Westside “problem” will solve itself

For the past 10 years or so I’ve driven up and down Placentia to

and from my West 17th street office on a daily basis. I work on the

Westside. I do business on the Westside. My doctor and dentist are on

the Westside. I get my car worked on and washed on the Westside. I

eat lunch (and sometimes breakfast and dinner) on the Westside. I

therefore consider myself qualified to make a few observations of my

own about this “problem.”

Let me start by saying I don’t consider it a problem. What we call

the “Westside” is a largely industrial, light manufacturing area,

with a concentration of apartment buildings and a couple of mobile

home parks. In addition to the few very large manufacturing

companies, which employ hundreds, there are literally dozens and

dozens of small businesses like my own. There are mechanics and brake

shops and sail makers and carpet layers and patio furniture outlets

and sandwich vendors. There are welders and karate studios and auto

repair facilities. There are convenience stores and apparel

manufacturers and plumbing supply houses. With very few exceptions,

these businesses are neat and clean and well kept. They have to be.

They know their customers won’t patronize them initially, or return,

if they aren’t. So what, I ask is the problem? Ask yourself, if they

aren’t here, where will they be? And where will the jobs go?

Yes, there are a few eyesores. Some apartment buildings and

four-plexes and single-family dwellings need to be rehabbed or razed.

But the forces of the marketplace are such that they will likely be

replaced by something bright and new and potentially more profitable

(and thus, contribute more to sales and property taxes) if we simply

leave them alone.

Example: Zubie’s Gilded Cage on Placentia was quietly replaced a

year or two ago by several million dollars worth of Hank’s Electrical

Supply and Motors. This didn’t come as a result of action by the

Planning Commission or a redevelopment agency or by eminent domain.

It came as a result of enlightened self-interest by an entrepreneur

willing to invest his own cash to make some more. Another example is

Roger McGregor’s building, which is an architectural delight. He

invested as well. A lot. Are we to now penalize him, and legions of

others like him, for so doing? I ask again, what’s the problem?

Although it angers many, the Job Center is still thriving. I pass

it several times a day. I’ve yet to witness anyone there acting in a

way other than completely businesslike. Is SOS an indigent magnet?

Maybe, but the last drunk I saw was passed out on a Sunday morning in

the parking lot of a Newport Beach restaurant.

Yes, we have an area with admittedly run-down, high-occupancy

apartments. If there are code violations, I say enforce them. If our

codes don’t support the vigorous renewal this area shouts out for, I

say write new ones. If out-of-town landlords are choosing to

disregard our laws, I say punish them. Could it be that this whole

issue of redevelopment is nothing but a charade, masking a

deep-seated enmity by a percentage of our citizenry toward aliens,

legal or otherwise? I certainly hope not.

By the way, I do have a beef about the Westside. You need an SUV

to negotiate some of its pockmarked streets. West 17th is a prime

example. Isn’t it the city’s responsibility to fix these roads?

Count me among those who believe that nothing done by the

bureaucracy will turn the Westside into Newport Beach. And if it

tries, there will be more losers than winners, and a whole lot of

very angry business owners and happy lawyers. I suggest, rather, that

the council enact legislation to encourage and enhance the potential

gain for investing and reinvesting in this area. And then stand back

and let the laws of capitalism work their magic.

CHUCK CASSITY

Costa Mesa