A new vision of Downtown appears

The die is cast. The roulette wheel is spinning. The dealer is

laying down the final card. Now, it is all about waiting and seeing

if Costa Mesa’s gamble on its Downtown pays off.

For years, the personality of Downtown -- home to Triangle Square,

Goat Hill Tavern and the long-empty 1901 Newport, among other

buildings and businesses -- has been unclear. Is it a shopping

district? An entertainment center? Is it a nightspot? With last

month’s Planning Commission approval of a nightclub for 1901 Newport,

formerly called Pacific Savings Plaza, and news this week that a new

restaurant featuring dancing is headed to Triangle Square, it appears

the uncertainty is over.

Downtown is about entertainment, especially of the late-night

variety.

The gamble with this direction is two-fold: Can the area sustain

itself in competition with the Irvine Spectrums, the Downtown Disneys

and the various nightspots in Newport Beach? And do city leaders

understand what more late-night fun will mean?

History offers a relatively positive answer to the former gamble.

While Triangle Square has had a tough decade, with empty storefronts

and in-and-out tenants, it has had big success in the last few years

with the Yardhouse. Other nightspots along Newport Boulevard are

typically packed with revelers, and have been since Costa Mesa was

known as Goat Hill.

Building on these successes makes sense. Identifying Downtown as

an entertainment spot and then systematically adding more

entertaining choices would seem a good bet.

Whether city leaders have their eyes wide open when making these

decisions is a separate matter. The potential problems are obvious

and at their most likely with nightclubs and bars: increased crime,

whether drunk driving, fights or vandalism; and quality-of-life

complaints, largely related to noise.

So far, there seems to have been little discussion about such

concerns. There ought to be, and residents deserve an opportunity to

say what they think about plans for Downtown.

If this new conception of Downtown is what city leaders want, then

the City Council and Planning Commission should continue looking for

ways to add to the area’s appeal. But they should also be prepared to

handle the inevitable problems.