CHOC clinic would be a gift to children

I have refrained from writing about the controversy over the

placement of a Children’s Hospital of Orange County medical clinic at

Rea Elementary School because often what I say is judged as not

impartial due to my long association with Share Our Selves, but I am

a 38-year resident of Costa Mesa and certainly have a vested interest

in my city just as many others do.

I do not reflect new ideas when I state how sad I feel that the

early vision of our city did not include proper zoning, good land-use

policy. Costa Mesa was a new city caught up in the wave of

development without oversight, something that happened to many

bedroom communities in the 1950s. Many of these cities today are

struggling to find how their community should look in the future,

what they can correct from past errors and how to come to consensus

over issues that divide people.

I can remember so vividly how north Costa Mesa homeowners were

concerned over the development of Crystal Court, Metro Point and now

Ikea. College Park homeowners felt overburdened with the Harbor

Shopping Center, and Mesa Del Mar felt the same about the

fairgrounds. Business owners were displaced with the development of

the Costa Mesa Courtyard and Triangle Square.

All of these were property rights versus the needs of people and

the growing pains of a city struggling to plan for the future and

create the present.

So, here we are today with some residents of the Westside stating

often that they see other cities as privileged and their piece of the

Costa Mesa pie as overburdened with the wrong businesses, charities,

housing and, sad to say, often the wrong people. Again, the concepts

of property rights and housing values -- as opposed to developing a

community for the good of the people, all of the people -- the

community as it is today will continue, if we are to believe the

census.

Ultimately, that brings me to the point of my letter. How can we

not care for the children whether they are from our neighborhood or

the surrounding community? The location of a children’s clinic should

be a source of pride to us as a city and, if we operate from that

base, then determining how, when, where will be easy.

If we believe caring for children and building them opportunities

for the future is a gift, then anger will no longer divide us and

that shall truly be our greatest legacy.

* KAREN McGLINN is the executive director of Share Our Selves.