Santa Ana Heights rules not horseplay

I applaud the city of Newport and its tough stand on water quality

issues that can only benefit every resident. Maybe the Pilot should

ask all the residents of Newport Beach if they are willing to

compromise their water quality so folks in Santa Ana Heights can ride

horses and not be bothered (“Horse riders fight animal waste rules,”

Tuesday).

There are things you need to keep in mind:

1. This is not a new issue. Who cleans the horse trails and the

horse poop? The Santa Ana Heights Political Action Committee,

residents and the county have been debating and arguing over this

issue for years with no real solutions.

2. The second problem is that the equestrian community is

disorganized and fragmented at best. They don’t agree with each other

on the issues or the solutions. You cannot take just one group’s

input on the subject.

3. You must also consider that a large majority of the people

riding horses along the trails on Cypress Street and Mesa Drive do

not live in the neighborhood. That goes hand in hand with the issue

of illegal boarding of horses in our area. These nonresidents have no

connection to the community and could care less about cleaning up

after themselves.

4. The county’s history with the equestrian community is not good.

The county was never able to get the majority of horse owners to get

the required recreational horse permits, stop the illegal boarding

business or ensure trail maintenance of any kind.

5. The equestrian community is a small minority. The majority of

homes in East Santa Ana Heights do not have horses.

Since July 1, when Newport Beach annexed the Eastside of the area,

the information regarding the ordinance in question has been on our

site: https://www.sahpac.com/sys-tmpl/ horsetrailupdates/.

Regular e-mail update notices are sent to a list of residents,

city officials, county officials and political action committee

members. There are many horse folks on the e-mail list. This

ordinance is not new news to anyone. More recently, I started an

experimental program of placing small trash cans and shovels along

the trails to help the riders pick up after their animals to avoid

fines. I am asking the residents to clean the cans in front of their

homes. So far it seems to be getting very good results and we plan on

expanding the program and adding more cans and shovels to the trail.

To come into compliance with this ordinance, riders could tie up

their horses along the fencing on Cypress and parts of Mesa Drive. We

can supply trash cans or step stools if they can’t dismount. More

than half of the people I see on the trails are not even on their

horses, they are walking their horses. If they can’t dismount, riders

can also come back to clean up after their ride. Why is no one doing

this now?

It’s true that one equestrian organization pays someone once a

week to clean the trail, but that is not adequate since the trails

are used everyday. If trails are cleaned on Saturday and it rains on

Friday, then a weeks worth of manure washes into the Back Bay. Half

measures are not sufficient and haven’t been for a very long time.

The signs on the trails are fine and to the point and are getting

an overwhelming positive response from the neighbors. The law is the

law. Take responsibility for your animal is all the law requires. I

don’t think that is too much to ask.

You can soft soap this issue any way you like. You can call it

horse poop, manure -- whatever. In reality, it smells, draws flies,

contains bacteria, gets in your tires and you bring it into your

garage, and it pollutes the water supply. We are not living in the

Wild West Days. We are living in times of environmental awareness

that applies to everyone.

BARBARA VENEZIA

Santa Ana Heights

* BARBARA VENEZIA is the secretary for the Santa Ana Heights

Political Action Committee.