Overlay zones add to character of Costa...

Overlay zones add to character of Costa Mesa

Costa Mesa just celebrated its 50th year as a city, with

small-town charm, where young families come to raise their children.

Yet Planning Commissioner Katrina Foley feels “there’s not going to

be support for just a zoning overlay on the Eastside” unless the city

looks at “making different neighborhoods unique” and takes into

consideration the “unique character of the different neighborhoods.”

When one considers that the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego,

Laguna Beach and Orange all use overlay zones to preserve and enhance

the unique character of their distinct local neighborhoods, one has

to ask: Why not Costa Mesa?

What were we celebrating over there at the Fairgrounds on

Thursday? Irvine?

MARGARET LECZKOWSKI

Costa Mesa

Betting that column is the result of envy

My grandfather, E. J. Hughes, was judge of the Seal Beach Justice

Court from the early 1930’s to the mid 1950’s. As Judge Gardner

correctly indicates, the district attorney never won a gambling case

in his court. That was not because grandpa was blind; it’s because

there was no gambling in Seal Beach. Those were all games of chance.

Nor was there any activity in Seal Beach that violated Prohibition.

Any bootlegging in Seal Beach was by rogues from Balboa. Any booze

coming onto the beach in Seal Beach was brought by rumrunners headed

for Balboa who got lost in the fog. Illegal liquor at the Glider Inn?

Lies. Those were exotic tropical fruit drinks.

And those stories about Mrs. X. They are lies as well. I was best

friends through grade school with her son and I knew her a kindly

woman who, on her own generosity, operated a home for wayward girls.

It’s little wonder that Judge Gardner would write such things. He

has always been jealous of the facts that Seal Beach has a pier five

times longer than the puny Balboa Pier, better surf, and two harbors

compared to Balboa’s one.

It’s Judge Gardner who is blind.

DAVID HUGHES

Newport Beach

Labeling people is wrong for any reason

I was particularly surprised and upset to read the Daily Pilot

article, “Disgust and Support Shown for Nichols,” by June Casagrande.

Labeling any group of people is just plain wrong no matter how you

twist it. In this article it was reported that June Casagrande

stated, “White conservative republicans came out to praise him

(Nichols). Mexicans came out to rail against him.”

In the July 13 article by Daily Pilot Editor Tony Dodero, “First

Amendment is a two way Street,” he states that an unnamed editor

assumed Casagrande got it backward and changed the original

paragraph, which should have read, “Mexicans came out to praise him.

White, conservative Republicans came out to rail against him.”

Somehow we are supposed to believe that this statement is less

offensive than the one reported. It is not.

June Casagrande stated in the Week in Review, Daily Pilot July 13,

“The complexity of the situation was reflected by the two speakers

identifying themselves as Mexicans who gave Nichols their support and

a white man who identified himself as a conservative Republican who

denounced Nichols for his comment.”

June Casagrande also reported that, “nearly 50 people spoke at the

City Council meeting.” I watched the meeting on television until it

went off the air and all speakers were simply asked for their name

and residence. They were not asked for their heritage, political

party nor whether they were conservative or liberal. There is no

basis for Casagrande or the mysterious editor implying that the other

47 speakers should be labeled either “Mexicans” or “White

conservative republicans,” or any other label for that matter. This

was not the issue and should not have been reported as such.

Such labeling cannot be justified as being used to show the

“complexity of the protests.” Nor can it be justified because it was,

“edited incorrectly,” and “merely a breakdown in Journalism 101.”

These excuses were given at the end of Dodero’s article on page 9 of

the July 13 Daily Pilot.

June Casagrande’s article used hurtful and polarizing labels which

were prejudicial and stereotyped all those who spoke at the City

Council meeting.

The Daily Pilot, June Casagrande and the mysterious editor should

quit making excuses and issue an immediate apology as prominently

displayed as June Casagrande’s original article. This apology should

not be buried in the back pages of the paper.

YVONNE HOUSSELS

Corona del Mar

El Toro’s invitation to join airports coalition

I am calling to add support for the actions of Congressman Dana

Rohrabacher and Mayor James Hahn of Los Angeles to include El Toro

airport in the Los Angeles world airports coalition. The continued

enlargement of John Wayne is going to destroy large areas of

residential districts in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, which is sad.

TERRANCE MORAN

Newport Beach