Park at Marinapark would pay dividends The...

Park at Marinapark would pay dividends

The City Council should recognize the desire of the residents of

Newport Beach to build an aquatic park on the Marinapark land.

The Marinapark land should emphasize the use of the land for

aquatic access to the bay. This is a unique property.

The city gave public land on the upper Back Bay to Fletcher Jones

Motor Cars, Inc. so business taxes from Fletcher Jones would flow

into city coffers. Maybe we should designate the taxes from Fletcher

Jones’ use of public lands to pay for the enhancements and support of

another piece of public land at Marinapark.

The trailer park on Marinapark land is history. The leases are up

and should remain so. The trailers should be removed. The owners had

a good run and, like Crystal Cove residents, their time has come. It

is time now to move on. No more trailer park.

Marinapark will cost money to bring online and to operate. Ask New

Yorkers if they would give up Central Park or San Franciscans if they

would give up Golden Gate Park. They will laugh at you.

Tall shade-giving trees enhance neighborhood streets and the

neighborhoods they are in. Trees must be watered, trimmed and

maintained but we make this investment because it is returned many

times over by increased local property values. People like to live

near and around trees. Parks have the same effect. A wonderful

aquatic park at Marinapark will enhance the property values of every

home in Newport Beach. Increased property values mean increased

revenue. The city coffers will fill and the community is better off

all around.

LES WILEY

Corona del Mar

Use a little driving sense out on the freeway

Today, speeds have drastically decreased with a continued increase

in the number of cars on our freeways and with ongoing construction

on most major freeways in Orange County. Whether you’re in the left,

middle or right lane, we all still experience the pain of stop-and-go

traffic.

My question, however, is what has happened to obeying basic

traffic laws on the freeway? One basic traffic law I’m referring to

is: “When you want to pass a vehicle or bicycle going in your

direction, pass on the left (California Driver Handbook, Laws and

Rules of the Road). Why is it on the Corona del Mar, San Diego and

Costa Mesa freeways I find myself having dangerously to use the

middle lane to pass slower traffic? Let’s face it; we all know during

off-peak times, the average speed of the left lane has crept up to 75

and even 80 mph. I am on the freeways about a half-hour a day. That’s

much less than most commuters. I use the Corona del Mar freeway

everyday to go to work and constantly find myself battling drivers

camped out in the left lane on the cell phone clogging up traffic.

If you’re not passing another vehicle, get out of the left lane!

The left lane (not the carpool lane) is supposed to be used for

passing vehicles, while slower traffic should be over to the right. I

have a cell phone and use it quite frequently; however, I try to stay

off of it while driving, especially on the freeway. Some might call

it a case of road rage, but I call it following basic traffic laws

that we were supposed to have been taught before we got our driver’s

license.

Driving is a privilege, not a right. Being a citizen of America

and a resident of California absolutely does not give you the right

to have a driver’s license, a tool to help us get to where we want to

go safely and efficiently.

I know we become lost in thought everyday, worrying about our

private issues and more important things in life, but let’s be smart

about our driving and not get lost in the left lane.

KENDRA MILLER

Costa Mesa