Habitat for Humanity homes help, don’t hurt...

Habitat for Humanity homes help, don’t hurt Costa Mesa

As a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and a local resident, I am

alarmed at the not-in-my-backyard attitude I’ve read in some of the

letters sent to the Daily Pilot about the latest Habitat for Humanity

project proposed for Costa Mesa (“Low-cost housing project stirs

neighbors,” Sept. 15).

I challenge anybody who has concerns about Habitat housing

negatively affecting property values to drive down Del Mar (on the

Eastside, within a few miles of where the $1.1-million home is) and

try to figure out which homes were built by Habitat. Here’s a hint:

They’re some of the best-maintained houses on the street.

Habitat for Humanity brings revenue to every city it builds in. In

fact, Habitat has invested more than $2 million in Costa Mesa over

the last six years, and the four existing Habitat developments in

Costa Mesa have generated both sales-tax revenue and property-tax

revenue for the city.

Please keep this in mind before you rush to judge the quality and

suitability of Habitat housing in Costa Mesa.

URSULA BOHEN

Costa Mesa

No room to ‘Vroom’ on motorcycles in Newport Beach

With distaste and disbelief we read the Daily Pilot article “Vroom

to grow” on Sept. 12, which rhapsodizes about the virtues of aimless

motorcycle riding as some sort of quaint, therapeutic activity.

As an example, the article mentions Dan Marcheano’s practice of

clearing his head in the morning by riding his motorcycle to work.

Well, we do not see it that way. That’s because we are forced to

suffer the side effects of Marcheano’s method as he roars through our

quiet residential neighborhood on his machine, regaling us with

noxious fumes and deafening noise in the process. While clearing his

head, he gives a headache to the rest of us.

What is truly puzzling is why you would choose to glorify this

form of pollution, which degrades the quality of life in Newport

Beach?

C. FISH

Newport Beach