with the new,

smaller, and not so beautiful trees (“Newport leaders vote to tear out

trees,” April 25).

I suggest that Donald Bren might want to pay for mature trees and make

the entrance to Corona del Mar as attractive as the entrance to Fashion

Island.

DICK GOLDMAN

Corona del Mar