Council’s lose-lose decision

Before starting today, here is a quick suggestion to the folks at

Newport Beach City Hall: The flag flying in front of your compound is

old, dirty and has some holes. Please replace it.

I noticed the flag while standing in front of the council chambers

with about 100 other late arrivals who were there to lend their

support to either side of the debate over the expansion plans of St.

Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach.

Actually, the proceedings weren’t much of a battle. It was more of

a polite discussion. Had the same debate taken place in Costa Mesa,

you would have heard it in at least 13 languages, and before the

night was over, chairs would have been flying in front of the dais.

The civility of Thursday evening’s meeting is due mostly to the

iron fist and velvet glove of Mayor John Heffernan, who moved

everyone along quickly and efficiently. That night, Heffernan ran a

very good meeting, even pausing before the public comments section to

caution those in attendance about getting out of hand. No one did.

At 10 p.m., Heffernan was still listening intently to each public

speaker as though he were hearing new information, even though the

comments were the same ones the council had heard at sunset. And at

10 p.m., he was still thanking each speaker with the same sincerity.

There were more than 100 people who wanted voice their opinions in

front of the City Council, and Heffernan politely told them three

times by my count that while they were certainly entitled to speak,

they should also be considerate of the time and consider not speaking

if someone before them had made their same point.

By 10 p.m., I counted only one speaker, Jessica Pisarek, who took

Heffernan up on his offer. Thank you, Jessica.

I’m not fighting for the job of chief prognosticator of

Newport-Mesa but around 7:30 p.m., I did go on the record with Daily

Pilot Managing Editor S.J. Cahn as saying that I thought the

expansion would be approved.

There wasn’t any huge reason, just a few little ones, “tells,” one

of which was Heffernan’s repeated references to each side. There was

“the church” and there was “the opponents.” Not “the residents” but

“the opponents.” As I wrote, not a big thing but one of those little

things that do make a difference when gathered together.

Has the church’s expansion really been approved? The scaled-down

version of 15,000 feet didn’t seem to make anyone happy. In fact, the

reaction of the church supporters took the wind out of a theory that

I had.

I was figuring that the folks at St. Andrew’s wanted about 21,000

square feet all along and only asked for a lot more to allow the

residents a win as they negotiated the final deal down to their goal.

But at an additional 15,000 square feet, no one won. It was a

lose-lose.

In addition to the residents -- who will have to contend with more

noise and cars, despite the assurances of the church -- other losers

include the poor souls who will be steered toward the spaces in the

future underground parking lot.

The descriptions of that lot, with its minimally required spaces

and just two entrances and exits, reminds me of a similar parking lot

that people avoid like the plague. That one is in Triangle Square in

Costa Mesa. What a nightmare. To use a variation of the slogan of a

popular pest control product, the Triangle Square lot is the “Parking

Motel ... Cars check in, but they don’t check out.”

Good luck with that.

Several youngsters got up to talk about the value of the church’s

current and future youth program and how much it will mean for teens

to have a place to go when their parents aren’t home. The facility,

it seems, will help keep kids away from the temptations of sex, drugs

and rock ‘n’ roll.

While the appearance of these youths should be applauded, the

solution for latchkey kids lies not in the intervention of a third

party but in educating and guiding those parents who are not home

with their kids. As I’ve said for years, if you can’t make time,

don’t make children.

To their credit, church representatives stated early in the

evening that their membership was “graying” and that in order to stay

alive (my word), they had to do something to attract the young

families in the area. That was a refreshing bit of candor.

But that did not jibe with the public comments of many of the

church supporters. To them, it was all about doing something for the

kids in the area, as though the addition of a youth center was going

to rid the local strip malls of wayward skateboarders. There was so

much of that that it was all I could do to keep from shouting:

“Enough!” If this is all for the kids, then I’m Rumpelstiltskin.

By 10 p.m., I’d had it, and I went home. The few remaining folks

outside waiting for the vote reminded me of those who wait for the

smoke signal outside the Vatican during the selection of a new pope.

Next time, perhaps the council can raise a nice new flag to signal

a vote.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(714) 966-4664. o7

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