Nichols comments don’t speak for Newport Last...

Nichols comments don’t speak for Newport

Last night, I watched coverage of a past Newport Beach City

Council meeting, much of which was spent listening to the defenders

of Councilman Dick Nichols. These people were defending Nichols’

comments regarding the integrity of the planning commissioners. I

understand that everyone makes mistakes and that you make your

apologies and move on.

However, Nichols’ latest comments regarding the increase of grassy

areas at the beach are clearly unacceptable. He opposes adding grassy

areas because “Mexicans claim it as theirs, and it becomes their

personal, private grounds all day.” I am of Mexican heritage and I am

embarrassed that Nichols is on our council. The last time I checked,

the Corona del Mar State Beach belongs to everyone, not just those

that Nichols deems worthy.

His ignorant, elitist comments are not representative of his

constituency.

GARY W. BORQUEZ

Newport Beach

Councilman’s words sound a bit too familiar

Congratulations to Corona del Mar’s City Councilman Dick Nichols

and his comments about Mexicans. He has finally articulated a view

held dear by many in this progressive little part of the good old

U.S. of A. I suppose it’s fine for Mexicans to pick his fruit, mow

his lawn, wash his car, change his oil, make his burritos and bag his

groceries while all along staying far from his nice little Corona Del

Mar abode, but if they choose to lounge on the beach like the rest of

us, “Then, my goodness, these lazy people have just gone too far!”

I thank the Daily Pilot for doing the story, but why not drop the

objective journalist bit and just write an op-ed piece about what an

archaic little twirp this guy really is?

ROBERT FAY

Costa Mesa

An El Toro airport under LAX is a good idea

The city of Los Angeles has a very good idea. Just transfer El

Toro to the Department of Transportation, which will lease it to LAX

as an airport.

This will save everybody because under the present argument, the

land can’t be transferred until the Navy cleans up all the toxic

sites at El Toro. This may never happen.

But an airport can be run at El Toro without the cleanup problem.

So let’s get to it.

ROBERT M. WOLFF

Newport Beach

Let those women wait on a bench for the bus

Coming off the freeway and turning left on Ford Road to San

Miguel, we invariably see older women either sitting on the grass or

on the curb waiting for a bus (the area is across from our new

baseball park, which we can use).

What kind of mentality do we have that allows the people who clean

our $1-million homes -- that we can drive by in our $50,000 cars --

and not even provide them with a bench?

BRENT and PEGGY OGDEN

Newport Beach

A bigger picture needed for condo project

Re: “Condos are not what residents want,” Letter to the Editor,

June 5. The author professes to see the big picture, but did not

address it in the letter. The 1960s slogan “Think globally, act

locally” may be more appropriate today given the globalized nature of

our world.

The big picture is that we are developing our open spaces and wild

lands at an alarming rate. Southern California has set the standard

for urban sprawl and, unfortunately, many other municipalities have

followed suit. There are very few solutions to this tremendous

environmental problem. Primarily, global human populations must be

held in check; we are rapidly moving past a reasonable carrying

capacity for humans on this planet -- with no real signs of reducing

the trend. At present, we may have more control over where we place

human developments. We ought to work toward refurbishing our downtown

and inner-city areas to fully utilize existing infrastructure.

This brings us to the 1901 Newport condominium project. All of us

can think of many reasons why this project (and others like it)

should not be built. But let’s look at the big picture. Every

downtown condominium project that we build saves open space

somewhere. When people live near shops and markets, we diminish the

total number of car trips per day. In some cases, people will be

living closer to their jobs, so we cut down work-related commutes.

Our decisions about projects like these speak volumes of our view of

ecosystem protection. Is more congestion and higher human density in

our cities an appropriate price to pay for expanded environmental

preservation? It depends upon whether we are really trying to see the

big picture and whether our current narrow views are bringing about

the desired long-term results.

J.B. LITVAK

Costa Mesa