Striving to be part of finer city

As a Newport Beach native (and resident for 38 years), I am well

aware of the reputation that exists in West Newport, and I would like

to make some observations concerning a survey that was sent to

property owners in West Newport addressing problems during the Fourth

of July holiday celebrations. Several ideas for a solution to the

problem have been discussed and yet I think we are missing the point.

We need to address the fundamental problem, not the symptoms. The

symptoms are the parties we see year-round in our neighborhood,

albeit underscored by the Fourth of July, caused by irresponsible or

absent owners and their tenants. My family and I have endured bottle

rockets, loud music, people screaming, broken beer bottles and

cigarette butts in our year, bonfires on patios, people parked in our

driveway and a stripper party on a weeknight at midnight (and we

don’t even live here during the summer). Our city spends an excessive

amount of money, time and energy policing this area. This sort of

behavior would not be tolerated in East Balboa and I do not see why I

should accept it as the norm in my neighborhood. I realize that there

are a lot of absent property owners in West Newport and not everyone

can monitor their tenants. Parties occur year-round in what our

police jokingly call “the war zone” and I believe that the problem

begins with this attitude.

Fencing us in or limiting our friends and relatives from visiting

us during the Fourth of July celebrations is not the answer, and in

fact it does more to direct the unruly mobs to this area by focusing

on it. The thought that residents and their friends should have to be

corralled in a restricted zone during a national holiday is both

absurd and intolerable in a community such as ours. Outlawing weekly

rentals (I heard this as a suggestion at a City Council meetings) is

also something that I feel would punish everyone instead of solving

the problem, and in addition would be almost impossible to enforce.

People would still rent their properties, but the rental companies

and the city would not longer get a cut since it would be done

undercover as “loaning” to friends and relatives. There are many

people who love to vacation in West Newport, and our city should be

able to assure them that they and their children can come here over

the holiday and enjoy peace and safety.

As I look around my neighborhood, I see rotting buildings, bad

paint, weeds and trash. I am not a proponent of associations telling

us what color to paint our homes or what kind of flowers to plant,

but I do believe that it is the responsibility of each home owner to

maintain the home in a decent manner. I would like to see the city

strongly enforcing the codes that are already in place concerning

these matters. Pride of ownership does not exist in our neighborhood.

I have seen an increase in owner occupation and upgrades that lead me

to believe that we can squash the notion of a “ghetto” in Newport

Beach. There is no shortage of decent, law-abiding people who would

love to own, rent or vacation in West Newport, and I see no reason

why the city should tolerate this party mentality in my neighborhood.

To summarize, raising the standards of property ownership in this

locale would benefit everyone. Enforcement of code violations

concerning trash, weeds and building codes will force property owners

to maintain their property in a decent manner, thus increasing their

property values. This will lead to increase revenue for the city as

well as increased rents, which will lead to a higher class of renters

in our area. Stiffer fines and penalties for nuisance calls will give

the message that the city will not tolerate a “party city” attitude

in West Newport. This will make West Newport less attractive to the

party crowd year-round as well as the Fourth of July. This, over

time, should help solve the problem of the exorbitant amount of money

we spend policing the Fourth of July holiday in West Newport. After

all, we are part of Newport Beach, one of the most prestigious cities

in the nation. Why should we live with the stigma of a “West

Newport?” Where else on earth would you find a ghetto with houses

that cost $1 million or more?

Let’s close the gap between West Newport and the rest of the city.

HOLLY SMITH

Newport Beach