Newport wouldn’t want Costa Mesa

I had to chuckle when I read Geoff West’s idea of having Newport

Beach annex all of Costa Mesa, as I had the same exact thought

(“Imagine the annexed possibilities,” Sunday). The problem is that

Newport Beach does not want all of Costa Mesa.

They only want the parts that would be a valuable addition to its

wonderful city. Of course, they would want South Coast Plaza, the

Performing Arts Center, Mesa Verde, Marina Highlands, the golf

courses and some of the very nice neighborhoods that make up Costa

Mesa. They probably do not want most of the Westside and some other

troubled areas of the city.

At the last council meeting, it was kind of disheartening to be

sitting there and have people come to the podium and say how much

they don’t want to be part of Costa Mesa. We need to get the property

value up in Costa Mesa to make it more attractive.

For example, according to https://www.census.gov information: in

zip code 92627 (Costa Mesa) the median family income is $21,258,

while the median income in 92660 (Newport Beach) is $66,659. It would

dilute the average income of Newport Beach dramatically, and while

increasing the property values in some Costa Mesa areas, the exact

opposite may be true for Newport Beach. According to the U.S. ZIP

Code database, the homes in 92627 are worth only 40% of the value of

the homes in 92660.

I would also worry about the treatment the Costa Mesa

“step-children” would get from the Newport Beach folks. We have all

seen how well the Newport-Mesa consolidated school district has

worked for the Costa Mesa schools.

West also mentioned that some of the businesses would love to have

Newport Beach on their letterheads.

Also, if the industrial area businesses were in Newport Beach,

they would be subject to an exponential increase in their business

taxes, because the business taxes are so much higher in Newport

Beach. Of course, if the businesses were in Newport Beach, maybe the

property values would go up enough and their profits would go down

enough that they would be willing to sell the land to developers, and

we could have nice homes built on the bluffs. Maybe it is not such a

bad idea?

JUDITH BERRY

Costa Mesa