Fireworks and fairgrounds fueling debates

If Steve Smith lives in Costa Mesa and only believes that fireworks

are used for four hours, once a year, then he must be out of town the

whole summer or living in an underground concrete bunker.

On the Eastside, firework aficionados started with the bottle

rockets on April 16. I know, as I reported it to the Costa Mesa

Police. The response was that the department just doesn’t have the

personnel to monitor these things because they go on forever. For the

last three nights, I have listened to them.

Smith then talks about how it is not fair to keep a hold on the

fairgrounds just because we have had it so long, yet he is more than

willing to keep the city hostage over fireworks for the same reason.

Do these youth groups deserve help with funding? Absolutely.

But let’s consider all the residents who live here, not just those

with kids. I will volunteer to be on a committee to come up with an

alternative method of funding. (Other cities seem to do fine.) How

about Smith? And I am willing to be the city’s first contributor by

opening up my wallet.

HELEN EVERS

Costa Mesa

I frequently agree with Steve Smith’s positions. However, he

occasionally indulges in lapses of logic that are truly amazing. In

his “Family Time” column he supports moving the Orange County Fair to

the Great Park in Irvine because “it makes more financial sense.”

And then he fantasizes about what a great addition the fairgrounds

would make to the city of Costa Mesa’s park system, particularly

baseball fields.

Assemblyman John Campbell proposed the sale of the fairgrounds for

about $300 million to help offset the state’s budget mess. Before the

fairgrounds become a park, the city of Costa Mesa (which is

addressing its own budget issues) would have to find $300 million for

the purchase and additional money for the razing of buildings and

park development. The city would also suffer the loss of sales tax

revenue from the weekly swap meet, the Orange County Fair and other

exhibitions that take place on the grounds. It is much more likely

that the land would not be sold to the city, but to developers.

The state gets the money from the sale and then some entity,

state, county, city, or fair board, will have to spend millions on

the Great Park site to build the necessary exhibition halls and

infrastructure to house the fair.

In summary, if the fair is moved to the Great Park site, the state

will get a quick $300 million. The city of Costa Mesa will lose

significant sales tax revenue. Whoever is responsible for the fair

will have to find millions to build exhibition halls at the Great

Park site and the residents of Costa Mesa will not only lose a local

tradition, but also will no doubt gain higher density and the

corresponding degradation of quality of life.

JEANNE TARAZEVITS

Costa Mesa