Regard for greenery in Portland, Ore. puts...

Regard for greenery in Portland, Ore. puts Costa Mesa to shame

I have spent time up the Portland, Ore. area, where trees are

revered and trees cannot be cut down, and they are planting trees

even where they are building houses, and here, Costa Mesa is cutting

down mature trees just so hardball can be played.

To me, the tree and the environment is more important. Is it going

to appease people in Costa Mesa or other cities that will come around

to play on our fields?

I was in the plane on the way to Portland, and when we landed, we

saw luscious, beautiful treetops. You come down into John Wayne

Airport and what do you see? Tops of houses and ugly palm trees.

I just can’t believe we are thinking of getting rid of all those

trees.

NADINE ANDREEN

Costa Mesa

Trees are not the bees knees when it comes to views

Newport Beach is not the only city with idiotic tree policies.

Costa Mesa also does not have a clue when it comes to trees blocking

neighborhood views. Residents of the Marina-Highlands on the far

Westside are also the victims of a misdirected policy on the choice

of trees planted in city boulevards.

Our area is one of three or four areas in the city that have (or

used to have) ocean views. Unfortunately, the city has chosen to

plant pine trees and other varieties that grow to a height of 40 to

80 feet, which block our ocean views. The view is one of the main

reasons that residents purchased homes in our area many years ago. As

the trees grow taller each year, our homes decrease in value.

The same is true for the Freedom homes located along the southern

portion of Canyon Park. The trees there have grown from the floor of

the park to the point where they now block the ocean view for many of

those homeowners. An additional problem is the stand of eucalyptus

trees just outside of Canyon Park, which is actually in Newport

Beach. Those trees also block the view for many residents of the

Freedom homes.

Another problem is the city policy that absolutely no trees can be

topped. There are many varieties of trees that have a mature height

of 12 to 18 feet that can be heavily pruned and/or topped without

damage to the tree.

It’s time that cities wake up to the fact that trees do not

necessarily improve property values. In fact, the choice of trees can

be detrimental to a neighborhood. In addition to the loss of view,

there are the high costs associated with the repair of sidewalks,

curbs and streets from root problems and the need for periodic tree

trimming that could be better used to repair the terrible condition

of our city streets.

Trees can be a wonderful improvement to our streets, but the city

needs to realize that the choice of trees should enhance the

neighborhood rather than be a detriment.

T. DOUGLASS

Costa Mesa

Fairview Park land along Swan Drive is not for individual resale

Encroachment by Swan Drive property owners into Fairview Park --

what is that all about? It’s no longer about encroachment, it is

about money. It’s about coercing the Costa Mesa City Council into

declaring that Fairview Park property between the Fairview Channel

and the properties on Swan Drive as “surplus” to the needs of the

park. This will allow the property to be sold at a very low price to

the individual property owners on the south side of Swan Drive

because it is worthless to anyone else, they will argue. This surplus

of park property, when divided up and added to individual properties

on Swan Drive, will then raise their values by tens of thousands of

dollars.

Fairview Park was intended to be kept in its natural state, with

minimal improvements and with the open space of the park being its

major value to the people. If this is still true, how can giving away

any of that property be advantages to the purposes of the park? A

lower parking lot, walking trails and bike trails were recently

deleted from the park area below the bluffs because the Swan Drive

people didn’t want improvements in the park because they weren’t

natural. Now these same people are saying that the park property

behind their homes doesn’t need to remain natural but should instead

become part of their own backyards.

If the City Council does decide this is surplus property, it

should be for all of the park property between the Fairview Channel

and the back of Swan Drive properties. This property would then have

access off Placentia Avenue and be worth millions of dollars to

developers as a place to build condominiums. The millions received

from the sale of the property could then be used to improve other

parks throughout the city.

If the City Council no longer sees the value of keeping Fairview

Park a natural park, then let’s make the condition of the sale that

the surplus property become a lower parking lot, softball and soccer

fields and a bikeway connecting Placentia Avenue to the river trail.

ROBERT GRAHAM

Costa Mesa