MAILBAG - March 19, 2006

Marinapark residents have already gotten enough

I was surprised the residents of Marinapark felt the offer from the city of Newport Beach of $20,000 to $23,000 was not a fair offer (“Decision leaves park residents reeling,” Thursday). The residents of Newport Beach are offering them about a year and a half of free rent at their current rate. I don’t know of any other leases that offer the lessee a large “gift” such as this at the end of the lease. I understand they probably can’t find an apartment to rent right on the water at this current rate, but they have been getting a good deal for many years, and they should be looking at what they have saved over the years as part of their compensation.

I can understand how many of them would be upset with being evicted, but they need to look at what is fair and start looking farther inland for a rental they can afford ? not one subsidized by the residents of Newport Beach

Using the numbers from the newspaper articles, if the 57 residents of Marinapark have saved $14 million in below-market rent since 1985, then each of them has saved almost a quarter of a million dollars. They believe the compensation from the city should be $100,000 apiece, or almost another $6 million ? again at the expense of the rest of the taxpaying residents of Newport Beach.

If their lease was with a nonpublic entity, I don’t believe they would have been offered anything, and they wouldn’t have had any recourse. But since they see a city trying to help them, they are expecting the rest of us to give them more.

TOM WEBBER

Newport Beach

No need for open space at Marinapark trailer park

In regards to the decision of the Newport Beach City Council to transform the Marinapark mobile-home park into another open space city park, I say, “Why?”

Let’s be fair about this. I would suggest putting the issue to the balance test by placing the needs of the elderly on one side of the scale, and the needs of the city for having another park on the other side.

Now realistically how do you suppose the scale will balance out? I say the overwhelming weight will go the needs of the elderly. Think about this for more than a minute or two. How many folks will really use the proposed open space park in the first place? Do residents regularly go the council meetings demanding more parks? What about the Newport beaches? Do they count as parks and open space?

I regularly surf on the weekends and always see thousands of feet of beautiful coastline absolutely empty, save for the few who truly enjoy the beach at all times of the year.

The argument the city appears to be using for the mobile-home park removal appears to be one of subsidizing the mobile-home park residents with a really good deal.

What is so bad about getting a really good deal? Don’t all of us like a real good deal? I’ll bet my last dollar the council likes a real good deal, and the $750,000 the mobile-home park generates in terms of rent seems like a good deal to me.

In addition, I recall a couple of years ago the city struggled to make ends meet at budget time, and I didn’t hear any outcry then to turn their backs to the $750,000 in rent from Marinapark. So what if the residents found a good deal in 1955? Most of the rest of us who may have purchased a house in this area in 1955 found a good deal too. And to this day, I have never found the city of Newport Beach or any other city in Orange County to be lacking in park space.

TOM NETH

Costa Mesa