All’s fair at Fairview Park except sports...

All’s fair at Fairview Park except sports fields

This is in response to the Readers Respond on Fairview Park that

was in Thursday’s Forum section.

So, let me try to understand this. Fairview Park is now a Native

American cemetery, and this information goes back to 1935. That’s 68

years ago. So why was this not brought up when they built all those

homes on that part of town? I guess its OK to build homes, schools,

roads, and golf courses on sacred spots, just not sports fields.

The writer compares Fairview Park with the local cemeteries, but

the last time I looked, there was not a small train driving children

over the graves at Pacific View or a dog show going on at Harbor

Lawn.

I don’t understand why anything is welcomed at Fairview Park

except sports fields. If the Segerstroms wanted to build yet another

performing arts center on the spot, this issue of Native Americans,

small owls and native plants would quickly disappear.

I don’t live in the city of Costa Mesa, but this must be what the

residents want, because they have the power to change it.

CHARLES MASSINGILL

Newport Beach

Fairview is representative of California landscape

Re: “The owl outsmarts everyone,” by Lolita Harper, which ran Oct.

22: Costa Mesa is a microcosm of northern Orange County and a perfect

example of urban sprawl that results from -- poor or no -- planning.

Fairview Park is the last bastion of “natural” landscape in Costa

Mesa, and even it has been consistently assaulted: model trains and

tracks, encroaching neighbors, those who illegally cover vernal pools

with fill dirt, and those who just can’t leave it alone.

What is it about Fairview Park? Do you find it ugly? Well, if you

do, then you find the Coastal Sage Scrub habitat of California ugly.

Don’t worry, though, because 95% of this type of habitat has been

paved over. The landscape you find more pleasing is the result of the

human need to control nature -- the result of people like William

Mulholland, who usurped natural water supplies to populate a desert

for profit and power.

I enjoy Fairview Park because I still have the chance to see a

gopher snake, a coyote, a red-tailed hawk and, yes, even a winter

burrowing owl. The park sits adjacent to Talbert Nature Preserve, and

both provide needed open space in this otherwise dismal landscape.

Those who keep attacking Fairview Park in action and attitude walk

through the landscape and see dust and weeds. I walk through Fairview

Park and see a story -- the tracks, the scat, the sounds, the

battles. The biggest battle is being waged by humankind in an effort

to dominate that which we ought to protect.

At the Costa Mesa City Council meeting on Oct. 20, an older

gentleman showed a picture of a U-Haul and said we would see “more of

these” if we did not develop Fairview Park. The day after we develop

Fairview Park, my house will be on the market, and I will leave the

state I have called home for over 40 years. Until then, I will fight

for that “patch of weeds” and that “tiny little hooter,” because, as

usual, the opponent -- humankind -- is formidable.

J.B. “I DON’T NEED

TREES TO BE A

TREE-HUGGER” LITVAK

Costa Mesa

Alternative to 19th Street bridge causes problems

According to the Santa Ana River Crossing Study, the alternative

to extending 19th Street via a bridge to Brookhurst Street in

Huntington Beach is to build Bluff Road through Costa Mesa and

Newport Beach.

Bluff Road will connect Victoria Street, just east of the Santa

Ana River, to the west end of 19th Street. It will follow the base of

the bluff directly below the Marina Highlands homes in Costa Mesa, go

past the Seabluff Canyon town homes and continue, adjacent to the

Newport Terrace condominiums, to 19th Street.

Bluff Road is projected to carry 21,000 cars per day past these

homes if the 19th Street Bridge is not built. With the Bluff Road

alternative, 19th Street from Bluff Road to Placentia Avenue is also

projected to carry 19,000 cars per day. Bluff Road will continue

south, on the view side of the Marina View homes and California

Seabreeze homes in Costa Mesa, to 17th Street and will carry 7,000

cars per day on this section of road. It will then connect with 15th

Street and ultimately end at Pacific Coast Highway. Bluff Road for

its entire length will be through actual or potential parkland.

Questions need to be asked if this option is selected. How is West

19th Street going to accommodate 19,000 cars per day? Could extending

19th Street to Brookhurst Street in Huntington Beach allow for the

elimination of Bluff Road and its adverse effects on a major park and

many residential areas? Would extending 19th Street be paid for with

federal, state and county money because it connects a freeway with a

state beach? Would building Bluff Road, a local road, require local

funding? Why didn’t the study include projecting daily traffic

increases that would occur on Victoria Street and Adams Avenue if

both the 19th Street extension and Bluff Road were not built? Why

haven’t east side Costa Mesa residents been informed that, based on

the Santa Ana River Crossings Study, extending 19th Street or

building Bluff Road will result in the same traffic volume on east

19th Street regardless of which one is chosen. Why don’t mitigation

cost estimates for removing the extension of 19th Street from the

County Master Plan of Highways include the cost of building Bluff

Road?

The key question however, is what is best for the majority of

Costa Mesa’s Westside residences and businesses and what would be

least intrusive to the environment? The extension of 19th Street over a bridge to Brookhurst Street in Huntington Beach or Bluff Road? Both

are presently on the County Master Plan of Highways.

ROBERT GRAHAM

Costa Mesa

Costa Mesa, Newport

Beach: let’s make a deal

I think Costa Mesa should make a deal with Newport. We will

consider 19th Street bridge if Newport will allow the Costa Mesa

Freeway to go from 19th Street to Pacific Coast Highway. That’s what

should have been done all along, but they blocked it.

ARDY HURST

Costa Mesa

In short, bring on

the 19th Street bridge

I am a Costa Mesa business owner and resident for 18 years, and

yes, I want the bridge built across 19th Street.

LESLIE A. MCCARTHY

Costa Mesa

Bridge will destroy

last bits of nature

In reference to the 19th Street bridge. I live in Newport Beach. I

drive 19th Street everyday, sometimes from one end to the other. I do

not think Newport Beach needs another bridge. If we must, let’s

utilize what we have already in existence and widen it to accommodate

more traffic.

To place a bridge across 19th Street to Banning in Huntington

Beach is as much as saying, “Let’s develop what little open space

there is left!” We all know that if the bridge is built it will bring

with it more housing and business developments.

I prefer a quiet rural type area where I can still observe nature.

No bridge at 19th Street!

KAREN HANNERS

Newport Beach