Westside war path

Geoff West

Columnist Jim de Boom, and this writer along with him, were wrong. I

whole-heartedly agreed when de Boom suggested, in his annual turkey

of the year piece 18 months ago, that Eric Bever flew above that mob

-- that he was an eagle -- because of his selfless act of citizenship

when he stepped aside so Mike Scheafer could be appointed to the City

Council, thus avoiding a costly special election. That was then; this

is now.

Now on the council, Bever’s smug willingness to virtually put a

gun to the head of a property owner by threatening to condemn his

business makes me very nervous.

Several months ago, Bever -- elected in November by the slimmest

of margins -- quick pitched the process by ignoring the

recommendations of the Westside Redevelopment Oversight Committee by

moving to place a residential overlay zone over virtually the entire

redevelopment area.

This should have been a wake-up call for every resident in this

city, because he and the other men on the council have subsequently

shown a willingness to play fast and loose with the rules.

Sadly, it comes as no surprise to me that Bever, in his writing to

the Pilot on Thursday, reaffirmed his willingness to use the

sledgehammer of eminent domain with Triangle Square.

I’m afraid this is just an omen of things to come for residents

and property owners in the redevelopment area on the Westside.

All industrial property owners in that area should be quaking in

their boots right about now.

With the recent Supreme Court ruling on eminent domain as back-up,

the council can now begin to purge the Westside of those businesses

they find so offensive and proceed to sell off the property to

salivating developers -- who, coincidentally, might just become major

campaign contributors.

Eminent domain is supposed to be but one of the tools, such as a

scalpel, available to local governments to resolve blighted areas.

The way it’s beginning to look right now, the tools of choice for

this council will be a billy club, brass knuckles or baseball bats,

as they flog reluctant property owners into submission.

It sure looks like the majority on the council -- rather than

negotiate and provide incentives -- plan, figuratively, to simply

drag reluctant property owners into an alley and beat the daylights

out of them.

I wonder just how many of us will simply stand by and watch the

muggings take place without comment.

I wonder if those Westside residents who stood with cocky smirks

on their faces a couple months ago when Bever cast the shroud of the

residential overlay over them -- figuring it would solve all their

problems -- realize that they may be hoisted on their own petard.

I wonder if they realize that if their little bungalow happens to

be in the way of future redevelopment plans, they might also be

plucked out and cast aside like some unwelcome weed in a garden.

I wonder how many of us realize that we just might be among the

next group of property owners to be threatened, pummeled and pitched

overboard.

* GEOFF WEST is a Costa Mesa resident.