In Santa Ana Heights, life is plenty...

In Santa Ana Heights, life is plenty pretty

Thank you, Steve Smith, for denigrating both the people in Santa

Ana Heights and the neighborhood itself (“Rasputin keeps on trying to

fly high,” Jan. 26). It’s clear you haven’t spent much time in our

neighborhood or talking to us since 1992, or you’d have a much

different picture.

Yes, we live under the flight path. And it’s irksome at times. But

in this small neighborhood, the streets are so traffic-light that

kids ride their go-karts on them. Because the homes are so large and

(formerly) affordable, there is a high percentage of families with

stay-at-home mothers. Dozens of kids in these few blocks all know one

another and traipse from house to house. Birthday parties are held in

our backyards because they’re spacious. Senior citizens, some of whom

have lived here since the houses were built in 1962, are kind to the

neighborhood kids. There’s an annual potluck block party, and we

watch over one another’s houses while on vacation. People take pride

in their houses and for the most part keep them up well. Steve Smith

is wrong -- life under the flight path is plenty “pretty,” with a

true sense of community that’s rare these days.

Most of us accept the airport noise when we’re outside of our

soundproofed houses because of the character of this neighborhood.

And the truth is, yes, you get used to it and hardly even notice it.

We deal with the same or less inconvenience as residents on

traffic-heavy streets who suffer car noise 24 hours a day, or those

by schools at drop-off time, or a number of other “less than perfect”

locations.

Smith also called us “bitter,” and I wish he would have directly

addressed those he feels are beating a dead El Toro horse, rather

than the entire community. Most of us are already volunteering for

political causes, holding Boy Scout/Girl Scout meetings or serving on

the PTA board, so he needn’t have directed his sarcastic volunteering

advice to us.

As for the airport, of course, we’re staunchly in favor of holding

the flight caps. But I believe that rings true for every Newport

Beach resident who deals with John Wayne Airport flight noise, from

the Back Bay out to Balboa Peninsula. Smith cast too wide a net in

blaming the entire community of Santa Ana Heights. I’m so relieved

that 13 years ago, Smith didn’t move out of his two-bedroom condo and

buy a five-bedroom house in this neighborhood when he had a chance --

he was probably looking at my home.

JUDY DEVINE

Santa Ana Heights

Bell missed numbers and the point

I found Joseph Bell’s column long on unsupported assertions and

misleading arguments but lacking in facts and mathematical

consistency (“Cox brochure offers entertainment,” Thursday).

Bell takes issue with the “Annual Report on the United States

Government” mailer prepared by Rep. Chris Cox, claiming it contains

“creative interpretation of selective statistics.” Bell does not

mention what relevant statistics he believes were omitted or how the

interpretation of the numbers was incorrect and accuses Cox of

“creative spinning.”

The mailer’s budget numbers show that federal revenues in 2004

were $118 billion greater than 2003 revenues and that 2004 federal

expenses (spending) were $156 billion greater than 2003 expenses.

Because a deficit results when expenses exceed revenues, the deficit

grew by $156 billion minus $118 billion, or $38 billion. Clearly, the

fact that spending grew faster than revenues caused the growth in the

deficit, yet Bell disputes that the deficit growth was due to

excessive spending.

Bell mixes apples and oranges when he infers that a 5% growth in

“social spending” (amounting to $73 billion) is smaller than an 11%

growth in military spending (amounting to $35 billion). Clearly,

increases in social spending contributed more than twice as much to

the deficit growth as did increases in military spending.

Perhaps Bell did not even read the figures presented in Cox’s

mailer, or, if he did, he did not understand their significance or

meaning. Cox’s mailer contained actual numbers for the federal

budget. Analysis of the numbers and comparison to Bell’s rhetoric

reveals that it is Bell and not Cox who is guilty of “creative

spinning.”

THOMAS R. DAMIANI

Newport Beach

Buffer zone makes airport a must-go

The El Toro airport controversy is a maze of subterfuge and

misunderstandings.

In 1994 and 1996, Orange County voters approved an airport. In

2000, Irvine’s subterfuge about jails, airports and dumps passed but

was thrown out by a court.

In 2001 Irvine’s “Great Grab,” or Great Park, initiative won by

emphasizing parks and leaving the airport information in the “fine

print.” In that “Great Grab” election, 21 cities saw the fine print

and upheld the airport. Only 10 favored the park.

All regional airport studies favor an airport at El Toro.

The 19,000-acre airport zone protects the neighbors well from

airport problems. This is not a matter of just 4,700 acres.

El Toro flight paths are over open and wilderness areas, not

cities, as is John Wayne. An airport at El Toro can be a “joint”

operation and continue to team with Camp Pendleton in meeting the

nation’s security problems.

John Wayne is the smallest commercial airport in the nation. The

El Toro airport zone is the second largest in the nation. Job

estimates in the El Toro region range from 60,000 to 80,000. El Toro

and John Wayne should be able to function together. They are seven

miles apart. Let’s all study and see what valid regional studies

indicate to us rather than let our air-travel future be decided by

the city of Irvine. Orange County is not an island; we are part of a

large population and economic area; part of a nation; pathway to the

Pacific Rim!

We need an effective plan into the future.

KENDALL NEISESS

Fullerton