Newport Beach City Council must red-light Greenlight

James “Buzz” Person

I see from the Daily Pilot Monday that the no-growth folks from

Greenlight want the city to foot the bill for their legal expenses

for the lawsuit they filed against the city of Newport Beach earlier

this year (“Colorful growth group seeks fees”). At the core of that

suit was how the city’s Greenlight ordinance governed construction or

expansion of hotels.

I strongly oppose that and believe the City Council should reject

Greenlight’s claim. Its lawsuit wasn’t a factor in the city’s

decision to modify the Measure S guidelines, which set criteria for

when a major development project should be up for voter approval in

the city.

The modifications to the Measure S guidelines were considered by

the City Council on two occasions before the lawsuit was filed, and

the City Council confirmed its willingness to make changes to ensure

the guidelines were consistent with the spirit and intent of Measure

S. The City Council held four more hearings in an effort to resolve

some very difficult issues -- such as the baseline to use for

existing hotel and theater entitlement -- for which Greenlight had no

answers.

The final modifications did address some of the issues Greenlight

raised in correspondence but the discussion of those issues -- and

the City Council’s expression of its willingness to consider

appropriate modifications -- preceded the lawsuit.

I think the council did a good job in handling this issue. It is

no secret that Greenlight has been critical of almost everything the

City Council has done and constantly tries to create issues (mostly

when none exist).

The recent criticism of the local coastal program is a good

example. The Greenlight folks and their cronies -- and that includes

Tom Billings and Jan Vandersloot -- want more Coastal Commission

involvement in our lives, not less. Nonetheless, the council members

looked at the merits of the Greenlight comments and embraced some of

them while rejecting others -- all the time focusing on what is in

the best interests of all Newport Beach residents.

Furthermore, I am sick and tired of Greenlight leader Phil Arst

and his minions standing before the council week after week and

making statements that he and his buddies are speaking on behalf of

the “residents.” Does Dick Nichols -- the one pure “Greenlight”

candidate on the City Council -- speak for the residents when he

proposes installing lighted baseball fields in Upper Newport Bay when

he opposes Vision 2004 -- the resident- and business-backed

enhancement of Pacific Coast Highway through Corona del Mar -- and

when he votes against the Back Bay Science Center?

I have some swampland to sell to anyone who thinks Arst, Billings

and the Greenlight crew masquerading as “Preserve Our Parks” really

want a public park at Marinapark. They know who is likely to come to

a public park between 15th Street and 18th Street on the peninsula --

a park that will be nothing more than a grassy extension of the beach

at the Newport Pier. Greenlight’s Nichols has already expressed his

position about who can, does and should use our beaches. I’ll

guarantee you that I’m not going there nor will any of the peninsula

residents that I know.

I could probably also guarantee that no one from the rest of

Newport Beach would go there. Is this what you really want? As a

58-year resident of Newport Beach and the peninsula, I think our City

Council represents the real residents better than anyone. That’s why

we elected them.

* JAMES “BUZZ” PERSON is a former planning commissioner and a

resident of Newport Beach.