Bluffs of a Costa Mesa emigre called...

Bluffs of a Costa Mesa emigre called

John T. Hawley writes in the Daily Pilot (“Not being welcomed in

Costa Mesa quite a shock,” Mailbag, Aug. 17) that he has moved

himself and his family from Costa Mesa to Newport Beach but continues

to have his industrial business on Costa Mesa’s bluffs, and that he’s

shocked that citizens of Costa Mesa are now trying to build on our

bluffs what Newport Beach has on its bluffs -- homes with ocean

breezes and views.

Perhaps Hawley should have tried to move his business to the

bluffs in Newport Beach. Then he really would have been shocked, as

people in that city would probably have risen up en masse to tell him

that such locations aren’t appropriate for industrial businesses in

the year 2003.

I haven’t seen any industrial buildings in Newport Beach’s

Eastbluff or Dover Shores or up in Corona del Mar. Most of these

areas aren’t even as intrinsically desirable as Costa Mesa’s Westside

bluffs. So, why must Costa Mesa be burdened with buggy-whip

businesses from a bygone era that are helping drive down property

values and the quality of life of our city, while Newport Beach has

homes where homes should be?

Could it be that Costa Mesans tolerate this because they’ve been

made stupid by breathing in pollution from the Westside industrial

area?

For a quick look at what some of the businesses on the Westside

bluffs are putting into our air, soil, and water, readers may want to

go to the following Web site, www.scorecard.org. Perhaps Hawley

understands something about pollution, and maybe that’s why he has

moved his family to Newport Beach, one block up wind of Costa Mesa’s

industrial area.

M. H. MILLARD

Costa Mesa

Something about Mary Sullivan Slack

My thanks to the Pilot and to Tom Titus for a delightful

reminiscence and updating of our dear friend Mary Sullivan Slack.

It was in April 1988 that Mary and Pati Tambellini cast me as

Slack’s co-lead and love interest in the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse

production of “Call Me Madam” -- my second show. That show earned

rave reviews from Titus in the Pilot and from the reviewer for the

Register, and for me an obsession was born. Prolific in her theater

activities, Mary was producing “HMS Pinafore” (Kent Johnson and Tim

Nelson directing) at Newport Theatre Arts Center while starring in

“Call Me Madam” at Costa Mesa.

So, as we were completing “Madam,” Slack persuaded Johnson to

insert me into the role of Sir Joseph in “Pinafore,” just two weeks

before it opened. Slack subsequently got me cast in other shows she

was involved with and prompted me to do shows at other theaters --

including the Laguna Playhouse -- and to serve a term on the board of

directors of the National Theatre Arts Commission. There will always

be a warm and affectionate spot in my heart for Slack and what she

opened me up to. I look forward to her visiting our theater community

again.

GORDON MARHOEFER

Costa Mesa

Emergency landing argues for El Toro

Southwest Airlines makes an emergency landing on Aug. 15 at tiny

John Wayne Airport while a much better facility at El Toro is still

unused. With two 10,000-foot runways, two 8,000-foot runways and no

one in the noise zone at El Toro, it is unlikely Irvine can keep this

fine airport closed. Los Angeles has entered the fray, and I love

L.A.

Clearly, JWA is an accident waiting to happen, yet Irvine’s

anti-El Toro, pro-JWA strategy has always been to dominate local

control, meaning local control for the housing developers. El Toro is

a great national asset -- too big for Irvine and the Irvine Co. and

too important for overruling eminent domain. The airport is very much

needed in the region. The houses Irvine wants to build are not.

I suggest Irvine study the history of Ontario Airport in San

Bernardino County. More recently, it should review the steps to the

mammoth expansion of O’Hare Airport in Illinois, run by Chicago in

Cook County. Local controllers fought valiantly in DuPage County but

lost. In the long run, I believe it will be better for Irvine to

welcome the planned El Toro International Airport. Then everybody

wins and no more accidents at JWA.

DONALD NYRE

Newport Beach